It’s being reported by the Washington Post that Joe Biden has conceded to the demands of his fellow Democrats who are angry that he hasn’t done anything since the debate to restore confidence in his candidacy.
Those demands are that “quickly demonstrate his fitness for office or face a significant effort to force him to step aside.”
Here’s the report:
President Biden and his senior team said they accepted Wednesday the grim ultimatum they have been hearing from almost all quarters of the Democratic Party this week: Quickly demonstrate his fitness for office or face a significant effort to force him to step aside.
Growing concern from Capitol Hill, top donors and senior party strategists, including some of his own advisers, prompted Biden to start reaching out to allies in recent days to admit that he is in a tough moment and that he has to prove to voters he is up for the job, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
His critics have been shaken by his relative inaction over the previous six days to directly address the panic ignited by his halting debate performance. Starting Tuesday afternoon, he started calling top congressional leaders, scheduled a sit down interview with ABC News and announced a series of weekend campaign travel that will be closely scrutinized.
Even a spotless performance over the coming week may not save him if significant cracks appear in public and internal polling, said senior Democratic strategists, who like many for this story requested anonymity to describe internal conversations.
One senior campaign adviser called the situation “a deafening silence,” from the top, reflecting the concerns of other advisers who described a failure of the president to publicly demonstrate his fitness for office as panic built inside the party. Other longtime Biden allies have described continued frustration about the political response and a growing conviction that a change needs to be made.
“I think the onus is really on Biden right now to be very candid with all of us privately, not publicly, not that we’re going to tell reporters, but to be very candid with us privately about what happened, what is the larger issue? Can we get through this?” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), reflecting the concern of others. “We do need more than emails of polling briefs from White House legislative affairs directors right now to assuage those concerns.”
Biden spent much of Wednesday trying to push back on the concern, addressing his campaign staff and doing interviews with a series of Black radio stations ahead of a planned meeting with Democratic governors.
One senior campaign adviser called the situation “a deafening silence,” from the top, reflecting the concerns of other advisers who described a failure of the president to publicly demonstrate his fitness for office as panic built inside the party. Other longtime Biden allies have described continued frustration about the political response and a growing conviction that a change needs to be made.
“I think the onus is really on Biden right now to be very candid with all of us privately, not publicly, not that we’re going to tell reporters, but to be very candid with us privately about what happened, what is the larger issue? Can we get through this?” said Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.), reflecting the concern of others. “We do need more than emails of polling briefs from White House legislative affairs directors right now to assuage those concerns.”
Biden spent much of Wednesday trying to push back on the concern, addressing his campaign staff and doing interviews with a series of Black radio stations ahead of a planned meeting with Democratic governors.
“The past few days have been tough. I’m sure you’re getting a lot of calls, and I’m sure many of you have questions as well,” Biden told campaign staffers in a conference call, according to a person familiar with the remarks. “Let me say this as clearly as I possibly can and as simply and straightforward as I can: I am running. I’m the nominee of the Democratic Party. No one’s pushing me out. I’m not leaving. I’m in this race to the end, and we’re going to win because when Democrats unite, we always win.”
What I wonder is if Trump will still debate Biden in September, as they had originally agreed. If I were Trump, I’d find some good excuse to nix it and let the public only have this past debate. Strategically that’s in his best interest. And honestly, I wouldn’t be a part of anything that might help Biden demonstrate fitness for office. Let him do that on his own if he’s capable.