Biden attempts to show staying power at NATO press conference

Donald Trump had good reason to gloat over Joe Biden’s press conference flub referring to “Vice President Trump.” It was preceded earlier in the day by Biden’s calling Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky “President Putin.” Biden, in other words, was at it again. 

But Biden adeptly seized the opportunity to offer a little lesson in foreign affairs in his NATO presser, zooming from Ukraine to China to Israel. Along the way, he got to flash his bona fides, including the declaration that he has spent a grand total of ninety hours speaking with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Biden was a man on a mission. His campaign message could not be clearer: he is intent on proving not only that America is the indispensable nation, but he is its indispensable president, the only politician who can safeguard its alliances and prosperity. 

Biden sought to demonstrate staying power, returning to the theme of the menace of Trump towards the end of his press conference. “Do you think our democracy’s under siege based on this court?” he asked. “Do you think our democracy’s under siege based on Project 2025?… We’ve got to finish this job.  

Whether Biden’s dexterous navigation of a welter of international issues will be enough to efface the memory of his disastrous debate is an open question.  

No sooner had the press conference ended than Connecticut congressman Jim Himes urged Biden to exit the race. Himes, who is the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, declared on X that “we must put forth the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump’s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believer that is Joe Biden, and I hope that… he will continue to put our nation first and, as he promised, make way for a new generation of leaders.” 

Biden, however, seems to have no intention of indulging that wish. Quite the contrary. He vowed to “finish this job, because there’s so much at stake.”  

The press conference, which was billed as a test of his mental acuity, had an old-fashioned feel to it. It focused on policy, not glitz. 

But it is glitziness that more than a few Democrats are craving as they watch Trump dominate the spotlight with his trademark bluff and bombast. With his wispy voice and frequent coughs — I counted eight in total — Biden is unlikely to be close the sale with independent voters who polls suggest are flocking to Trump. Yet Biden scoffed at the polls which almost uniformly suggest that he is headed for a landslide defeat. 

Is Biden in denial or being denied the truth? Former Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod observed, “if what he said at the end of his presser is true, it sounds like Biden’s team has not been very candid with about what the data is showing: the age issue is a huge and potentially insurmountable concern and his odds of victory are very, very slim.” 

No one has reason to be happier with the outcome of the press conference than Trump. An enfeebled Biden will remain in the race as the Democratic party lashes itself into a frenzy over whether he should not remain its standard bearer. So far, Biden’s campaign has resembled the American Airlines Flight 590 out of Tampa, Florida, on Thursday which barely avoided a catastrophe after several tires exploded during takeoff. If Biden continues to pilot the Democratic party’s fortunes, it may never achieve liftoff and skid totally out of control.