Feb 8, 2023
Biden Dismisses Questions About Age, Tells Voters to ‘Watch Me’
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden dismissed concerns about his age ahead of an expected 2024 reelection campaign, citing his performance in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address.
“Watch me. It’s all I can say,” Biden said Wednesday in an interview on PBS Newshour about questions some Democratic voters have about his health and fitness to handle another campaign and potential second term.
“It goes from one extreme to another, last night I heard people saying, ‘Well, just watch Biden, by God, age is not an issue any more,’ ” he added.
“I would be completely thoroughly honest with the American people if I thought there was any health problem, anything that would keep me from being able to do the job,” said Biden. “We’ll see but I think people just have to watch me.”
Biden, at 80, is already the oldest president in American history. He has said he intends to run for a second term, but has yet to officially announce a decision. He is expected to begin a campaign in the spring.
“That’s my intention, I think, but I haven’t made that decision firmly yet,” he said Wednesday.
Earlier: Biden Vows No Default as He Mixes Unity Pleas, Scolding for GOP
The president, however, is facing renewed calls from some in his party for a new generation of leadership. A majority of Democrats in a new Associated Press-NORC poll said they prefer that he not run again.
His State of the Union speech served as a de facto soft launch for his reelection run. He touted the achievements of his first term — including low unemployment and passage of climate, health and infrastructure laws — while sounding populist themes like bolstering the middle class and holding to account technology giants as well as oil and pharmaceutical companies.
But Biden will have to confront a major vulnerability if he runs again: polls show voters are giving him little credit for those victories. More than six in 10 Americans do not believe he accomplished much in his first two years in office, according to a Washington Post-ABC News survey.
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.
