President Joe Biden batted away questions about his ability to win the Presidential race and serve another four years during his highly anticipated news conference Thursday.
“I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m in this to complete the job I started,” Biden said as he insisted his support among the electorate was strong and he would stay in the race and would win.
The president pushed back at every suggestion that was slowing down or showing noticeable signs of decline, or that he was not in command of the job. But he was facing a growing chorus of calls from lawmakers, celebrities and other prominent Democrats to step aside from the 2024 race.
“My schedule has been full bore,” he declared. “So if I slow down and I cant get the job done, that’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet — none.”
Some Democrats doubt Biden’s ability in the Presidential race
Democrats are facing an intractable problem, the Associated Press reports. Top donors, supporters and key lawmakers are doubtful of Biden’s abilities to carry on his reelection bid after his disastrous June 27 debate performance, but the hard-fighting 81-year-old president refuses to give up as he prepares to take on Trump in a rematch, it adds.
The first questioner of Biden’s press conference asked about him losing support among many of his fellow Democrats and unionists, and asked about Vice President Kamala Harris.
Biden was at first defiant, saying the “UAW endorsed me, but go ahead,” meaning the United Auto Workers. But then he mixed up Harris and Trump, saying, “I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be Vice President if she wasn’t qualified.”
Trump weighed in live on Biden’s news conference with a post on his social media network of a video clip of the president saying “Vice President Trump.” Trump added sarcastically, “Great job, Joe!”
The BBC reports that minutes after the news conference finished, several more Democratic members of Congress publicly called on Biden to step down, joining at least a dozen other lawmakers in the president’s own party who have done so. The question for Joe Biden’s campaign is whether the floodgates will now open, or if the tide will hold, it adds.
Biden’s gaffes
The situation will not be helped by two excruciating gaffes that will be remembered by anyone who watched. In his very first answer, he called his own Vice-President Kamala Harris “Vice-President Trump” – a painful faceplant in front of a national television audience.
That came just an hour after another headline-grabbing mistake at a Nato event, when Biden introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin”, prompting loud gasps in the audience.
Related: George Clooney, Nancy Pelosi Question Biden’s Health
