It's crunch time for President Biden amid concerns about his ability to mount a successful re-election campaign. Today, all eyes will be on two events:
President Biden arrives Friday in Madison, Wis., for what will be a critical few hours as he holds a rally attempting to inject new life into a flagging campaign and sits for an ABC News interview as part of an effort to demonstrate his verbal and mental ability.
In the seven days that have passed since the June 27 presidential debate between Biden and presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump, the Biden campaign has faced an onslaught of concerns and complaints, with calls from fellow Democrats for him to drop out, donors angry that he is not doing more to reassure voters, and advisers trying to rally behind him.
Biden and his team, recognizing that they face a narrow window to steady the situation and prevent further defections within an already anxious Democratic Party, scrambled to stage an afternoon rally in a key swing state and agreed to an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that will air in prime time Friday.
Overall, Friday will amount to one of the most critical days of Biden’s long political career. And for a man who has declared himself a respecter of fate and has faced both tragedy and triumph, it is a moment for him to try to demonstrate that he has the stamina for not only a grueling months-long presidential campaign but also another four-year term...
The party owes him a chance to respond to calls for him to step aside, though his debate performance seems to have significantly crystallized broad public opinion that was already of a mind that he was "too old to be an effective President." In our opinion, he was performing effectively as President by almost every metric -- major legislation passed, moral leadership, global respect, etc. But there's no doubt the catastrophic debate performance has required the rethinking that's currently roiling the party and its base. Today is a critical day for the Biden campaign to try to reassure all those who have been left to wonder if he can save America from the fascism of the Malignant Loser, because that's the only thing that matters in the end.
BONUS: Telling supporters he's not scheduling events after 8 pm in order to get more sleep might not be the right messaging at this juncture.
