Joe Biden’s campaign officially launched with a video released in the early morning hours featuring a message bizarrely limited in its focus to a single threat: the return of Donald Trump.
Of course Trump is the odds-on favorite to be the next Republican nominee, but Biden’s announcement ad had none of the optimism you typically see from incumbent campaigns proud of what they’ve achieved. If the economy is doing as well as the White House regularly claims, you’d think that would be at the center of his launch and appeal for re-election. Instead, the mood of this ad was dark and foreboding — fear the Donnie from over the sea and his dark and terrible return!
Biden’s team is doubling down on their 2022 strategy with this approach. Every day is January 6 — and our democracy is only hours from being lost. Only Joe Biden is its stalwart defender against the darkling horde.
Yet this choice of message also reveals the brittle case for Biden’s reelection. A reelection based on fearmongering instead of hope has an admission of failure as its subtext. Biden’s big legislative achievements have disappointed. His big spending has sent inflation through the roof without delivering the practical benefits promised to Americans. So instead of a bright optimistic “Morning in America” effort, it is clear Biden intends to run as what he is: an aged, imperfect vehicle bridging the gap to a next generation of Democrats. Kamala Harris was everywhere in the ad, smiling with her typical forced glee like Perrito the therapy dog from Puss in Boots. C’mon, she’ll be great, everyone — no lie, you’ll see!
What all this translates to is telegraphing that Biden’s campaign and the people who prop him up want more than anything to run against Donald Trump. Their whole thesis depends on it. The question is: why are Republicans about to eagerly give him that gift?
