What Biden has Done Recently About His Campaign for the Presidency of the United States Senate Minority Leader: A Memorino with a Black Hole
Democrats have been in full panic mode about President Biden’s candidacy and ability to beat Donald Trump since Biden’s dismal debate performance last week.
Biden did not respond to questions about his political standing, doubts about his ability to lead and how he would defeat Trump. “I’ve seen it from the press.” I don’t think most of them are there. I do not believe that is my approval rating.
He was deflecting and rationalizing away his vulnerabilities, but understanding why Biden hasn’t stepped aside is to understand his politics and the core of who he is as a person. He has faced myriad challenges personally and politically, and those obstacles have defined who he is. Biden is used to people telling him he can’t or he shouldn’t do something, and he believes the naysayers have long been wrong.
Historian Douglas Brinkley once said of former President George W. Bush, “Stubbornness is a positive quality of presidential leadership—if you’re right about what you’re stubborn about.”
Biden’s First Question: Is It Really Necessary if He Can Do What He Needs Now, or If He Can’t?
Yes, a second coming to tell Biden to drop out is unlikely to happen, but Biden did seem to leave the door slightly ajar to exiting if his top congressional allies called for it, namely House Speaker Hakeem Jeffries, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Rep. Jim Clyburn and Senate leader Chuck Schumer.
He asked if anyone else could do foreign policy as well as he can, despite being diminished from what he was a few years ago.
What about his vice president? It was curious and Stephanopoulos didn’t follow up with that. Sure, anyone running for office should think no one could do the job better, but how close Biden has kept Harris lately – even hoisting her arm in the air at a Fourth of July event as if she had just won a boxing match – and given the questions about his age, it’s worth wondering whether it’s inherent in his answer that he doesn’t have the confidence in Harris to actually do the job or win?
We are beginning week two after the debate. It typically takes a few weeks for public opinion to solidify. Polls this week have shown Biden hurt by the debate – the degree to which is debatable.
If he is where he was before the debate, it will help shore up support. If he slips further behind Trump, there will be more Democrats calling for him to step aside.
One party, the GOP, doesn’t seem to care if two dozen women have accused their nominee of sexual assault, don’t care if he ran a fraudulent foundation and a sham “university,” don’t care if he paid off a porn star, don’t care if he lies repeatedly, and don’t care if he was impeached twice or was convicted on almost three dozen felony counts.
The Need for a Resurrection: When Will We Come Together? A Skype Interview with Biden at the Campaign Field Office in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA — President Biden campaigned in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania on Sunday as he pushes to try to resurrect his reelection bid, even as some Democrats took to television to say he should strongly consider dropping out of the race.
He has been trying to demonstrate that his debate flub was just one bad night and not a sign of something more serious. He attended Mount Airy Church of God in Christ on Sunday, where the praise band belted out the worship song, “I need you to survive”, and the bishop urged unity.
“Forgive us for allowing the enemy to drive wedges between us,” Felton prayed. “Because if we ever lock arms and come together, there’s no election that we cannot win.”
Biden stopped at the campaign field office afterwards where he spoke about the issues important to voters, like grocery andinsulin prices.
Biden made a reference to a meme he used to mock his opponents when he spoke to the group of about 150 volunteers. He said that they will get a good look at who Donald Trump is in the next 120 or so days.
In front of Biden were Sen John Fetterman and Rep Madeleine Dean. “There is only one person in the country that’s ever kicked Trump’s ass in an election —and that is your president,” Fetterman said. He is going to do it twice.
Democratic leaders in the House were convening a virtual meeting on Sunday with the top Democrats on House committees. Some people appeared on talk shows to discuss the position of Biden at the top of the ticket.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., said he wants Biden to “seek out people with some distance and objectivity” as he weighs his decision. He noted that an interview Biden did with ABC on Friday “didn’t put concerns to rest” about his candidacy — particularly Biden’s assertion that — even if he loses to Trump in November — what matters most is that he gives it his all.
The Democrat from Michigan said she heard from voters during the break that Biden should stay in. “I had people in parades shout at me, ‘Tell him to stay — we have his back,'” she told CNN’s State of the Union. She believes that as much as you hear different opinions from other people, that’s what’s happening.
Senator Alex Padilla said that he spoke to Biden on Saturday. The president talked about what he’s seeing in internally polling data, and what his plans were for coming days. He is enthusiastic and ready to take this campaign seriously, as I’ve seen from him.
Biden has an important week in Washington, where his party’s lawmakers will return to Congress, and world leaders come to the city for a NATO summit, where he will be faced with answering more questions about his age and abilities.
In Ann Arbor, Mich., Tom Brush called the current state of the Democratic race “a sad moment,” explaining he doubts whether Biden can make it through the election and had hoped the president would voluntarily step aside for the good of the party — perhaps for Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
“My experience is that people can reach a stage in their lives when they’re not as important as they were,” said Brush in an interview at his home.