Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Year : 2, Issue: 28
The stakes were high as President Joe Biden took to the stage for his first unscripted press conference in eight months.
Just a day earlier, the President’s long time ally, superstar actor George Clooney, had turned Brutus, publishing in the New York Times a plea for Mr Biden to step aside as the Democrats’ presidential candidate in order to give the party the best chance against Donald Trump in November.
This was Mr Biden’s opportunity to show Clooney and the other doubters that he still had the mental acuity to be the leader of the free world.
He flubbed it, even before the press conference itself began.
As the world watched on at the culmination of this week’s NATO summit, Mr Biden moved to introduce Volodymyr Zelensky to the stage.
“And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he does determination, President Putin,” he said instead, mistaking Mr Zelensky for his greatest enemy.
Mr Biden realised his error quickly and tried to mop up.
The same couldn’t be said for his response to the first question of the press conference, in which he referred to “Vice President Trump”, instead of “Vice President Kamala Harris”. That gaffe was left to hang.
From a younger candidate, both errors likely would have passed without much discussion. But out of the mouth of an 81-year-old, who is asking the American people to keep him on as their president until he is 86, they were deeply worrying.
The fact that Mr Biden spoke confidently on complex matters elsewhere during the event will be lost in the noise. The performance wasn’t enough to allay fears about his competence.
And when the conference ended, more Democrats added their names to the growing chorus of those pleading with the President to step aside.
Mr Biden has defended his decision to dig in by claiming he has beaten Mr Trump before, and is the best qualified person to do it again.
The President and those still loyal to him say Mr Trump is a threat to democracy, who puts his self-interest before the interests of Americans.
The accusation of self-interest could now be levelled against Mr Biden too. His bigger occupation seems to be with defending his legacy, than doing what is right for his country. His defiance and his rejection of reality is beginning to look distinctly Trump-esque.
In the weeks since Mr Biden’s disastrous performance against Mr Trump in the presidential debate, his team have treated the American public with toxic contempt, denying the car crash millions witnessed live. Mr Biden’s insistence on staying on could end up handing Mr Trump back the presidency. If Mr Biden truly believes that a second Trump presidency would be disastrous for democracy, he must step aside.
By digging in, and drawing out this ugly saga, he is only handing more power to his enemies.
