Joe Biden’s ABC interview will not quell doubts about his future
THE PRESIDENT was tanned, rested and largely coherent during a high-pressure prime-time interview with ABC News on July 5th. Joe Biden expressed confidence, bordering on arrogance, about his presidency and ability to beat Donald Trump in November. And he made clear that he had no plans to abandon his re-election bid. Had the interview gone badly, Mr Biden would surely be stepping aside next week. That now looks less likely.
Tieless and at times visibly impatient, the 81-year-old president refused to countenance the possibility that his presence at the top of the ticket had become a liability for down-ballot Democrats, as polls suggest. “Look, I mean, if the Lord almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ then I’d get out of the race,” Mr Biden said. “But the Lord almighty’s not coming down. I mean, these hypotheticals.”
The interview, a relatively rare occurrence for Mr Biden, became necessary after his universally panned debate performance on June 27th. Four House Democrats called on him to drop out before the interview aired. Mark Warner, a senator from Virginia, has been organising a group of senators to call on the president to withdraw, the Washington Post reported.
Mr Biden’s showing is unlikely to deter such efforts, which he dismissed, before asserting that Mr Warner, who has never run for president, “tried to get the nomination too”. After acknowledging that some Democrats would prefer he leave the race, Mr Biden insisted that “the vast majority are not where those folks are.”
The interview was conducted by George Stephanopoulos, who also sat down with Mr Biden amid the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some conservatives had predicted that the newsman, a former Democratic operative, would go easy on Mr Biden. But Mr Stephanopoulos asked tough, direct questions.
He opened by quizzing Mr Biden about the debate. The president repeatedly said that no one was to blame for his “bad night” other than himself. But he has also blamed jet lag, a cold and Mr Trump’s interruptions and dishonesty. “I just had a bad night,” Mr Biden told his interlocutor. “You have had some bad interviews once in a while, even though I can’t remember it, but I’m sure you did.”
Confronted about poor polling—a recent New York Times/Siena survey showed Mr Biden with a 36% approval rating and put him six points behind his opponent—Mr Biden simply said he didn’t believe the poll. For context, our polling average (which is less sensitive to outliers) has Mr Biden two points behind in the popular vote. The president also boasted about his fundraising (“we raised $38m within four days”) and ability to excite voters (“How many people do you think can draw crowds like I can?”). Mr Trump can, without even needing to lie about their size.
This was consistent with the bravado Mr Biden showed at a Friday afternoon rally in Wisconsin. He is more vigorous when speaking off a teleprompter, but when not using one has a tendency to mangle his words. During a recent radio interview he declared, “I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice-president, first black woman, to serve with a black president.” (He apparently had been trying to say that he was proud to serve as Barack Obama’s vice-president, and also proud to be the first president with a black female vice-president.)
Mr Biden spent much of the interview pivoting away from questions about his fitness and towards his legislative or foreign-policy achievements. Mr Stephanopoulos noted that “elections are about the future, not the past” and asked whether Mr Biden could serve another four years. He responded by talking about his industrial-policy agenda and work to revitalise NATO. Asked whether he was being honest with himself about his ability to do the job, Mr Biden insisted that historians and economists have said his presidency will be remembered well.
Other attempts to push Mr Biden toward introspection failed. Mr Stephanopoulos suggested that polls showed Mr Trump growing stronger, and Mr Biden insisted that his apparent strength would decline once he had been confronted. The journalist said he had months to draw such a contrast, and Mr Biden responded that he had been busy dealing with global conflicts.
The televised interview was the president’s most high-profile event since the debate, but would not draw the 51m viewers who tuned in for the low-point of Mr Biden’s long political career. The Biden campaign has planned a $50m ad blitz, and he will soon take questions from the press at a NATO summit. Yet the danger for Mr Biden is that even if he turns in stronger performances—and the ABC News interview was undoubtedly an improvement from the debate—the image of him as a doddering old man has sunk in. That Mr Biden has done fewer interviews or press conferences than any president since Ronald Reagan does not help on that score.
Mr Stephanopoulos repeatedly asked the candidate if he would agree to an independent neurological exam. Mr Biden insisted that he effectively takes one every day as president. The problem, of course, is that if Mr Biden’s cognitive abilities are being measured by public perception of his ability to do his job, he is failing. A post-debate CBS/YouGov poll shows that 72% of Americans believe Mr Biden doesn’t have the mental fitness to serve as president. The problem for his campaign is that more coherent bluster is still bluster. ■