President Joe Biden lost ground at the debate, but he risks losing the race due to the way his team has handled things since. There’s a sense of permanence setting in, and that’s the last thing that any candidate wants. The reason the last week has been so bad for the Biden campaign is because it’s not acknowledging reality.

The American people are wrestling with a few very hard questions. First, can Biden be president today? The answer is yes. Look at his record, look at how he’s performing, look at what he has delivered at home and on the world stage.

Second, can he be president for the next four years? The Biden camp’s most powerful line of the last week came from Biden himself. He said he wouldn’t ask for the American people’s support if he knew he couldn’t do the job for the next four years. He said, “Trust me, I can do this.” Those are powerful words.

The third question is: Can he win? And that’s what you see the Beltway pundits and Democrats wrestling with now.

What Biden’s team needs to recognize is that telling Democrats to buckle down, breathe through their noses, not panic and ignore what they saw isn’t enough. The Biden coalition isn’t just Democrats. It’s a lot of soft Republicans, independents and soft Democrats who come out for Joe, but are not loyal or excited about the party. And just rallying loyal Democrats right now isn’t enough.

And so, the only person who can reset the narrative about Joe Biden is Joe Biden. Not his team. Not calls with donors or loyalists or “Never Trumpers.” Forget about party loyalty. We haven’t had a national conversation about an aging president this intense since Ronald Reagan’s second term.

The spin doctors in Washington, D.C., are going to say what they want to say. But only Biden can convince the American people he can see this campaign through successfully. And ultimately, that’s the only thing that is going to reset this race. 

This is an adapted excerpt from the July 1 episode of “Chris Jansing Reports.”