I'm still not convinced that Biden is a 'weak' candidate - can you elaborate?
Here's my list of his weaknesses as a candidate:
- Home state isn't a swing state
- 25+ years older than any Democrat to win in modern history
- Ukrainian payments to his son look bad -- even if there was nothing illegal -- and lessen the impact of Trump's impeachment
- Long time politician (it's hard to be the candidate of Hope and Change when you were a Senator before many/most voters were alive)
- White
- Iraq war vote
Fair enough, but I'd argue half of things you personally don't like in a candidate, rather than a 'weakness'. And as Kris noted, Bernie checks off many of those boxes too. And Warren.
Of presidents from post WWII, only a few were from 'battleground states' during their election. Trump didn't even carry his (then) home state, and many opponents also lost theirs. For whatever reason we seem to be in an 'age of septuagenarians+ when it comes to national politics. Not just Biden or Trump, but also Pelosi (80), McConnel (78), Sanders (70), Warren (70)... roughly a third of the senate is over 70, and there's quite a few who are 80+ (Grassley, Feinstein, Pelosi, Shelby, Roberts, Leahy). Etc. And of course white rich people remain over represented.
To be clear I'm not arguing for a white 70+ male president... good lord I think we'ce had enough of them for a generation. Just that the knee-jerk reaction that "Biden is so weak as a candidate!" and then the justification for why rarely makes much political sense, given who we repeatedly elect in this country. It seems the strongest generic candidate remains the White Male over 65.