- US President Joe Biden’s bid for a second term now.
- If re-elected and remains healthy, he will be 86 years old.
- His bid is considered a foregone conclusion among grassroots Democrats.
Philadelphia: It was previously considered an outside bet, but US President Joe Biden‘s bid for a second term is now considered a foregone conclusion among grassroots Democrats planning the path for the next election at their winter gathering.
The elderly leader, who was scheduled to make the keynote message at the Democratic National Committee’s convention on Friday, has become something of a celebrity among activists anxious to hear him speak at a posh hotel in ancient Philadelphia.
“All of you have to be his… evangelist in the next two years,” Ken Martin, the leader of the Minnesota Democratic Party, told a panel discussion ahead of Biden’s speech, expected later in the afternoon.
“There has been no president that has done more in the past two years,” he added, pointing to the once-in-a-generation package Biden signed into law to rebuild America’s crumbling infrastructure, and his efforts to boost unionized labor.
He fired up campaigners who had traveled from all four corners of the country to plan the 2024 campaign, telling the gathering, “We’ve got to get out there… sell that to the American people.”
Age-old question
Republicans may have the elephant as their official emblem, but anytime Democrats debate Biden in 2024, there is a gigantic pachyderm in the room.
The 46th President was born near the end of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency rather than the beginning of his own.
He is already the oldest president in US history, and if re-elected and remains healthy, he will be 86 when the time comes to hand over the keys to the Oval Office.
Many of his detractors believe that is simply too old, especially given that the former senator and vice president promised in 2020 to make his presidency a “bridge” to a younger generation.
“I hear that from time to time but I don’t hear it as much as you might think,” says Martin, downplaying what could be an easy talking point for Biden’s Republican opponent in the race for the White House.
Many Democrats, like Martin, are putting aside worries about Biden’s old age in order to rally behind him ahead of what is likely to be an upcoming announcement that he would run for re-election for another four years.
Even members of the party’s progressive wing, who were initially skeptical of the president’s social and environmental program, have come over.
“I wouldn’t discriminate against somebody because they’re a certain age if they’re advancing an agenda that works,” Pennsylvania state representative Malcolm Kenyatta, nearly 50 years the president’s junior.
Republican Party’s last breaths
Opposition to Biden’s probable candidature came mostly from outside the tent in Philadelphia, the hallowed cradle of US democracy.
In the chilly wind on Friday, a vehicle with the crude but pointed motto “Don’t run, Joe” conducted circuits around the convention hall.
“He’s an extremely poor candidate heading into 2024,” said Sam Rosenthal, the dissident whose group is not associated with the Democratic Party.
According to Rosenthal, the simmering issue surrounding Biden’s retention of confidential materials, as well as his insufficiently progressive ideas, make the incumbent a “non-viable” choice for the Democratic candidature.
A truck parked outside the Democrats’ winter conference in Philadelphia revealed that not all Democrats support Joe Biden’s re-election.
A truck parked outside the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia showed that not all Democrats support Joe Biden for a second term.
These concerns were mirrored by Democrats abroad, but they went unheard in the “City of Brotherly Love.”
Biden, who faced approximately 15 opponents in the party’s 2020 primary, is set to run unchallenged if he decides to prolong his term.
The identity of his likely Republican opponent will remain a mystery for the next year or so, with Donald Trump far from assured to remain his party’s frontrunner.
“I believe that we are seeing some of the last breaths of the Republican Party,” said Jaime Harrison, the Democratic Party chairman, brimming with confidence.
“Take your medicine, take your vitamins, and just get ready.”
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