Biden, efforts to mitigate the party's concerns about his health

2024-07-03 20:04:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Biden, efforts to mitigate the party's concerns about his health

US President, Joe Biden. Source, AP

US President Joe Biden will meet with some of the 23 Democratic governors on Wednesday as part of efforts to reassure top political colleagues that he is fit to remain the party's nominee for the 2024 election. weak in the first televised debate with the expected Republican candidate for President, Donald Trump.

Mr. Biden's meeting with governors comes as his advisers have sought to reassure the Democratic Party's biggest donors, lawmakers and key supporters that he is capable of running against Mr. Trump and can defeat him in the Nov. 5 election. .

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Biden's team released a memo showing that the Democratic candidate, after the televised debate, had fallen slightly in national polls against Mr. Trump.

However, other independent polls have shown former President Trump gaining ground after the debate. The debate, hosted by the American television network CNN, was watched by 51 million people.

At a fund-raiser Tuesday night in suburban Washington, Mr. Biden offered an explanation for his appearance at the debate. He said he had a lack of sleep and cited the long travel schedule in the weeks before the debate as an excuse.

The President traveled to Europe where he participated in the ceremonies for the 80th anniversary of the Allied landings in Europe in Normandy, France and then to Italy for a meeting of the group of seven most developed countries of the world. He has also traveled within the United States meeting with supporters as the presidential race unfolds.

" The fact is that I did not act smartly. I decided to travel around the world several times, crossing about 100 time zones ... before ... the debate. I didn't listen to my advisors and when I came back, I almost fell asleep on stage ," he said. "This is not an excuse, but an explanation."

A handful of Democratic officials have begun to publicly express their concerns about whether candidate Biden has the mental acuity and physical strength to finish the campaign and serve another four-year term, which would end in early 2029, when he would be 86 years old.

Lloyd Doggett, a 15-term House lawmaker from Texas, on Tuesday became the first Democratic official to publicly call on Mr. Biden to step down. He said that Mr. Biden must "make the painful and difficult decision to withdraw."

Lawmaker Doggett said that " my decision to go public with these strong concerns was not taken lightly, nor does it in any way diminish my respect for all that President Biden has accomplished ."

However, Mr. Doggett cited candidate Biden's poor showing during the debate and his failure to "effectively defend his many accomplishments."

The Texas lawmaker told National Public Radio that while he is the only Democratic lawmaker to make the public call, he added that he is voicing the views of others. He added, "I have not received any reprimand from the party's top officials."

Senior Democratic officials, however, have expressed support for Mr. Biden after the debate, saying he must forcefully counter growing concerns among his party colleagues.

New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic Senate majority leader, said Tuesday he believed the 81-year-old president was capable of serving another term.

" I'm with Joe Biden, " he said, echoing the comments of other top party officials.

But Nancy Pelosi, a lawmaker from California and former speaker of the House of Representatives, said that while she supports Mr. Biden as a candidate, the question of whether the poor performance in the debate was a one-off or a sign of the President's worsening condition is a legitimate question. She added that she has heard "mixed" views from donors on whether candidate Biden was able to continue his run for a second term as President.

ABC News, which collects polling data and other information to make its election predictions, said Democratic candidate Biden had dropped in national polls after the debate. However, the television announced that it has come to the conclusion that "four months before the day of the elections, their result is still unclear".

There is no sign that Mr. Biden is seriously considering dropping out of the race, which would repeat the 2020 showdown with Mr. Trump.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island told a local television station in the northeastern state that he was "appalled" by Mr. Biden's performance during the debate. He asked the White House for assurances about "Biden's condition ... that this was really an anomaly and not the condition he is in now."

Vermont Democratic Sen. Peter Welch said the Democratic candidate Biden's campaign is taking "a dismissive attitude toward people who raise questions for discussion."

President Biden has admitted that his performance was poor against Republican candidate Trump during the 90-minute televised showdown. This was the first televised debate of two scheduled for this election campaign. The next debate is expected to be held on September 10.

But the day after the debate, he appeared energized at a campaign rally in North Carolina, even as he admitted that “I know I'm not a young guy. I don't walk as easily as before, I don't speak as well as I used to, but I know how to do one thing: I know how to tell the truth!"

Democratic candidate Joe Biden added that he would not run for a second term if he did not believe "with all my heart and soul that I can do it."

Some information for this article was obtained from the news agency 'Reuters'./ VOA