President of the United States and Democrat nominee Joe Biden has dismissed concerns about his health and doubts about his re-election bid in November 2024.
He posted on X: “I’m not letting one 90-minute debate wipe out three and a half years of work. I’m staying in the race, and I will beat Donald Trump.”
Biden, 81, who did not fare well against Republican candidate Trump, 78, during the June 27 debate of presidential election nominees, brushed off that performance as a “bad episode” and insisted that only “the Lord almighty” could persuade him to exit the race.
The incumbent president said this yesterday in a television interview, a week after his debate in Atlanta against Trump.
In the 22-minute high-stakes interview on ABC News, aimed at quelling a burgeoning rebellion in the Democratic Party, Biden said that he had “a bad night” and he was “exhausted” and “sick” during his first presidential debate with Trump.
Asserting that he was staying in the race, Biden claimed that he was “running the world” and that no one was “more qualified” to be president.
Incidentally, some top Democrats are reportedly looking at US Vice-President Kamala Harris as the new presidential candidate, if Biden were to exit.
In a feature headlined ‘The Reintroduction of Kamala Harris’, published yesterday, The New York Times reported: “Representative James E. Clyburn, the South Carolina Democrat who is widely credited for reviving Mr. Biden’s 2020 campaign, said in an interview this week that he would support Ms. Harris should the president bow out. He threw cold water on any alternative. ‘This party should not, in any way, do anything to work around Ms. Harris,’ he said.”
During his TV interview, asked whether he would be willing to have an independent cognitive evaluation and release the results to the American people, Biden said, “Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Every day, I’ve had tests. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, I’m running the world.”
About being “sick” before the debate, when asked whether that was a bad episode or a sign of a more serious condition, Biden dismissed those concerns.
“It was a bad episode. No indication of any serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn’t listen to my instincts in terms of preparing and… [it was] a bad night,” said Biden, adding that his top party leadership had asked him to stay in the race.
“[That day] I was sick. I was feeling terrible. Matter of fact, the docs [are] with me. I asked if they did a COVID test, because they were trying to figure out what was wrong. They did a test to see whether or not I had some infection, a virus. I didn’t. I just had a really bad cold,” he said, reiterating that he was running for the presidency.
Taking responsibility for the bad debate night, Biden said, “Yeah, look, the whole way I prepared, [it was] nobody’s fault but mine. I prepared what I usually would do, sitting down as I did, come back with foreign leaders or the National Security Council for explicit detail.”
Biden added that Trump “lied 28 times” during the presidential debate.
Then he said, “If the Lord Almighty came down and said, ‘Joe, get out of the race,’ [then] I’d get out of the race. The Lord Almighty’s not coming down.”
The interviewer asked, “Do you dispute that there have been more lapses, especially in the last seven months?”
Biden replied, “Can I run the 100 [metres] in 10 [seconds] flat? No. But I’m still in good shape.”
The interviewer asked, “Are you more frail?”
Biden replied, “No. Come keep my schedule.”
Asked by the interviewer whether he was being honest with himself about his ability to beat Trump, Biden said, “Yes. Yes, yes, yes.”
In reaction to Biden’s interview, Indian American Congressman Ro Khanna, according to The New York Times, said that he expected “complete transparency” from the White House and a willingness to answer “many legitimate questions” from the news media and voters about the president’s abilities.
“He has to earn that trust, and that requires more than one interview,” Khanna was quoted as saying by NYT.
During a rally in the battleground state of Wisconsin, the president asserted that he was in the race and would win the election again.
“We had a little debate last week. Can’t say it was my best performance. But ever since then, there’s been a lot of speculation. What’s Joe going to do? Is he going to stay in the race? Is he going to drop out? What’s he going to do? Well, here’s my answer: I am running and going to win again,” Biden told his cheering supporters.
He said, “…Some folks don’t seem to care who you voted for. Well, guess what? They’re trying to push me out of the race. Well, let me say this as clearly as I can. I’m staying in the race. I’ll beat Donald Trump. I beat him in 2020. And by the way, we’re going to do it again in 2024.”
Biden also took this opportunity to address the issue of his advancing age. He told the rally audience, “You probably also noticed a lot of discussion about my age. I keep seeing all those stories about I’m being too old. Let me say something: I wasn’t too old to create over 15 million new jobs; to make sure 21 million Americans are insured under the Affordable Care Act; to beat Big Pharma…”
—With inputs from CtoI News Desk
