The sense of presidential déjà vu is palpable. With the Democratic National Convention scheduled to begin on August 19 in Chicago, we have a president who must address a loss of confidence less than, yet similar to that Lyndon Johnson faced in 1968. I suggested on July 1, “Biden has not changed during the last week. He needs space to see where his campaign is heading after the debate, one in which he admits he did not do well.” He has been given space by many of us, yet the time for a decision is upon us. At most, he has the next week to address the nation and clear the air. No, his July 3 fundraising email titled, “I’m running,” was not persuasive. Nor was his July 3 “vow” to his political supporters to stay in the race.

The 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago did not turn out well. Hubert Humphrey was nominated from smoke-filled rooms of the Conrad Hilton Hotel in Chicago while protesters chanted “The whole world is watching.” Humphrey lost the general election to Richard Nixon with third party candidate George Wallace peeling off 46 electoral votes. It was an election I felt at the time Humphrey should have handily won. It broke my teenage belief that Democrats has brought the country together after John F. Kennedy’s assassination. Nixon? Would history have been different if he had the immunity granted to a president by the U.S. Supreme Court this week?

Joe Biden is a decent man, one who can’t make everyone happy. Biden and Johnson stand apart from their peers in the amount of legislation passed during their first full term. Biden’s legislative accomplishments are highlighted by bringing the country out of the coronavirus pandemic, yet much more than that. At the same time, the Israel-Hamas War and Biden’s response to it broke faith with generations of American people born after 1980. The race to defeat Trumpism in November will be hard-fought no matter who Democrats pick as their nominee. Biden is the presumptive nominee as he has the delegates. So was LBJ. An air of uncertainty hangs over July, and is something Biden must address and soon.

Whatever Joe Biden does to clear the air will be welcome. It doesn’t change how hard we must work to elect Democrats in November. Everyone I know is willing to do the work.