President Joe Biden has a new opportunity on Thursday to try to demonstrate to the American public that is capable of leading the country for another four years after his stunning debate failure put the future of his presidency in doubt. But Biden He is not known as a master of the great rhetorical moment and its recent efforts to polish its image have proven insufficient.
Biden, 81, will close the NATO summit in Washington – an event intended to showcase his leadership on the world stage – with a rare solo press conference. Its vigor and effectiveness are under scrutiny like never before and is having a hard time calm the panic of the Democratic Party regarding its chances in November.
Their successes
In many ways, from job growth and critical legislation to the expansion of the transatlantic alliance, Biden can boast of successes during his term. But where it has sometimes failed –spectacularly in the case of debate – is a defining part of the role that is not listed in the official job description: delivering inspiring oratory that inspires attention and respect of the nation.
Biden has tried to improve his performance since the debate, but his subsequent interview on ABC last week was disappointing. Nothing he has tried seems to stop the bleeding. More lawmakers are calling for him to step down out of concern that he will end up handing the White House back to Republican former President Donald Trump.
Americans tend to view their leaders less for what they do than for what they do. what makes them feeland the Biden debate disaster has shaken his party to its core.
“The debate was a reminder that you can have as many policies as you want, but what the public sees and hears can matter more,” said Julian Zelizer, a presidential historian at Princeton.
Rhetoric is intertwined with the modern presidency, from the “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself” from Franklin D. Roosevelt to the “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” they Ronald Reagan.
It can inspire after a tragedy, like George W. Bush’s megaphone speech on the rubble smoldering clouds of Ground Zero, and help a country tired of war and recession regain its sense of identity, as “If possible!” of Barack Obama. Even the cry of “Make America Great Again” Donald Trump’s speech reflected the temperament of a worried country.
“People saw Trump as a reflection of a more turbulent, chaotic and angry country,” Zelizer said. “Voters might see Biden’s fragility as a symbol of weakness or one’s own instability“.
Biden can make a good speechHis State of the Union address earlier this year helped quiet doubts about his viability as a candidate. But his strength as a president and politician has been the way his humanity in intimate settings resonated with voters and the power of his personal story and down-to-earth roots.
But those moments, whether in private or before small groups, even if amplified on social media as Biden’s team hopes, will likely reach fewer people than the tens of millions who watched his duel with Trump.
Despite calls from some members of his party for him to step aside, Biden insists he is the best Democrat to defeat Trump whose candidacy he has described as an existential threat to democracy.
His press conference will be followed closely to see his ability to think with his feet on the ground, demonstrate dynamism and make it clear that he is still capable of holding the presidency or of winning it again.
Even before the debate, Biden’s victories as president have often come despite his inability to make them count in front of a skeptical public. Looking ahead to his contest with Trump, has historically low approval ratings for an American leader And he has been unable to overcome voter pessimism about the direction of the country, with most voters in his own party already considering him too big to effectively lead the nation.
“The president is a symbol”
The debate, rather than helping Biden reframe the race with Trump, confirmed voters’ pre-established fears about him, said Allison Prasch, a rhetoric professor who researches presidential communication at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
“The president is a symbol”he explained, adding that Americans often look to the president as a mirror that reflects their hopes and fears.
“You could argue that when you see a president who appears weak, who is struggling to perform some of the basic tasks of the presidency, it raises questions about the state of the nation,” he said.
He contrasted his recent, hesitant public statements with his campaign message of four years ago.
“In 2020, he promised to show confidence in the face of chaos. He said: ‘I am a firm force’“Prasch said. “If that’s how he presented himself and he does the opposite in the debate, that’s exactly why this one was so dissonant to the public.”
Biden aides and allies responded to the debate with a series of public statements defending Biden’s mental state and fitness for office, focusing largely on the big decisions of the Oval Office rather than his ability to communicate them to the public.
“I have seen no reason to question or doubt his clarity, his grasp of context, his inquisitiveness and the extent to which he has a complete command of the facts and figures,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Monday.
Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa who served in four administrations, said he was never concerned about Biden’s decision-making.
Speaking about Biden, he told The Associated Press: “I’ve never seen a president who is not prepared, who is not thoughtful, who does not ask hard questions of those in the room or of a foreign leader,” adding that Biden “makes decisions that are sometimes difficult and then actually follows through on them.”
Inconsistent and disappointing
Although Biden and his team have made a concerted effort since the debate to increase their public visibility – which had been limited by aides concerned about Biden’s tendency to blunder or make missteps-the president has proven to be inconsistent and sometimes disappointing.
At his campaign events on Sunday in Pennsylvania, Biden spoke speeches of less than 10 minutes at a Philadelphia church and a rally in Harrisburg, but spent three times as much time taking selfies and hugging children, the kind of content that has always helped his fortunes in politics.
In a phone interview with MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Biden sounded defiant and disgusted with party “elites” while pledging to stay in the race. In his opening speech at the NATO summit, Biden was forceful in his defense of the alliance.
“The more he goes out to campaign with voters, the starker the contrast will be and the easier the choice will be for those voters between Joe Biden, a decent man that fights for the middle class and a deranged billionaire “like Trump who wants to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and turn our country into a dictatorship,” said campaign spokesman Kevin Muñoz.
But when asked in the ABC interview how he would feel if his candidacy brought Trump back to the White House, he gave a confusing and uninspiring response: “I’ll feel like, even though I gave it my all and did the best I know I can do, that’s what it’s all about.”