US President Joe Biden resumed his campaign on Friday with a visit to Michigan, one of the key states where Democrats have decided to focus their efforts to beat former Republican President Donald Trump (2017-2021) and from where he assured voters that he would continue in the race.
“I am the nominee” for the Democratic nomination “and no one, not the press, not the analysts, not the donors, decided; it was you, the voters,” he insisted from the podium at a rally in Detroit.
“I’m not going anywhere,” said the 81-year-old president, who is immersed in a political crisis following his disastrous performance in the first presidential debate.
More than 15 Democratic Party lawmakers have publicly called for him to withdraw from the election, along with dozens of political analysts and influential figures from the media and entertainment world.
The president, however, has given no indication that he wants to change his position and has entrenched himself in defending his candidacy, assuring that he is the only one who can beat Trump at the polls on November 5.
After the electoral “break” for the NATO summit, held from Tuesday to Thursday in Washington, Biden returned his focus to the presidential election. Before the rally, he held a direct meeting with his voters, this time in the small town of Northville, with regarding 6,000 inhabitants.
“I’m here to finish the job. There are still things to do. I know I’m only 41,” he said jokingly.
Criticism of his age and his poor performance in the June 27 debate have overshadowed his campaign, and it is not the first time Biden has resorted to humor to try to downplay it.
“For a long time, I was too young. I was the second-youngest man ever elected to the Senate. And now I’m too old, but I know that, hopefully, with age comes a little wisdom,” added the Democratic president, who is only three and a half years older than Trump.
“I promise you that I’m fine,” he stressed.
Biden recalled that in 2020 he ran for president with the idea that it was time to restore ethics to politics, and this Friday he insisted on the same line, stressing that his Republican rival cannot be considered an alternative.
“This is an important moment. (…) Decency matters,” he said, noting that he has never been more optimistic regarding the United States’ chances and considering that in these three and a half years in which he has been in charge he has achieved “a lot of progress.”
That optimism contrasts with growing calls for him to reconsider his candidacy, which have come from both within his own ranks and from prominent Hollywood figures, such as George Clooney on Wednesday and Ashley Judd this Friday.
According to an internal memo from his campaign revealed on Thursday and to which EFE has had access, the “path to 270,” the minimum electoral votes needed to win the presidential election, has “its clearest path” with victories in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania, which make up the so-called Democratic “blue wall.”
An exclusive published this Friday by NBC News highlights, however, that several advisers very close to Biden believe that there is no viable path for him to beat Trump and that he should “retire” since “he will never be able to recover” from his poor performance in the debate and the increased attention on his age and his ability to govern for four more years.
The New York Times added Friday that major Democratic donors have told Biden’s largest political action committee, Future Forward, that its pledge of $90 million will be put on hold if he goes ahead.
Trump remains ahead in the polls and will see his Republican candidacy confirmed next week at the convention his party is holding in Milwaukee from Monday to Thursday.
Washington / EFE
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2024-07-15 01:15:39
