President Joe Biden needs to do much more to calm Democratic panic over his poor debate performance with former President Donald Trump, and fast.
After Texas Representative Lloyd Doggett on Tuesday became the first Democratic congressman to demand that Biden step aside, senior party figures began calling for more transparency and details about his health and mental state. from the president as anxiety over his re-election campaign turns into an increasingly real threat to his Democratic nomination.
Every effort the president, his White House, and campaign teams make to address the problem only ends up exacerbating it. For example, on Tuesday night, Biden joked to donors that he “almost fell asleep on stage” with Trump after two grueling trips to Europe last month. It was an odd way to deflect claims that he is no longer fit for the demanding duties of his office by asking for a second term at the age of 81.
The repercussions of the debate created yet another extraordinary twist in a surprising campaign that features two presidents, one of whom is a convicted criminal, and the other of whom is already the oldest to hold the office in history. The debate crystallized many Democrats’ fears about Biden’s prospects and fueled months of claims by Trump, 78, that his rival is weak and mentally limited.
On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a press conference almost as painful to watch as the debate itself. She said Biden had a cold at the debate but had not taken medication and was now feeling better. However, she declined to provide additional information beyond the results of Biden’s annual physical, released in February, which found him fit for office. The explanations did not justify why Biden got lost in some answers, appeared incoherent at times and kept his mouth open while Trump spoke during the US debate. CNN.
Biden’s team also continues to answer the wrong question.
“The best predictor of future behavior is past performance,” Jean-Pierre said, emphasizing that the true test of Biden’s capabilities was his record in office over the past three and a half years.
But the real issue raised by the debate was whether voters can imagine whether he, in his current state, would be able to fully serve another term that would end when he was 86. Jean-Pierre insisted that “we understand how the American people are feeling. We understand, in fact.” However, his press conference only added to the intrigue about what really happened within the president’s inner circle.
While the first cracks are appearing in the Democratic wall around the president, public calls for him to step aside so the party can choose another candidate have not yet reached critical mass. However, calls from Democratic leaders for more explanation from the president and for energy in his campaign are now impossible for Biden and his team to ignore. And the end result of the panic surrounding Biden’s performance is now unpredictable — an extremely vulnerable position for a president seeking a second term.
Democratic Sen. Peter Welch of Vermont said Tuesday: “The big issue going into that debate was the age issue… The result of the debate was that this age issue was intensified.”
“We have to deal with this. That’s the real question, and having frank conversations about it, because at the end of the day, the existential question facing the Democratic Party is how do we stop Trump from being president – and whatever the cost, every decision that each of us makes, from President Biden to a precinct captain on Chicago’s South Side, must be viewed through the lens of how to best protect democracy and protect America,” Welch told Abby Phillip of CNN on “NewsNight”.
Possibly more important, the comparison between wise, sober, statesmanlike Biden and wild, lawless Trump that the president’s campaign had been anticipating for months has been obliterated by speculation about Biden’s health and stamina. Biden needed to use the debate to turn around a race he was in danger of losing, and now he may have squandered his best chance of overtaking the former president.
Biden will give an interview with ABC
In a new effort to calm public concern, Biden will give an interview to ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos on Friday, in what now stands as an even more critical test of his wit than the debate. He also met with Democratic governors in Washington on Wednesday, both in person and virtually.
One of those governors, Andy Beshear of Kentucky, said in a surprisingly candid interview with CNN on Tuesday that Biden’s debate was “difficult” and that regardless of what the polls say, it will hurt his campaign.
“Joe Biden is our candidate, and ultimately that decision to continue or not will be up to him and his family,” said Beshear, who has been mentioned as a possible replacement if Biden drops out. “But I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking the president to talk to the American people a little more about his health or that debate performance.”
He added: “It’s like seeing someone you haven’t seen in a while and realizing something isn’t right, and you ask how they are and listen to their response. It’s showing concern for them, but also trying to make sure things are okay.”
Like Beshear, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi praised Biden as a great president and warned that Trump poses a serious threat to the rule of law. However, she also speculated about the president’s health.
“I think it’s a legitimate question to say, was this an episode or is this a condition?” she asked on MSNBC on Tuesday, adding that it was also a fair question to ask about the Republican candidate.
The bad day started right after dawn
Biden’s political standing deteriorated at dawn Tuesday when Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley told Kasie Hunt of CNN that the president needed to understand that his decision about whether to stay in the race would have repercussions for years to come and that the House and Senate were at stake.
A few hours later, Doggett became the first Democratic lawmaker to call on Biden to renounce the party’s nomination.
“There is a large and growing group of House Democrats concerned about the president’s candidacy, representing a broad swath of the caucus,” another Democratic lawmaker told Brianna Keilar of CNN, on condition of anonymity to speak frankly. “We are deeply concerned about his trajectory and his ability to win. We want to give him space to make a decision [de se retirar]but we will be increasingly vocal about our concerns if he doesn’t.”
A new CNN/SSRS poll, on the other hand, showed that three-quarters of Americans believe Democrats would have a better chance of defeating Trump with a candidate other than Biden. And even the unpopular Vice President Kamala Harris has done better in confrontations with Trump than her boss.
Another danger sign for the president is that, despite his insistence that he will remain in the race, some Democrats have begun answering questions about what would happen if he is no longer the nominee — despite the extraordinary logistical challenges that would pose at the Democratic National Convention. In August.
South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn — one of Biden’s most ardent supporters — said on MSNBC on Tuesday that he still wants to see the president at the top of the ticket. But he also offered support to the vice president.
“I will support her if he decides to step aside,” Clyburn said. “This party should in no way do anything to get around Ms. Harris.”
He added: “We must do everything we can to strengthen it, whether as vice president or at the top of the ticket.”
Senator Laphonza Butler also said she continues to support Biden. But she put up a strong defense of her fellow Californian.
“I think she has done an incredible job being a partner to the president and leading the party and the country, and I believe she will continue to do so,” Butler said.
In his interview, Beshear — who, as governor of a red state, would draw speculation for the vice presidency on a different ticket — also praised Harris, saying he was happy to work with a vice president whose initially shaky adjustment to the role means that she would be far from a certainty to take over if Biden chose to leave the race.
The CNN/SSRS poll shows Harris in a close position to Trump in a hypothetical matchup – trailing 47% to 45%, within the margin of error. Biden was 6 percentage points behind the former president.
But the vice president assured that there is no difference between her and Biden during a brief interview with CBS News.
“Joe Biden is our candidate. We defeated Trump once and we will defeat him again, period,” she said, adding, “I’m proud to be Joe Biden’s running mate.”
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