Biden Did The Big Interview, Now What?

The President's ABC News interview raised more questions than it answered.

Like many of you, I hadn’t planned my holiday weekend around watching a consequential presidential interview. Family obligations prevented me from watching President Biden’s interview with ABC News’ George Stephonopoulous in real-time, but my phone started blowing up right as the first clips posted.

Some Democrats thought Biden did fine. Most of the reactions called the interview unnerving and, in some cases, infuriating — particularly over this exchange:

STEPHANOPOULOS: And if you stay in, and Trump is elected and everything you’re warning about comes to pass, how will you feel in January?

BIDEN: I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.

When I finally watched the interview later that night, my primary reaction was sadness. Joe Biden is a good person and has been a great President. There was something so painful about watching this man of great achievement struggle to answer a series of questions about his ability to do his job. Stephanopoulos asked the questions with respect and decency. Nevertheless, the whole exercise felt demeaning and diminishing. Joe Biden is a proud man — rightfully so. Being forced to defend his mental capacity on national television was rough for him and everyone who respects and cares about him.

Most of the Democratic Party was waiting for this weekend — the interview and the President’s political events — to gauge whether Biden could put these concerns to bed and resurrect his flagging campaign. Here are some current thoughts and predictions about this situation.

How We Got Here

Biden supporters argue that we shouldn’t throw away three and half years of a consequential presidency over one 90-minute debate. I couldn’t agree more; except this is about more than one “bad night.” The debate was a culmination of mounting concerns from the public about Biden’s age.

Two things can be true at once: Biden deserves better than the ignominy of the last week and a half, and the President brought this on himself by refusing to address concerns about his age earlier and then faceplanting during a crucial debate. When Biden launched his campaign, his top strategic objective was to convince the American people that he could do the job for the next four years. The only way around this huge obstacle to re-election was through. That necessitates an aggressive public schedule of media interviews, speeches, and press conferences.