WASHINGTON: President Joe Biden faced more calls from fellow Democrats to abandon his re-election bid on Friday, following a news conference in which he delivered nuanced responses but occasionally stumbled over his words.

It was unclear whether Biden’s performance would convince doubters in his party that he is their best bet to defeat Republican Donald Trump in the Nov 5 election and serve another four-year term in the White House.

At least 17 congressional Democrats so far have called for him to drop out and allow the party to pick another standard-bearer, including some who announced their positions after the news conference on Thursday night.

Democrats are worried that Biden’s low public approval ratings and growing concerns that he is too old for the job could cause them to lose seats in the House and Senate, leaving them with no grip on power in Washington should Trump win the White House.

US president makes it clear he has no plan to step aside

But Biden made clear that he did not plan to step aside. “If I show up at the convention and everybody says they want someone else, that’s the democratic process,” Biden said, before shifting to the stage whisper he often uses for emphasis to add, “It’s not gonna happen.”

Biden perhaps did not reassure those who were spooked by his poor presidential debate performance against Trump on June 27.

At one point, he referred to his vice president, Kamala Harris, as “Vice President Trump”. That came just hours after he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” at the Nato summit, drawing gasps from those in the room.

Biden occasionally garbled his responses at the news conference, yet he also delivered detailed assessments of global issues, including Ukraine’s war with Russia and the Gaza conflict, that served as a reminder of his decades of experience on the world stage.

Some Democrats were not reassured.

“We must put forward the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden,” said Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, who called on the president to end his campaign after the news conference.

But one influential party figure, Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, reiterated his support on Friday morning.

“I am all in. I’m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes,” he said on NBC’s “Today” programme.

Published in Dawn, July 13th, 2024