I’m an engineer living in California since 1976. But I grew up across the street from the Waybury, and graduated from MUHS and Middlebury College. You might know my brother Hudson, and have known my Dad, Arch Tilford.

The morning after the debate, I sent the following message to President Biden:

“Joe, we love you, voted for you, donated to you. Thank you for your dedicated and productive career in public service. But it’s time for you to leave the quest and release you delegates. I was buoyed by your State of the Union address, but that was a forceful delivery from a Teleprompter. With your debate performance last night, you lost any chance of reelection. I think you and Jill know this. You are right in saying this is a fight for the soul of democracy. Now your part in this fight is to let someone else pick up the torch and fight the good fight. See also the columns by Tom Freidman, Nick Kristoff, and Frank Brunei in the New York Times calling for this action, with sadness.”

Your July 3 editorial reached the same conclusion. I just listened to his ABC interview. How do we persuade Joe to let go? Who might he respect and take advice from? He worked with Senator Patrick Leahy for decades. I expect there’s a lot of respect and love between them. Pat knew when it was time for him to step down. I haven’t seen any statements from him regarding Joe, but odds are he also has strong reservations. I unsuccessfully tried to find his current contact information. Perhaps you could find him and bring this up? Maybe Joe would take and act on advice from Pat. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Another aspect is that Joe thinks this is all pundits and beltway buzz — “outside of Washington they’re all for me,” or something like that. Middlebury and Vermont are well off the beltway.

Wish America luck,

Charlie Tilford

Castro Valley, Calif.