President Joe Biden used his highly anticipated news conference on Thursday to deliver a forceful defence of his foreign and domestic policies.
He also batted away questions about his ability to serve another four years even as he flubbed a reference to Donald Trump in one of his first answers.
“I’m not in this for my legacy. I’m in this to complete the job I started,” Mr Biden said as he insisted his support among the electorate was strong and he would stay in the race and would win.
Fumbles notwithstanding, the president pushed back at every suggestion that he was slowing down or showing noticeable signs of decline, or that he was not in command of the job.
But he was facing a growing chorus of calls from lawmakers, celebrities and other prominent Democrats to step aside from the 2024 race.
“My schedule has been full bore,” he declared. “So if I slow down and I can’t get the job done, that’s a sign that I shouldn’t be doing it. But there’s no indication of that yet — none.”
Democrats are facing an intractable problem. Top donors, supporters and key lawmakers are doubtful of Mr Biden’s abilities to carry on his re-election bid after his disastrous June 27 debate performance, but the hard-fighting 81-year-old president refuses to give up as he prepares to take on Mr Trump in a rematch.
“I’m determined on running but I think it’s important that I allay fears — let them see me out there,” he said.
The first questioner of Mr Biden’s press conference asked about him losing support among many of his fellow Democrats and unionists and asked about vice president Kamala Harris.
Mr Biden was at first defiant, saying the “UAW endorsed me, but go ahead”, meaning the United Auto Workers. But then he mixed up Ms Harris and Mr Trump, saying: “I wouldn’t have picked Vice President Mr Trump to be Vice President if she wasn’t qualified.”
Mr Trump weighed in live on Mr Biden’s news conference with a post on his social media network of a video clip of the president saying “Vice President Mr Trump .”
Mr Trump added sarcastically: “Great job, Joe!”
Most of the hour-long press conference was vintage Mr Biden: He gave long answers on foreign policy and told well-worn anecdotes.
He used teleprompters for his opening remarks on Nato, which ran about eight minutes. Then the teleprompters lowered and he took a wide range of questions from 10 journalists about his mental acuity, foreign and domestic policy and — mostly — the future of his campaign.
“I believe I’m the best qualified to govern. I believe I’m the best qualified to win,” Mr Biden said, adding that he will stay in the race until his staff says: “There’s no way you can win.”
“No one’s saying that,” he said. “No poll says that.”
Earlier, Mr Biden’s campaign laid out what it sees as its path to keeping the White House in a new memo, saying that winning the “blue wall” states of Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan is the “clearest pathway” to victory. And it declared no other Democrat would do better against Mr Trump.
“There is also no indication that anyone else would outperform the president vs Trump,” said the memo from campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon and campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez that was obtained by The Associated Press.
The memo sought to brush back “hypothetical polling of alternative nominees” as unreliable and it said such surveys “do not take into account the negative media environment that any Democratic nominee will encounter”.
Meanwhile, the campaign has been quietly surveying voters on Ms Harris to determine how she is viewed among the electorate, according to two people with knowledge of the campaign who spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to talk about internal matters.
The people said the polling was not necessarily to show that she could be the nominee in Mr Biden’s place, but rather to better understand how she is viewed. The research came after Mr Trump stepped up his attacks against Ms Harris following the debate, according to another person familiar with the effort. The survey was first reported by The New York Times.
While Mr Biden has expressed confidence in his chances, his campaign on Thursday acknowledged he is behind, and a growing number of the president’s aides in the White House and the campaign privately harbour doubts that he can turn things around.
But in announcing a compact that would bring together Nato countries to support Ukraine, Mr Biden referred to the nation’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky as “President Putin” to audible gasps in the room. He quickly returned to the microphone: “President Putin — he’s going to beat President Putin … President Zelensky,” Mr Biden said.
Then he said, “I’m so focused on beating Putin,” to explain the gaffe.
“I’m better,” Mr Zelensky replied. “You’re a hell of a lot better,” Mr Biden said back.
