Joe Isn’t Going Anywhere
In the nearly two weeks since the unnerving (and excruciatingly painful) presidential debate, President Joe Biden’s camp has bandied about all sorts of explanations for the president’s poor performance, from sore throats to a hectic travel schedule that apparently caused him to “almost” fall asleep onstage. While an increasing number of Democrats have raised concerns about his age and capability, and in some cases reportedly asked the president to drop out of the race, it appears he’s not planning on going anywhere.
“I am firmly committed to staying in this race, to running this race to the end, and to beating Donald Trump,” Biden wrote in a two-page letter to congressional Democrats on Monday, following a weeklong congressional recess. According to USA Today, the statement comes after reports of a private Sunday call between several senior House Democrats — among them Representatives Jerry Nadler and Joe Morelle of New York, Adam Smith of Washington, and Mark Takano of California — who believe the president should end his campaign. A Democratic insider told the newspaper that they are concerned about the 81-year-old’s ability to handle being in office for another four years.
According to the New York Times, the meeting was convened by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and functioned as a listening session during which lawmakers shared their constituents’ beliefs that Biden should withdraw. Meanwhile, several Democrats have been calling for Vice-President Kamala Harris to step in as the party’s presidential candidate in the event Biden does step aside, and some representatives, like South Carolina’s Jim Clyburn and Pennsylvania’s Summer Lee, are openly signaling that they would endorse her. Momala, please?
Biden, for his part, has been obstinate about continuing his candidacy. In an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last week, he said he would not exit the race unless “the Lord Almighty comes down” and asks him to. In Monday’s letter, he told congressional Democrats he understood their “good faith fears and worries” but that he wouldn’t be running again if he didn’t “absolutely believe” he was the best person to beat Donald Trump. Continuing to question his candidacy, he argued, only helped Trump’s campaign. To put an even finer point on things, the president called into MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday and didn’t mince words: “I want to make sure I was right, that the average voter out there wanted Joe Biden and I’m confident they do,” he said in a phone interview, sounding well-rested and borderline feisty. “The bottom line here is that we are not going anywhere. I am not going anywhere.”
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