Biden reelection announcement was all about timing

NEWS AND OPINION:

Some puzzle over President Biden’s big reveal this week — we’re talking about his grand announcement that he plans to run for reelection in 2024. Observers are pondering the motive and parsing the timing of the event.

“So what’s behind this? And why so early? Ronald Reagan didn’t announce his re-election candidacy until early in 1984, though Bill Clinton announced his 1996 candidacy in April 1995. Therein likes the beginning of an answer,” writes Steven Hayward, resident scholar at the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, in an analysis to the news-and-opinion site Powerline.

“If Biden waited much longer, the chance of more potential Democratic challengers would grow every day, along with speculation that Biden wasn’t going to go through with it,” Mr. Hayward said, pointing out that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears to be one of the few viable challengers to the incumbent president at the moment.

“The other rational reason for Biden to announce now is to keep from becoming a lame duck and losing his already dwindling political clout. But the final reason is sheer vanity and ego on his part: after panting after the presidency for 50 years like Gollum after the Ring, he’s not going to give it up at this point — senility or not,” Mr. Hayward said.

SEEMS LIKE OLD TIMES

Those who recall the 2020 election will likely remember that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was criticized for not appearing on the actual campaign trail very much.

“Have you seen Joe Biden lately? Probably not. Hardly anyone has. The presumptive Democratic nominee has been largely holed up at his Wilmington, Delaware, home,” U.S. News & World Report said on Aug. 7, 2020.

Some say this pattern continues.

“Let’s talk a little bit about what the Democrats are doing. They don’t want Joe Biden to be on a debate stage with two other candidates that would make him look really old,” Fox News host Steve Doocy said on Wednesday while interviewing Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.

“Yes, they don’t want Joe Biden anywhere. They don’t want him in front of the press,” Mrs. McDaniel replied.

“So they’re going to hide him. It’s going to be hidden Biden again, just like we had in 2020. And I just hope the American people reject that, and want to see this candidate face the American people and answer tough questions, which he’s never done,” she continued.

“I don’t want Joe Biden, and it has nothing to do with his age or the fact that he falls down the stairs or other things that are gaffe-worthy or memes. I don’t want him because our southern border is wide open. Fentanyl is poisoning our children. He’s not taking a stand on China on any level. He’s abandoned our energy independence. He has allowed crime to surge in our major cities. He has been a catastrophe for the American people, especially when we look at inflation, which is a tax hike on every single American,” Mrs. McDaniel said.

“Joe Biden has failed the American people. The last thing we want is for him to finish that job because finishing that job is basically finishing America,” she advised.

ANOTHER MOTIVE

Let’s consider just one more angle of President Biden’s newly emerged campaign, and the lone video that announced it to the world.

“The video betrays a little too obviously what Democrats and the press know but don’t like to admit in public: Mr. Biden desperately wants a rematch with Donald Trump. He doesn’t want to run on his own record. He wants to run one more time by stoking fear about what might happen if the former President returns to the Oval Office,” The Wall Street Journal stated in an editorial published Wednesday.

“Mr. Biden won in 2020 by campaigning largely as the anti-Trump — a reassuring old hand you wouldn’t have to think about every day — and he figures he can do it again. The campaign strategy of putting Mr. Trump front and center worked to minimize Democratic losses in 2022. And the party is rolling it out again as Democratic prosecutors line up to keep Mr. Trump center stage with real and potential criminal indictments designed to stretch from here to Election Day,” the news organization said.

It also pointed to another stark factor.

“No one motivates Democrats to vote more than Mr. Trump,” the Journal said.

HOW VIVEK SEES IT

Conservative political outsider and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy continues his quest for the White House with virtually nonstop campaigning in several states. He’s got a plan.

“Vivek’s path to victory is straightforward and simple: only an outsider and non-politician will inherit the America First mantle. GOP voters simply do not trust career politicians. Every other candidate in this race, other than Vivek or Donald Trump, has spent their lifetime as a professional politician,” Mr. Ramaswamy’s campaign said in a written statement shared with Inside the Beltway.

“Vivek’s small dollar strength continues to grow and impress and will ensure his presence at the center of the debate stage. Despite starting at zero, Team Vivek has in just 8 weeks: Raised over $1 million in small dollars,” the campaign said, adding that the funds came from over 20,000 individual donors.

“Vivek Ramaswamy has exploded on the political scene as the upstart, firebrand conservative in the race for the 2024 GOP nomination. In less than two and a half months, and with no previous political experience, he has built an aggressive and innovative campaign led by seasoned political operatives with strong operations in the key early states. Combined with his financial resources and media savvy, Vivek 2024 is quietly positioned to win early primaries and shock the world,” the campaign said in a brief summary.  

POLL DU JOUR

• 66% of U.S. adults watch or follow scientists or experts to get reliable news and information.

• 58% turn to journalists, 54% to politicians.

• 43% turn to broadcast shows or program hosts, 36% to activists or community organizers.

• 32% turn to comedians, 25% to religious leaders.

• 17% turn to actors, 16% to social media influencers.

• 12% turn to athletes, 6% to some other source.

SOURCE: A Gallup/Knight Foundation poll of 3,800 U.S. adults conducted Oct. 17-28 and released Wednesday. Respondents could pick more than one source of news.

• Follow Jennifer Harper on Twitter @HarperBulletin.