The crux of this headline dovetails with a recent poll from the Wall Street Journal that found over half of Americans saying that they don’t think Biden will run for re-election. The country is conscious of Biden’s shortfalls such as his anger problems, lack of creativity when it comes to approaching challenges, and a propensity to hurl racially tinged insults whenever he gets off-script. Beyond that, Biden’s age will further become a problem as well as his energy level in relation to the rigors of a presidential campaign.
Democrats are listening to Biden say he plans to run in 2024 and clapping along in public.
Privately, however, they know better:
Mr. Biden and the White House have said he intends to run for re-election. People close to the president have suggested he will make a final decision after November’s midterm elections.
But interviews conducted in recent weeks with dozens of voters, activists and local officials in the nation’s top battleground states, along with poll respondents, found a degree of ambivalence and uncertainty over whether Mr. Biden, who is 79 years old, should seek another term. The interviews also showed a lack of consensus on who should succeed him as the party’s standard-bearer should he retire from politics.
…
Longtime Biden associates acknowledged that the president is tired at times, given his advanced age, the demands of the job and more than two years of coping with the Covid-19 pandemic.
Public skepticism over whether Mr. Biden will or should run also could signal a tough campaign if he seeks another term.
“I don’t think President Biden is going to run—not simply because of his age, but he’s been doing this for a very long time. You can hear it in his voice. You don’t hear the same level of energy and enthusiasm,” said Derrick Jackson, a Democratic state legislator from Georgia who is running for lieutenant governor.
Democrats seem resigned to Biden finishing out his first term, but unconvinced he’s capable of acclimating to a second. Again, the question of who should replace him is not settled, but there sure doesn’t seem to be any consensus for Vice President Kamala Harris. Her performance under Biden has been lackluster at best and truly embarrassing every other time she’s in front of a camera. The laughing, the cackling, the condescension, the smugness, Harris a buffet of character flaws that no successful politician possesses.
Speaking of embarrassing, Democrats were privately relieved that Biden didn’t screw up the State of the Union address:
One Democratic lawmaker who declined to be identified by name said members watched the State of the Union hoping Mr. Biden wouldn’t make a mistake. “Everybody was very pleasantly surprised with the State of the Union address and breathed a sigh of relief when it was over,” the lawmaker said.
When Biden has a teleprompter, he’s usually OK save for a jumbled or missed word here and there. When he gets off the prompter, then you get gems like this:
During a speech in Fort Worth, Texas, President Biden says two Congressmen at the event look like they "really could and did play ball," and a third "looks like he can bomb you." pic.twitter.com/oPiyl4iCEc
— Newsmax (@newsmax) March 9, 2022
Why, in Biden’s mind, does that Congressman he referred to look like he could “bomb you”? Is it the color of his skin? Could Joe please elaborate on this?
Of course not, the media won’t ask him, and he’s given a pass whenever he makes a racist joke that would’ve gotten another president impeached.
The 2024 presidential race will be a far more difficult road given Biden’s terrible performance to defend. Record inflation and awful foreign policy will be his hallmarks. He ran in 2020 as “moderate Uncle Joe,” but that schtick is old and outdated, not to mention patently false based on the policies he’s attempting to inflict on the country.
In short, Democrats know Biden can’t run in 2024 because there’s no way he could defend his record without looking like a jackass in the process.
Whichever Democrat does actually bubble to the top as a replacement will be saddled with Biden’s malaise presidency, which means they’ll start with an automatic disadvantage.
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