Biden surely running again, unless he changes mind

WASHINGTON — U.S. President Joe Biden exudes confidence as the next race for the White House approaches.

During last month’s State of the Union address, he lured unruly Republicans into agreeing with him that federal entitlements should be protected. He’s intensified travel outside Washington, trumpeting job-creation in Wisconsin and steep federal health care spending to Florida seniors while touting a trilliondollar public works package that he says can do everything from revitalize Baltimore’s port to easing train tunnel congestion under the Hudson River.

And he used spy-thriller tactics to sweep into war-scarred Ukraine.

For most presidents, these are powerful elements to include as the centerpiece of a reelection campaign — pledging to protect people and the economy at home and democracy in the heart of Europe. But with the famously fickle 80-year-old Biden stopping short of officially declaring his 2024 candidacy, he’s leaving just enough room to back out of a race and focus instead on using such moves to cement his legacy.

“I look at Biden from the outside, as a historian, and say, ‘Boy, if he stepped away now, his place in history is secure and extraordinarily positive,”’ said Jeffrey Engel, director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas. “That’s how a normal person thinks about these things. That’s not how a president thinks about these things.”

Those close to Biden insist he’s not legacy shopping and that he will announce a campaign, likely after the first quarter campaign fundraising period ends this month. The party has cleared a path for Biden’s renomination with rivals from his left, including Sens. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, pledging to support the president’s reelection.

Bestselling self-help author Marianne Williamson is launching a primary challenge to Biden on Saturday that’s largely being shrugged off by the party.

The Democratic National Committee has unanimously expressed “our full and complete support” for Biden’s reelection. Party leaders aren’t planning primary debates, arguing there’s no longer enough time to even build out a debate schedule that would pit Biden against Williamson or anyone else.

In an interview last week with The Associated Press, first lady Jill Biden said there was “pretty much” nothing left for the president to do but pick a time and place to announce his reelection bid.

“How many times does he have to say it for you to believe it?” she asked.

Still, there are signals that even if the prevailing assumption among most Democrats is that Biden will seek another term, the decision isn’t yet final. Even Jill Biden was more muted in subsequent interviews when assessing her husband’s political future.

“It’s Joe’s decision,” she told CNN, noting that she’s personally “all for it.”

“If he’s in, we’re there,” she added. “If he wants to do something else, we’re there too.”

After the AP interview, the president joked to ABC that he needed to call his wife “to find out” if he was running again.

His intention “has been from the beginning to run,” the president told the network. “But there’s too many other things we have to finish in the near term before I start a campaign.”

While Biden’s standing among Democratic officials is solid, actual voters seem more wary. A recent poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found just 37 per cent of Democrats want Biden to seek a second term, down from 52 per cent in the weeks before last year’s midterm elections.

Biden’s age is a leading concern.