Chatting, selfies, lemonade: US President Biden is campaigning in the “swing state” of Pennsylvania in a very personal way. Meanwhile, concerned members of his party are getting together for consultations.
Despite the debate about his physical fitness for a second term, US President Joe Biden has made a series of campaign appearances in the state of Pennsylvania. The 81-year-old Democrat first spoke at a church in Philadelphia that has historically been attended primarily by black people. In the same city, he then made a surprise stop to meet campaign workers before finally speaking at length with supporters in Harrisburg further west, posing for selfies and drinking lemonade. On the way back to the airport, he visited a café.
Biden seemed to want to counter the narrative of last week that he was no longer physically capable of campaigning. While he was touring Pennsylvania, Democratic members of the House of Representatives met in an extraordinary conference call. The minority leader of the parliamentary chamber, Hakeem Jeffries, had called the meeting. US media reported afterwards, citing people familiar with the situation, that several high-ranking party representatives were convinced that Biden must drop out of the race for the White House.
During the nearly two-hour call, there was general agreement that Vice President Kamala Harris should be nominated instead, reported US broadcaster CNN, citing a source involved in the conversation.
Internal tensions among the Democrats
If these representatives make public their belief that Biden should step aside, they would join five representatives who have already taken this step. Two other representatives have made public their assessment that Biden cannot win the presidential election in November against his Republican challenger Donald Trump. Other Democratic members of Congress have so far not been quite as drastic, but have expressed concern.
The Democrats fear that Biden’s situation could affect their own mandate – in the US election in November, in addition to the presidency, all seats in the House of Representatives and a third of all seats in the Senate are up for vote. This is why further dissenters are expected in the course of the session week in the US parliament that begins today. However, a meeting of Democratic senators, which according to US media was planned for today, will not take place after all, according to a report by “Axios”.
“This cannot be a week of business as usual,” Senator Chris Murphy told CNN. Biden must prove to the American public that he is still the man “that so many of us know and love.” Murphy stressed that he believes Biden can do it, but also said: “The clock is ticking.”
Adam Schiff made a similar statement on NBC. The Democratic congressman found Biden’s statement in a widely watched TV interview on Friday (local time) that it was ultimately a question of whether he had “done his best” as a candidate – even if he did not win the election – particularly worrying. Schiff strongly disagreed: “It’s not just a question of whether he did his best, but rather whether he made the right decision to run.” It’s a question of “whether this country remains a democracy or whether we are drifting into some kind of pseudo-dictatorship,” said Schiff.
Sanders supports Biden
Bernie Sanders assessed the situation differently. “President Biden can clearly defeat Donald Trump, the most dangerous president in the history of this country,” the independent senator stated on CBS. Biden is old and can no longer express himself so elegantly, Sanders admitted. “I wish he could jump up the steps of Air Force One – he can’t.” But the focus of the debate must now be whose policies benefit the vast majority of the country.
In Pennsylvania – a “swing state” that cannot be firmly assigned to either Democrats or Republicans – Biden presented himself side by side with political allies from the state and, among other things, self-ironicly addressed his advanced age.
“I know I look like I’m only 40 years old,” he joked in front of a cheering congregation in the church in Philadelphia. “But I’ve been around for a while and frankly I’ve never been more optimistic about America’s future.” But everyone has to work together to achieve this, said Biden. He read his speech from a manuscript in a powerful voice. In subsequent appearances, he spoke without notes or a teleprompter – a demand that concerned party colleagues had made several times before.
Host of the NATO summit
Since his disastrous performance in the first TV debate against Trump, Biden has been fighting on all fronts. A TV interview with Biden on Friday (local time) fueled doubts about his suitability rather than dispelling them. Among other things, he said that only God could make him withdraw, refused a medical test to determine his mental fitness and questioned poor poll ratings.
Meanwhile, the White House has already announced further appointments for Biden in mid-July. This week, the US President will host the NATO summit in the capital Washington. How he performs there will probably be closely monitored.
