Opinion: Biden has a chance for a graceful exit. He should take it

Editor’s Note: Sam Lyman is the former chief speechwriter to Sen. Orrin Hatch. The views expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN. 

Will he stay? Or will he Joe?

It’s the most pertinent question in American politics.

After last month’s debate debacle, President Joe Biden is facing mounting pressure from voters to drop out of the race. But he appears unfazed by recent criticism, insisting in a recent ABC News interview that no one “is more qualified to be president or win this race than me.” Biden says he has consulted staff and family about the matter. But in making such a momentous decision, he would do well to look beyond his immediate circle to the examples of his former friends in the Senate.

Biden faces a stark choice: Will he follow the path of Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein? Or Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch?

One is a cautionary tale; the other, a model for going out on top.

First, the cautionary tale.

Feinstein was among the most accomplished legislators of her generation. She shattered the glass ceiling by becoming the first female mayor of San Francisco and the first woman elected to the Senate from the state of California. While in the Senate, she led the charge on bipartisan legislation to combat domestic violence, shore up civil liberties and strengthen our national security. She steered the powerful Senate Rules Committee and the Select Committee on Intelligence. And like Biden and Hatch, she played a critical role in shaping the courts as one of the longest-serving members of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Feinstein became an icon in her party as a pathbreaking lawmaker who worked in good faith across the aisle and always delivered results for her constituents.

This, and this alone, is how she should be remembered. But it isn’t.

A single moment in time should not define a political career that spanned multiple offices and more than four decades. In the public mind, however, it often does.

That moment came for Feinstein in the early summer of 2023. After months of severe physical and mental decline, a bruised and barely cognizant Feinstein was wheeled into the Senate by a young staffer. The infamous image of the depleted senator elicited countless calls for her to step down.

In Feinstein, the public no longer saw the vibrant trailblazer of yesteryear but rather an out-of-touch politician — disoriented and bent by old age — clinging to life with the same intensity that she clung to power. Despite mounting criticism from the media and members of her own party, she refused to relinquish her seat and insisted on finishing her term. I’ve always wondered whether she chose to stay of her own volition or because of pressure from staff.

She passed away four months later.

The obituaries written about Feinstein recognized her manifold accomplishments. But even some of the most glowing tributes came with an asterisk: Feinstein had stayed far too long, doing lasting damage to her reputation and legacy. As Mark Leibovich wrote in The Atlantic, “One lesson of Dianne Feinstein’s career: Stay in your job too long, and you risk losing control of the finale.”

Sound familiar?

By staying in the presidential race, Biden appears to be following the script of Feinstein — and Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg before her. And now, he too risks losing control of the finale, tainting a storied career with a stubborn refusal to step aside.

The good news: It doesn’t have to be this way. Biden does not yet have a diagnosed medical condition like Feinstein did. So he still has time to choose a different path — that of his longtime friend, Orrin Hatch.

Hatch, Biden and Feinstein were all contemporaries in the Senate. They all had prolific legislative careers in their own right. But Hatch, more than any other senator of his generation, seemed to understand the importance of a graceful exit.

When Hatch chose to step down in 2018, he was at the top of his game politically. As president pro tempore of the Senate, he was third in line to the presidency. He had just passed comprehensive tax reform, a fitting capstone to a career of profound legislative achievements that included the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program, among hundreds more. Hatch had also participated in the confirmation hearings of more than half of all federal judges who had ever served, including 15 Supreme Court justices.

Over the course of his 42-year tenure, Hatch had filled the career of five senators in one. As chair of the Senate Finance Committee and as the most seasoned Republican in the Senate, he — like Biden — could have served another term and continued to play an outsize role in shaping policy.

But he chose not to.

Why?

Because he grasped the importance of two things: going out on top and making way for the next generation.

Hatch’s decision to retire in 2018 was all the more remarkable considering the tremendous pressure he faced from leaders of his own party to run for another term. Then-Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was foremost among Hatch’s colleagues urging him to stay in the Senate. And then-President Donald Trump went so far as to schedule a special trip to Salt Lake City to encourage the senator to seek reelection.

As Hatch’s longtime speechwriter, I watched him wrestle with the weighty decision of whether to stay or go. But with characteristic foresight and humility, he concluded that he could best serve his country by bringing his Senate service to a close, thus clearing a path for younger leaders.

In his retirement announcement, Hatch teased what would come next: “I may be leaving the Senate, but the next chapter in my public service is just beginning.” That next chapter would be one of mentoring. At the conclusion of his term, Hatch emphasized the importance of passing on the lessons of statesmanship to those who would come after him and promised to dedicate the rest of his life to raising up a new generation of policymakers in the ways of bipartisan dealmaking.

Hatch passed the final test, the one that separates the politicians from the statesmen. He understood that the true measure of a leader is not amassing power but knowing when — and how — to give it up. On this score, President George Washington set the ultimate example.

Washington was at the pinnacle of power when he chose not to seek a third term as president. This selfless decision reinforced the importance of limited government, informal term limits and the separation of powers. It ended his political career but gave life to the democracy that came after him.

Hatch made a similar decision by giving up his seat to mentor and make way for up-and-coming leaders. That’s why his legacy of commonsense policymaking lives strong today through the staff he raised up, the judges he championed and the ongoing work of the Orrin G. Hatch Foundation.

Biden now faces the same test of leadership: Will he surrender his power for his legacy? Will he conduct himself as a statesman by passing the baton to the next generation? Or will he guard his power at the expense of his party and the nation?

It’s a simple choice between Feinstein and Hatch. To safeguard the American experiment, Biden and other members of the old guard would do well to follow Hatch.