Why refusing to answer court-packing questions won't help Biden

Congressional Democrats have been talking about packing the Supreme Court, debate moderator Chris Wallace noted during Tuesday night's presidential debate, as well as reviving their longtime interest in ending the filibuster. And, Wallace added, Democratic nominee Joe Biden has not always been forthcoming about his stance on these options for shifting the balance of power in Washington. "Are you willing to tell the American people tonight," Wallace asked Biden, "whether or not you will support" these proposals?

Biden wouldn't answer — and I can't understand why. "Whatever position I take in that, that'll become the issue," he said, arguing that the real issue is that "the American people should speak" — that is, they should vote before the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Supreme Court seat is filled. Trump interrupted Biden's civics lesson on the importance of voting to declare Biden is "not going to answer the question." And, bizarrely, Biden agreed. "I'm not going to answer the question," he said, sputtering to reframe the question before trailing off with an exasperated, "Will you shut up, man?"

The exasperation is fair, but Biden was wrong to skip this question. Pivoting away from a topic you don't want to address is a timeworn debate tactic, but I can't fathom what strategic advantage Biden and his team imagined he'd gain here. Wallace asked a legitimate question. Voters deserve to know if a potential president supports court-packing or altering an important dynamic in Senate politicking. Whatever position he takes will become the issue, as Biden said — because the position he takes is, in fact, the issue.

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Instead of giving a straight answer on court-packing, as he has in the past — or even something like, "I won't decide until I see what happens with Trump's Supreme Court nominee" — Biden gave the Trump campaign an excellent campaign ad, a blank canvas on which to paint susceptible voters' worst fears. (Never mind, of course, that Trump himself supports ending the filibuster if his own party runs the Senate.) Committed Biden voters may remember the "shut up" line tomorrow, but there will be plenty of fence-sitters with a nagging doubt about why he didn't just answer the question.