President Joe Biden tried to shake off questions about his age, but now he can no longer escape them, foreign journalist Ilmari Reunamäki estimates.
Ilmari Reunamäki foreign correspondent
of a sitting President of the United States Joe Biden dreams of a second term in the White House may have come crashing down Thursday on the debate stage in Atlanta.
Biden and his Republican challenger, former Pres Donald Trump the first encounter since the last debate of the previous election had been loaded with huge expectations.
The candidates’ support, which is close to each other, had hardly moved in one direction or the other during the entire year. It seems to be moving now.
Biden agreed to the debate stage with Trump because he wanted to shake off concerns that, at 81, he would be too old to continue in office for the next four years.
However, Biden’s performance was a disaster.
He walked on stage looking tired and his voice was very hoarse from the first moments. Both Biden’s gaze and thoughts wandered, especially at the beginning of the debate, and his performance only improved momentarily during the debate.
Biden’s performance may be symbolized by the moment in which he struggled badly and finally said that he had “finally defeated social security for the elderly”.
Biden’s campaign team has told several American media that the president’s poor performance was due to the flu. However, the matter was not announced before the start of the debate, which tends to raise questions. Is Biden often this fragile behind the scenes?
Hardly an argument for voters I remember new things in the line differences between Biden and Trump. During the debate, as expected, the economy, immigration and foreign policy were discussed, but the differences between the candidates are well known to a large part of the people. The only memory of the evening is how old Biden looked on stage.
As usual, Trump faithfully praised himself and the achievements of his presidency. According to him, Biden has managed to destroy almost everything, but he promised that he will still be able to fix the situation. Trump’s performance wasn’t perfect, but he sounded significantly more consistent next to Biden.
Four years ago, Trump messed up the first debate by interrupting Biden by constantly yelling at him. Now the microphones were closed for the second round of answers. This time, Trump knew how to smartly stand next to him quietly, while Biden fumbled with his own answers.
The expert panel of CNN, which organized the debate, unanimously condemned Biden’s performance immediately after the debate ended. The only news topic in the United States for the next few days is whether the Democrats can still change their presidential candidate less than two months before the convention.
However, changing the candidate so close to the November election day is a huge risk because there is no clear rising star in the party. Biden would have to decide to drop out of the race himself, so that the struggle tearing the party apart could start.
Until now, Biden has stubbornly thought that he is still the only Democrat who can stop Trump. Now this belief is being tested.