Joe Biden Is Still Dragging Democrats Down

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Just as Democrats were heaving a sigh of relief that Joe Biden had disappeared from the national stage, the former president is reinserting himself in the conversation.

An unwritten rule among ex-presidents is to largely stay mum during a new chief executive’s first year in office. Donald Trump shattered that rule in 2021, bashing Biden at every opportunity. Now Biden is taking the baton and is running with it.

He and his wife sat down with the ladies on “The View” last Thursday. During the course of the hour-long interview, he both took responsibility for his party’s losses in last November’s elections and doggedly insisted he was up to the mental demands of a second term.

And in an interview with the BBC last week, he blistered Trump’s first 100 days in office while staunchly defending former vice president Kamala Harris, insisting she was “a good candidate.” 

At the same time, he’s recruited Chris Meagher, a top-level Democratic communications veteran, to rehabilitate his image. (In fact, it was Meagher’s connections that landed “The View” booking.)

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That elevated profile has Democratic insiders ready to pull out their hair in frustration. What they’ve said behind closed doors for nearly a year is now being spoken openly and on the record.

“It’s time for Joe Biden to go away,” Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha told Politico. “Every time he appears on a show or says something, it’s just another week or a month that we have to defend him and remind everybody that we got beat by Donald Trump, again.” 

Therein lies the problem for Democrats. Instead of turning the narrative to next year’s midterm elections, Biden’s reemergence keeps Americans looking back in the rearview mirror – and many of them don’t like what they see.

There is no “Miss Me Yet?” factor for Biden, no feeling of “We had it better during the Biden years.” Polling consistently shows that while Trump’s approval rating is underwater, it’s even worse for Democrats.

Biden’s Democrat critics also point out how his public appearances continue putting them in the uncomfortable position of having to defend their coordinated concealing of his cognitive decline. His calamitous debate with Trump in Atlanta on June 27, 2024, finally convinced Democrats the jig was up and the ruse couldn’t be maintained any longer.

Yet Biden and his small circle of devotees insist he was fit to serve another term.

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“He’s the gift that just keeps giving,” a Republican strategist in Washington told us. “The rap on Joe Biden for years was that he didn’t know when to say when. He simply can’t avoid the spotlight, nor for the conversation to be about anything other than himself. Putting himself center stage once again distracts attention from Trump, while reminding people of the very things they disliked the most about his disastrous presidency. It’s the very definition of a circular firing squad.”

That sentiment was echoed by a GOP political operative in South Carolina.

“Joe Biden is becoming the embodiment of that old SNL sketch ‘The Thing That Wouldn’t Leave,’” he said. “It was a parody of cheesy 1950s horror movies, with the monster being a houseguest who overstays his welcome. But in this case, the nightmares Biden is giving the DNC are very real.”

A Biden adviser told Politico the former president has no public events planned in the coming weeks.

Maybe not… but the smart money in D.C. says don’t count on Biden’s calendar staying clear for long.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

J. Mark Powell is an award-winning former TV journalist, government communications veteran, and a political consultant. He is also an author and an avid Civil War enthusiast. Got a tip or a story idea for Mark? Email him at mark@fitsnews.com.

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