"The only thing age does is creates a little bit of wisdom if you pay attention," Biden, already the oldest person to ever serve as president, said in one of the stand-out moments of the press conference that was virtually an audition for a second term.But despite a spirited performance, three more Democratic lawmakers went public with statements asking him to quit the race, one going so far as to asking him to resign from office immediately.
“You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden replied.The US President later claimed at the press conference that even European leaders wanted him to win the election ("I'm not hearing my European allies says dont run") because they feared Trump would dismantle NATO.
Running for a second term and winning was not just a political issue but a national security issue, he said, asserting that any diminution of NATO would endanger the United States.Biden was similarly forceful about taking on China and Russia., He went into long-winded but cogent policy details that his Republican rival, who publicly admitted he did not know what NATO was before he took office, is clearly incapable of.
But such is the searing focus on Biden and standard he is being held to that Trump's own verbal flubs and ignorance is glossed over.Ahead of the press conference, a Pew Research poll found that seventy-one per cent of Biden’s own voters wanted both him and Trump to drop out of the race.
While the pressure is expected to increase on Biden because of the inevitability of verbal flubs at public events, there is no expectation of coherence from Trump, whose supporters embrace and celebrate his rambling.
WASHINGTON: US President Joe Biden was forceful and authoritative at a high-stakes White House press conference on Thursday, demonstrating policy depth and command over issues in making his case for a second term in the White House at 82.But continued gaffes, such as mistakenly referring to vice-president Kamala Harris as vice-president Trump and Ukrainian leader Voldymyr Zelensky as President Putin, sustained doubts about his mental agility and his ability to lead his party to victory in elections four months from now, much less lead the US for four more years.The ranks of Democratic lawmakers and party loyalists who want Biden to bow out continued to grow even after a momentous press conference where the President defiantly pushed back at questions about his age and vitality while declaring he is running for a second term not for legacy reasons but to complete the unfinished job of strengthening America."The only thing age does is creates a little bit of wisdom if you pay attention," Biden, already the oldest person to ever serve as president, said in one of the stand-out moments of the press conference that was virtually an audition for a second term.But despite a spirited performance, three more Democratic lawmakers went public with statements asking him to quit the race, one going so far as to asking him to resign from office immediately. Others held fire, hoping party grandees such as Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, and Nancy Pelosi, all of whom are said to be working in the background to resolve the issue, will find a way to ease him out.So far, at least 15 Democratic legislators have asked Biden to quit the race, mostly out of the instinct for political self-preservation: they fear losing their seat in Congress -- for which elections will be held concurrently and on the same ballot -- due to the Biden drag. Most polls show him trailing Trump, and newer polls show voters, even Democratic voters, want Biden to drop out of the race and make way for a new party nominee.Faced with such headwinds, the US President, at a press conference interspersed with much throat-clearing and checked digressions, appeared most at ease while talking about policy, both global and domestic, even as the press corps rained questions on his mental fitness and viability for a second term.Aides watched with white-knuckle tension as the President gradually overcame an early verbal flub, when, asked if he had any concerns about Kamala Harris’s ability to beat Trump if she were to be the Democratic nominee, he replied, “Look, I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president, if I did not think she was not qualified to be president.”He did not realize his mistake -- and laughed it off when it was pointed out to him at the end of the press conference -- but two hours before the event, he caught himself immediately after referring to Zelensky as Putin, explaining that the error happened because he's "so focused on beating Putin.”“I’m better,” Zelensky joked, making light of the matter. “You are a hell of a lot better,” Biden replied.The US President later claimed at the press conference that even European leaders wanted him to win the election ("I'm not hearing my European allies says dont run") because they feared Trump would dismantle NATO. Running for a second term and winning was not just a political issue but a national security issue, he said, asserting that any diminution of NATO would endanger the United States.Biden was similarly forceful about taking on China and Russia., He went into long-winded but cogent policy details that his Republican rival, who publicly admitted he did not know what NATO was before he took office, is clearly incapable of. But such is the searing focus on Biden and standard he is being held to that Trump's own verbal flubs and ignorance is glossed over.Ahead of the press conference, a Pew Research poll found that seventy-one per cent of Biden’s own voters wanted both him and Trump to drop out of the race. While the pressure is expected to increase on Biden because of the inevitability of verbal flubs at public events, there is no expectation of coherence from Trump, whose supporters embrace and celebrate his rambling.
