Editor’s note: The analysis article below was first published in the CNN International newsletter, “Reliable Sources”.
George Stephanopoulos, wearing a t-shirt, shorts and headphones, was walking through the streets of New York on Tuesday (9) when he was approached by a stranger who asked his opinion on American President Joe Biden’s fitness for office.
“I don’t think he can serve another four years,” responded candidly the ABC News anchor, who had sat down with Biden a few days earlier for his first television interview after the US presidential debate. CNN.
Stephanopoulos’ blunt comment — video of which made its way to TMZ — served as the latest example of the media turning against Biden, expressing strong concerns about whether he will have the strength to defeat Donald Trump in November and then serve an additional term in office.
On Tuesday night, Stephanopoulos expressed regret for his frank remark, saying through a spokesperson: “Earlier today, I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have responded.” (Notably, Stephanopoulos did not retract the view he expressed, but simply said he should not have expressed it.)
ABC News said separately that Stephanopoulos “expressed his own point of view and not the position of ABC News.” Regardless, any damage inflicted by the comment was already done.
Needless to say, Stephanopoulos is far from alone among his media peers in sharing this opinion.
Whether fair or unfair (and I think you can argue that some of the coverage over the last two weeks has been exaggerated and irresponsible), the reality is that Biden, at this point, has lost much of the press corps.
Many journalists simply don’t buy the narrative that Biden, his campaign and the White House are selling.
“To Serve His Country, President Biden Must Drop Out of the Race,” The New York Times editorial board titled a scathing op-ed last week, while several other prominent figures called on him to step aside.
This loss of trust poses a significant challenge for Biden as he tries to convince the American public that he is ready for the difficult task ahead.
Every move Biden makes, every sentence he utters, now falls under a microscope, which is never a good sign for a political candidate. Worse for Biden, he is no longer getting the benefit of the doubt. In fact, it’s exactly the opposite.
The president said this week that he doesn’t care what “the elites” think about his candidacy. But given his decades in politics, he certainly knows that alienating and going to war with the media is not a winning strategy.
Whether he likes it or not, how the media covers his campaign influences how millions of Americans view his fitness for office. And given how close the 2024 race already was before the CNNrecent coverage attacking Biden’s campaign poses a grave threat to his livelihood.
It remains to be seen how Biden will manage to shake off this media storm that threatens to consume his candidacy. He can? So far, the steps Biden has taken to rebuild trust have failed to generate the desired result.
Stephanopoulos’ interview is the perfect example of this. Instead of helping him move forward, granting the interview effectively backfired, with Biden failing to convince Stephanopoulos with his message.
The fact that the president was unable to convince his campaign’s hand-picked interviewer for their first debate about his ability to lead the nation for the next four years does not bode well for his campaign.
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