STONE MOUNTAIN, Ga. — The calls among Democrats are slowly growing for President Joe Biden to step aside – nearly two weeks after his muffled and sometimes incoherent performance alongside Donald Trump on an Atlanta debate stage.
An artist, Mazi GA, said he likes Biden and backed him four years ago.
"Biden, he’s a good president and all. I think he needs to just tighten up a little bit. He has to tighten up. Because at the end of the day, you're running a country, you know what I’m saying? And you've got to act like it," he said
Mazi GA, a performer who lives in Atlanta, said Biden’s debate debacle was unpresidential. He thinks a younger Democrat would be more likely to beat Republican Donald Trump. 11Alive spoke to him before he hiked up the Stone Mountain Park walkup trail.
"Any other Democrat, younger, would be fine by me. Just not him. He’s just too old," added Democrat Matthew Caputo, who thinks Biden looked and sounded wrong.
"He wasn’t cogent. He wasn’t there. He was trailing off. He was looking off. He had a blank look on his face. Five years ago, he was pretty sharp," said Caputo, who was visiting Stone Mountain from Pickens County.
Caputo bemoans the Democrats who are enabling Biden’s push to stay at the top of the presidential ticket.
"The people around him should let him step aside, but I don’t think he’s going to," Caputo added.
"Nobody is saying he had a good night. Nobody," agreed Dar'Shun Kendrick, a DeKalb state representative who will be a Georgia delegate to the Democratic National Convention.
She said as long as Biden wants to stay in the race, she has no qualms about supporting him.
"You can be both concerned about his performance and think it wasn’t his best night. And also think he is the right person for the job. You don’t have to choose between the two," Kendrick said.
Mazi GA said such a choice could be consequential.
"When you look at it, it's like, now we’re clowning around. We is talking about the USA, we talking about. This ain't no game, 'You know what I’m saying?'" he said.
Rep. Kendrick (D-Lithonia) said nobody will be able to force out Biden at the Democratic convention next month. If Biden surprises everybody and bows out – then she, as a delegate, would be part of an uncharted political journey.