aid he plans to run for re-election in 2024, but apparently, not everyone on his own side believes him—or wants him to. The New York Times reported Monday that Biden is “confounded” that other Democrats and a usually compliant media have the gall to question the narrative, or even bring up his age. The paper writes:
Facing intensifying skepticism about his capacity to run for re-election when he will be nearly 82, the president and his top aides have been stung by the questions about his plans, irritated at what they see as a lack of respect from their party and the press, and determined to tamp down suggestions that he’s effectively a lame duck a year and a half into his administration.
Biden is already the oldest president in history and would be 86 at the end of a second term. Combine that with soaring inflation, insane gas prices, and historically low approval numbers, and you can see why many don’t want him to run again.
“I have been surprised at the number of people who are openly expressing concerns about 2024 and whether or not Biden should run,” admits Decomcrat Representative Adam Smith of Washington.
Former Representative Joe Cunningham of South Carolina, who’s running for Governor in that state, was more succinct, arguing in a CNN appearance that Joe should leave the nomination to someone else:
Said Cunningham:
If President Biden were here with me right now and he were asking my opinion whether or not he should run for another term, or whether he should step aside and allow a new generation of leadership to emerge, I would tell him the latter.
With friends like this, who needs enemies?
The Times admits that Biden has brought on a lot of this himself by running as “a bridge, not as anything else” in the 2020 Democratic primary, essentially arguing that he would restore normalcy after Trump–and then step aside.
Voters seem to think he should: a June Yahoo poll indicates that a whopping 64 percent of respondents did not think he should run for re-election.
“Mr. Biden has been eager for signs of loyalty,” the Times writes, “and they have been few and far between.”
As RedState’s Bonchie reported in his piece, “Democrats Are Scrambling to Find an Alternative to Joe Biden in 2024,” which Joe can’t take as a good sign. Among those potential alternatives is California Governor Gavin Newsom who just bought ad space in… Florida? That certainly seems like he wants to get into the national conversation, including on the topic of abortion. Of course, no election would be complete without rumors of Hillary Clinton jumping in the race, and those rumors have indeed been picked up again lately.
CNN political analyst and Axios editor Margaret Talev argues that the all this chatter hurts Biden’s ability to do his job:
It weakens Biden’s ability to govern, which is already weakened. I think two things are true. Number one, if gas wasn’t $5 a gallon and inflation wasn’t 8.5 percent, people would be still talking about whether Biden was the strongest person to pit against Trump, which is what this has always been about.
We can’t know Biden’s mental capacity these days, but he certainly seems unable or unwilling to accept the fact that almost nobody likes his performance in office or the terrible results of his policies. He continues to talk as if he’s a great president, yet whines about not getting enough credit for all the wonderful things he’s accomplished.
My prediction: the sharks smell blood in the water, and the attacks from his own side are only going to get worse as 2024 approaches.