Only after it got too far into his own party having to show to him that he had no real support path to victory.
Don't praise people too much when they EVENTUALLY do the right thing. It's good he finally did, but this is the guy who ran in 2020 suggesting he'd be a one-term president in the first place.
The power got to him like it does everyone.
Good for you, you eventually did the right thing. Would have been better if you had done so a hell of a lot sooner.
I'm not so sure bowing out earlier would have been better. Dragging it out as long as he did let Trump lean more heavily into the age issue than he otherwise would have, which is now coming back to bite him.
Of course, I don't think that was a tactical decision, I think you're right on the money when it comes to Biden's motivations, but I do think the last minute about-face may have actually helped the Democrats here
I'm in 100% agreement, to the point where I was preparing for a Toupee victory until Biden stepped aside. But with how hilariously Vance is shitting himself in the foot (typo intentional), I have to at least briefly wonder if Biden waited to step aside until after the Toupee Party picked their VP. It's blindingly obvious that the Republicans were only planning on campaigning against Biden. If he had stepped aside before Vance was picked, the Toupee might have picked a less unlikable VP candidate.
IIRC he stepped aside immediately after the republican convention that had had been aimed entirely at him leaving them scrambling, and endorsed Harris who was immediately read to run. The timing was impeccable!
Yeah, I don't think his original decision to stay in was to make this tactical choice, but I absolutely think they figured out long ago he wasn't going to win (or maybe even to have the stamina to keep campaigning) and they had him stay in until the worst possible moment for R's.
I'll say only that temptation is ever present. He took action and passed the torch. I don't want to take any credit away from the people that convinced him that was the correct course of action, but it ultimately came down to him actually doing it, something I can't say I believe anyone on the right (and a hell of a lot of people on the left) would have done.