President Joe Biden on Thursday avoided a repeat of his disastrous debate night — despite notable flubs — in a foreign policy-laden news conference aimed at assuring Democrats that he can still beat former President Donald Trump.
“I think I’m the best-qualified person to do the job,” Biden said at one point, touting his ability to lead the Western response to Russia’s war against Ukraine.
His appearance, though, is unlikely to stem the flow of Democrats calling for him to bow out of the race. And it doesn’t help that he flubbed some answers and, at one point, referred to “Vice President Trump” instead of Vice President Harris.
Just before the news conference, Biden referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, standing nearby, as Russian President Vladimir Putin before quickly correcting himself.
“Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin,” Biden said before quickly realizing his mistake and adding, “He’s gonna beat President Putin, President Zelenskyy.”
“I’m so focused on beating President Putin,” he said.
Biden opened the door slightly to stepping aside, telling reporters that if his team presented him data showing he had no chance of beating Trump, he would listen. But, as of Thursday, it didn’t appear that the campaign or the White House had discussed that possibility, though there were reports of grumbles behind closed doors.
Earlier Thursday, Biden’s top campaign advisors explained that they still have multiple paths to the 270 electoral votes needed to win.
“Our internal data and public polling show the same thing: this remains a margin-of-error race in key battleground states,” Biden’s campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez wrote in a memo to staffers that was first published by The Associated Press and later obtained by Business Insider.
They conceded that the debate had been a setback for the president but argued it was far too early to count him out.
Biden in his wheelhouse
The good news for Biden is that the news conference set him up in his wheelhouse: foreign policy. As a US senator, Biden served on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee for decades and eventually rose to lead the panel. President Barack Obama praised Biden’s knowledge of world affairs when he tapped him as his running mate.
Following the press conference, pundits and journalists acknowledged his command of the issues. But there is still concern — even from Europeans at the NATO summit — about his ability to campaign and beat Trump.
Biden’s press conference was likely never going to assuage Democrats’ concerns. Multiple lawmakers have said they wanted to see the president get out on the campaign trail, hold more news conferences, and grant more in-depth interviews. Biden seemed to acknowledge this during his press conference.
Unfortunately for Biden, this was his first live unscripted event following the debate two weeks ago. His current schedule sets up a reality where each new event becomes a proverbial cliffhanger — will this be a debate repeat? — rather than a chance to focus on his opponent and his weaknesses.
This jarring cycle was thrown into sharp relief shortly after Biden left the stage. Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, called on the president to step aside.
There are now 17 congressional Democrats who have called on Biden to withdraw. After the news conference, one of those lawmakers said that Biden had done a fine job but that he just couldn’t stomach the current trajectory of the race.
“We just can’t have a situation where every day we are holding our breath whether it is a press conference, a debate, or a rally,” Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois told CNN.
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