Jill Biden's Embarrassingly Timed 'Vogue' Cover

'Vogue' covers have been a must-do on a first lady's press tour. But that might not be the case for much longer.

In today’s issue:

• What Jill Biden always risked by doing a Vogue cover.

• Why Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama’s Vogue covers landed differently.

• Loose Threads, including a new Marc Jacobs collection, Taylor Swift at the V&A, and more.

Jill Biden’s August Vogue cover could not have arrived at a less opportune moment for the Biden campaign.

The President’s disastrous debate performance has been a fixation of Democratic voters and party officials since Thursday night. After it ended, the First Lady grabbed a mic and told her husband, “Joe, you did such a great job, you answered every question, you knew all the facts.”

Many voters, of course, would not agree. But, as we’ve learned in ensuing media coverage about who Joe Biden listens to — like, really listens to, Jill has emerged as a much more important figure than she was before. In the glut of “what went wrong” and “how the Democrats got to this point” stories, she has been painted as one of her husband’s most important, trusted advisors.

From the New York Times, on the debate aftermath, when Biden realized it had gone badly:

The first lady’s message to him was clear: They’d been counted out before, she was all in, and he — they — would stay in the race. Her thinking, according to people close to her, was that it was a bad night. And bad nights end.

From another New York Times story:

If Mr. Biden were to seriously consider departing the race, allowing a younger candidate to replace him, the first lady would be the most important figure — other than the president himself — in reaching that decision.

The Democrats’ messaging around unseating Trump has been that he is a narcissist who cares only for himself, in contrast to Biden, who cares about the American people. Yet, from the New York Times:

…Mr. Biden is a proud man, and [Democrats, including some who work for him] said they believed that the odds of him trying to gut it out were still 4 or 5 to 1. The only way they said they could imagine him reversing course was if he could be afforded a dignified way out in which he could claim credit for ousting Mr. Trump in 2020, restoring the country and serving as a transition to the next generation.

A new poll by CBS News found strong sentiment among Democratic voters for Mr. Biden, 81, to cede the way to a younger nominee. Forty-five percent of Democrats said they wanted a different candidate to take on the battle with Mr. Trump. Among voters overall, just 27 percent think Mr. Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, down from 35 percent before the debate.

A Democratic donor told the New York Post, “Lots of people are blaming his wife … for not telling him [to step aside].” While a Democratic advisor said, “Jill Biden likes being First Lady… she doesn’t want to give that up.”

Thoughtful discussions and lots more reporting ought to emerge around all of this. Should a first lady really be blamed for her husband’s apparent inability to let go of power? Where does her own ego come into play? What should her portrayal in the history books look like?

But in the near term, fair or not, optics are important. Which helps explain why, since the debate, multiple reports have come out about the President’s makeup that night (he is thought to have tight-lined his eyes with white liner, apparently, and was made to look pale even though he had a summer tan). Trump was incoherent and lied constantly on the debate stage, but he has orange skin and spoke more crisply, and unfortunately that stuff likely helped him “win” on Thursday night, according to many polls.

So what the First Lady does right now matters a whole awful lot. And this is a terribly awkward time for her to be on Vogue’s cover, for the third time in three years.