That's exactly the point. But I think it's worth backtracking for a moment, and recognising what that cost Biden. Above and beyond his ego, he saw the bigger picture.
Now all politicians have pretty outsize egos, and all like power. They may use power to good ends, they may abuse it, but they all definitely like it. That is the game they're in.
I remember very clearly when Mitterand stood for his second term of office as president in ’88, it was clear even to those who had been well disposed towards him in 1981, that he not a well man, and no longer fit for purpose. Remember that a presidential term in France at that time was seven years! To this day, I consider that the man's ego got the better of him — he was always, consciously or unconsciously (mainly the former) in competition with De Gaulle, and De Gaulle's legacy, and I'm convinced he just thought, “Sod it, he had two terms as president, I'm going to get my two terms, and to hell with the country”. Anybody who doubts what I'm saying might ponder the fact that the National Library — the copyright library that is the equivalent of the BL — is called the Bibliothèque François-Mittérand (although no-one calls it that, of course. I don't know a single person who uses that library who calls it by that name).
So, to go back to Joe Biden: it must have hurt him, hurt his ego, to know that despite having had a pretty good term, there was a groundswell of opinion — there were doubts before, but especially after that debate — not just within the country but within his own party that the election was unwinnable if he did not stand down.
I repeat: if Harris does pull this off, Biden should get some credit for just being big enough to rise above his own pride. It doesn't always happen with that lot, left or right…
