US President Joe Biden was in damage-control mode Friday as he tried to make up for a stumbling performance in the first presidential debate against Republican candidate Donald Trump on Thursday night. While Biden acknowledged criticisms of his performance, he insisted he was not dropping out of the race. His campaign director on Friday stressed that the president would participate in a second debate set for September.
Biden’s halting delivery and meandering comments, particularly early in the debate, fuelled concerns from even members of his own party that at age 81, he's not up for the task of leading the country for another four years. It created a crisis moment for Biden’s campaign and his presidency, as members of his party flirted with potential replacements and donors and supporters couldn’t contain their concern about his showing against Trump.
The US president appeared to acknowledge the criticism during a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, saying, “I don’t debate as well as I used to.” But he added, “I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done.”
Speaking for 18 minutes, Biden appeared far more animated than his showing the night before, and he excoriated Trump for his “lies” and campaign aimed at “revenge and retribution.”
“The choice in this election is simple,” Biden said. “Donald Trump will destroy our democracy. I will defend it.”
He added, alluding to his candidacy, “When you get knocked down, you get back up.”
The Biden campaign spokesperson on Friday told reporters there were no conversations about the president stepping aside from his re-election bid, and he plans to participate in a September debate against Trump.
'Bad debate nights happen', says Obama
Former US president Barack Obama on Friday acknowledged Biden had a "bad" debate performance, but he maintained his support for Biden.
"Bad debate nights happen. Trust me, I know," Obama said on X.
"But this election is still a choice between someone who has fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself," Obama posted, adding: "Last night didn't change that."
‘The panic set in’
Biden, the oldest man to serve as US president, began the debate sounding hoarse and looking every bit his 81 years of age. He appeared to lose his train of thought while giving one answer, drifting from an answer on tax policy to health policy. He also fumbled on abortion rights, one of the most important issues for Democrats in this year’s election.
The president’s sometimes halting delivery – even as he repeatedly sought to confront Trump’s falsehoods about the economy, immigration and the January 6 Capitol insurrection – was likely to heighten the concerns of many Americans that he is too old to serve as commander-in-chief.
Prior to the debate, about 6 in 10 US adults (59%) said they were “very concerned” that Biden is too old to be president, according to Gallup data collected in June. Only 18% had the same level of concern about Trump, who is only four years younger. The poll found Biden’s age was also causing alarm among some Democrats: 31% said they were very concerned.
Outside the spin room, Biden’s performance sparked a fresh round of calls for the Democrat to consider stepping aside.
“I think the panic set in,” said David Axelrod, a longtime advisor to former President Barack Obama on CNN, immediately after the debate about Biden’s performance. “And I think you’re going to hear discussions that, I don’t know will lead to anything, but there are going to be discussions about whether he should continue.”
Andrew Yang, who challenged Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary and dropped out early in the race, wrote on X that the president should “do the right thing” by “stepping aside and letting the DNC (Democratic National Convention) choose another nominee.” He added the hashtag #swapJoeout.
Biden’s own former communications director Kate Bedingfield offered a candidate assessment of his performance, telling CNN that the president had failed to prove he still had the energy and stamina for the job. She added: “There's no two ways about it, that was not a good debate for Joe Biden.”
“I have been a surrogate for some presidential candidates in my time,” former Democratic US Senator Claire McCaskill told MSNBC. “When you’re a surrogate you have to focus on the positives,” she said.
But tonight, she said, she had to be “really honest”, adding: “He had one thing he had to accomplish, and that was to reassure America he was up to the job at his age. And he failed at that tonight.”
Too late to change?
The Biden campaign has just under two months to calm the waters before the Democratic National Convention, which kicks off in Chicago on August 19.
Every state has already held its presidential primary and Democratic rules mandate that the delegates Biden won remain bound to support him at the party’s upcoming national convention – unless he tells them he’s leaving the race.
Vice-President Kamala Harris is Biden’s running mate, but that doesn’t mean she can swap in for him at the top of the ticket by default. Biden also cannot decree that she replace him should he suddenly decide to leave the race.
If Biden decides to abandon his re-election campaign, Harris would likely join other top Democratic candidates looking to replace him and would need the support of individual state delegations at the Democratic convention.
That hasn’t happened for Democrats since 1960, when John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson jockeyed for votes during that year’s Democratic convention in Los Angeles.
(With AFP, AP and Reuters)
