David Brooks and Jim Cason
Correspondents
The newspaper La Jornada
Thursday, July 11, 2024, p. 27
New York and Washington. Biden is friedwas the first reaction of a veteran observer of American politics upon learning that actor George Clooney joined the parade of personalities and politicians, including now at least 10 Democratic legislators, who have publicly expressed their support for the president to abandon his re-election campaign and give way to a new Democratic presidential candidate to confront the right-wing threat of Donald Trump.
Clooney, the famous actor and one of the personalities who have been key in supporting the Democrats with his fame and his fundraising parties, wrote in an article published yesterday in the New York Times that there is no way to hide the deterioration due to age my friend –whom he saw three weeks ago, when the actor hosted the fundraising event for Biden– and warned: We are not going to win in November with this president. He added that this is the opinion of all the legislators he has spoken to recently. He pointed to the example of France and the sacrifice of some 200 candidates to ensure victory against the far right and concluded: Joe Biden is a hero; he rescued democracy in 2020. We need him to do it again in 2024.
Meanwhile, former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was surprised by her lukewarm response when asked if she still supports Biden’s candidacy. Instead of reiterating her full support, the president’s former ally commented: I just want him to do what he decidesand curiously added that We are all encouraging him to make that decision because time is running out.But Biden has been insisting for nearly two weeks that he has already chosen to stay. until the end in this contest.
The list of lawmakers grew on Wednesday, with the top Democratic senator, Peter Welch, joining the chorus of House members and other Democratic politicians and strategists who are publicly calling for Biden to drop out of the race. Another key Democratic senator, Michael Bennet, warned, without explicitly calling for Biden to drop out, that Trump is on track to win the election. and perhaps by an overwhelming margin and thereby take the Senate and the House.. Two other influential senators indicated that Biden needs make a decision because of the consequences that this contest has for the future of democracy – that is, saying without saying that he should withdraw.
And the president went about his duties as host to leaders of NATO countries, holding formal and informal meetings designed in part to show his full capabilities as leader of the military superpower; the next public test will be a news conference scheduled for today, with everyone scrutinizing his performance.
At the same time, Biden and his advisers continue to refuse and refute any suggestion that he will withdraw. In fact, his campaign has scheduled another television interview, this time with NBC News, at prime time for national broadcast next Monday. In every meeting, whether with mayors, governors or legislators, and yesterday with leaders of the AFL-CIO (where he reiterated that he is the most pro-union president in history), Biden and his team insist that he will be the candidate and that he will defeat Trump.
Again the New York Times
For the second time in less than two weeks, the editorial board of the country’s largest and most influential newspaper, the New York Timess, spoke out in favor of Biden withdrawing from the campaign and selecting a candidate who can defeat Trump’s threat. The 2024 presidential election is not a contest between two men, nor between two parties. It is a battle for who we are as a nation.says Monday’s editorial. It concludes that Biden “clearly understands what is at stake. But he seems to have lost sight of his own role in this national drama… he sees himself as indispensable. He does not seem to understand that he is now the problem, and that the Democrats’ best hope of retaining the White House is for him to step aside.”
There are only about 40 days until Biden arrives at the Democratic National Convention in August, where he has every intention of being formally crowned his party’s presidential nominee. Pundits are saying – though there is no firm rule – that once there, there will be no chance of challenging him if he does not concede the nomination. However, 40 days is an eternity in the electoral arena, and it is not yet known what could happen – especially if the polls continue to show a hemorrhage of support for the leader. At the same time, many Democrats warn that keeping this debate open about whether Biden stays or not only helps his opponents.
For their part, Republicans continue to enjoy Biden’s gift and the debate over his uncertain future just days before the start of their national convention in Milwaukee, where next week they will crown Donald Trump as their presidential candidate. There, the central themes will be the anti-immigrant strategy repeated incessantly by their candidate, the annulment of environmental and anti-discrimination measures and the dismantling of some parts of the federal bureaucracy, including the promise to close the Department of Education.
A Republican propaganda billboard declares that the dimencia [sic] Biden’s record is getting worse. He is not fit. A comment on the networks that circulates with the image of the advertisement points out that those [los republicanos] who want to abolish the Department of Education paid for a giant billboard where they misspelled the word dementia (in the ad it says dimensionthe correct word in English is dementia).
