From New York Times opinion, this is the Ezra Klein Show. I've been thinking about this moment on Thursday night after the first presidential debate

when MS NBC's Alex Wagner interviewed Governor Gavin Newsom of California.

You were out there getting a chorus of questions about whether Biden should step down.

There is panic that has set in.

Well, there is panic that is set in among people who have watched this debate who are Democrats, people who are strategists, and some even inside Democratic campaigns.

Do you think it's unfounded? Well, I think it's unhelpful and I think it's unnecessary. We've got to go in, we've got to keep our heads high,

and as I say, we've got to have the back of this president. You don't turn your back because of one performance. What kind of party does that?

What kind of party would do that? Well, maybe a party that wanted to win.

A party that wanted to nominate a candidate that the American people believe is up to doing

the most important, most difficult job in the world. Maybe the better question is, what kind of party

right now would do nothing? In February, I argue that Joe Biden should step aside,

that he shouldn't run for re-election.

The Democrats should do what political parties did

in presidential elections until the 1970s.

Choose a ticket at their convention.

In public, the backlash I got from top Democrats was ferocious.

I was a bedwetter living inside an Aaronandsorkin-drenched fantasy land.

In private, their feedback was more tentative and thoughtful and frightened.

No one tried to persuade me that Biden was a strong candidate. They argued instead that he

couldn't be convinced to step aside. That even if he could be, that Vice President

Kamala Harris would lose the election. That even if a convention passed over Harris, that passing her over would alienate black

women. They argued not that Joe Biden was strong, but that the Democratic Party was weak,

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