It must be conceded that for what it is worth, Joe Biden has won the last round he had to fight as leader of the Democratic Party. A week ago, it was clear from the antics of President Obama and Speaker Pelosi and was at least somewhat inferable from the behavior of the Clintons, that the restless Democrats were only half-satisfied with the withdrawal of President Biden from the election contest.

The next step was to require an open convention, have Mr. Biden release his delegates and let all of the plausible replacement candidates come down the runway for the consideration of the Democratic convention in Chicago next month. It would have been the first convention since the Republicans in 1968 where the winner was not a foregone conclusion.