I sincerely believe US President Joe Biden is a decent, caring human being who has been an outstanding president. However, I am also convinced that it is time to express our gratitude to Biden for his exemplary service and respectfully ask him to step aside. It’s time to rally around Vice-President Kamala Harris to lead the Democratic Party and this nation to victory over Donald Trump and the ‘Make America Great Again’ (MAGA) movement.

With the race between Biden and Trump essentially deadlocked for months (which is scary) with large numbers of American voters expressing consistent concern over the age of both candidates, Biden’s political advisors and strategists made a bold decision to “shake up” the race by calling for the earliest presidential debate in the history of presidential debates. Their gambit was that Biden would put the “age” issue to rest by winning the debate as he did against Trump in the first debate in the 2020 campaign.

It was a bold move that backfired badly. Within the first few minutes of the debate the optics of Biden’s appearance and slurred, mumbling speech confirmed the worst fears of vast numbers of voters that he was too old to serve another term as president. Though an “old” candidate himself, whose incoherent utterings at rallies have not been sufficiently highlighted in the media, Trump proceeded to vigorously pummel Biden with a line of outrageous lies that were not challenged by the moderators or, more importantly, countered consistently and effectively by a tired, weary-looking, and all-too-often incoherent president. A disturbing scene that led political commentator Dr Julianne Malveaux to describe it as a debate between the “mumbler-in chief and liar-in-chief”.

Trump was pathetic, but Biden was a disaster — not only because he looked old, but his performance also revealed some serious slippage in his cognitive capacities which solidified the perception in the minds of large numbers of voters that he should not be re-elected president. No matter what Biden’s supporters may think, perception is reality. Therefore, the path forward out of this painful predicament must be based on that reality!

Democrats are not only in danger of losing the White House, but there is also a legitimate concern that if Biden hangs on, the negative impact on down ballot races for the Senate and House of Representatives could be devastating. Under these dire circumstances, it’s time for bold, decisive action. I believe Biden must be persuaded to graciously and enthusiastically step aside and pass the torch to the person he selected to be the first black woman vice-president of the United States, Kamala Harris.

Biden deserves praise for the extraordinary accomplishments of the Biden-Harris Administration in the face of one of the most severe crises in the history of the nation, the COVID-19 pandemic, which precipitated an economic collapse with Great Depression levels of unemployment, business and home foreclosures, homelessness, hunger, and poverty. Lest we forget, it was Biden who outlined a bold agenda to “Build Back Better” and skilfully navigated a rigid, seemingly unshakable partisan divide to successfully pass the most impressive and impactful series of social and economic legislation Bills since former US President Lyndon Baines Johnson (LBJ).

And because of an inexplicable reluctance to tell the story or ineffective messaging, it is easy to forget the fact that Biden not only selected a black woman to be his running mate, he selected the first black woman to the Supreme Court and proceeded to advance a “Lift Every Voice” black agenda, which translated into issuing an executive order on equity; vigorously supporting the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act and John R Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act; massive increases in funding for Pell Grants and historically black colleges and universities; billions of dollars injected in the Department of Transportation to rebuild black communities decimated by urban renewal and, more recently, by gentrification; and US$5 billion to address gun violence in black communities based on the Live-Free Model that only failed to be enacted due to reductions in the size of the Bill.

You can make the case that Biden has the most significant civil rights record since former US President John F Kennedy (JFK) and LBJ. Plaudits are in order for Biden’s extraordinary record of accomplishments, but all that he has achieved is definitively endangered by the prospect of a Trump victory.

Democracy is in danger and black America is in danger if the Democrats fail to win the White House. And that prospect looms large in the face of troubling revelations about a decent human being and exemplary public servant that the nation and the world witnessed during the debacle of June 27 and its aftermath.

We respect, appreciate, and admire you, President Biden, but the perilous historical moment we face demands that we rally around Vice-President Harris. President Biden, I predict that an enthusiastic statement from you announcing that you are passing the baton to Vice-President Harris would be an electrifying moment; a historical moment that would break the current stalemate in the campaign for president. Harris is an extraordinary leader who will brilliantly present and defend the milestone legislative record of the Biden-Harris Administration and articulate the urgency and vision for “finishing the job” in this moment of grave threat to democracy.

As a black woman with Caribbean and South Asian roots, I predict that women of all backgrounds will rise-up and rally around Harris as she leads the charge to protect women’s reproductive rights and fulfil Biden’s pledge to pass federal legislation restoring the rights enshrined in Roe v Wade.

Polls have consistently indicated “lukewarm” support among black voters, the most reliable base of the Democratic Party. Well that’s about to change. The black base will be fired up as Harris clearly and articulately shares the substantial record of accomplishments on racial justice issues by the Biden-Harris Administration and continues to fight for the Floyd and Lewis Acts.

As the esteemed, legendary, elder statesman Reverend Jesse Jackson might say, rallying around Harris will “Keep Hope Alive” — that victory over the retrograde, reactionary forces of Trump and ‘Magaism’ is not only possible but certain. So let us not equivocate or hesitate; we need an urgent and immediate groundswell positively urging and encouraging President Joe Biden to endorse his loyal, dedicated running mate, Vice-President Kamala Harris, to be his replacement as the Democratic Party’s candidate for president of the United States. That historic announcement will mark the beginning of a tsunami, a massive wave of voters marching on ballot boxes to defeat Trump and rescue democracy.

Dr Ron Daniels is president of Institute of the Black World 21st Century, founder of the Haiti Support Project, and distinguished lecturer emeritus at York College/ City University of New York.