Editor’s note: David Axelrod, CNN’s senior political commentator and host of “The Ax Files,” is a senior adviser to former President Barack Obama and chief strategist for Obama’s 2008 and 2012 presidential campaigns. Met. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own.view more opinions On CNN.
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Robert Hur may think President Joe Biden has a flawed memory, but there’s no doubt the president will never forget the special counsel’s intervention in Biden’s re-election campaign on Thursday.
Ho’s 350-page report concluded that Biden was not charged with keeping or disclosing classified information after becoming vice president.
That was good news.
But for a president already struggling with public doubts about his age and fitness, it was a few sentences in the special counsel’s book that were indisputably damaging.
The report characterizes Biden as a “well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”The report also said his “age-related faculties are decreasing” and that in the future A sympathetic witness defending himself due to his age and frailty.
“He doesn’t remember when he was vice president, and he forgets the first day of his interview when his term ended (“If it was 2013, when did you quit being vice president?”), and the second day of his interview. I forgot it in my eyes. When his term began (‘2009, will I still be vice president?’),” the report states. “He didn’t remember when his son Beau died, even years later.”
The president was furious at these conclusions, which were based in part on a five-hour interview with Mr. Xu’s team in October. He particularly took offense to the mention of his beloved son Beau, who died in 2015.
At a hastily convened White House press conference on Thursday night, Mr. Biden exclaimed, his voice tense with anger and emotion, “Why on earth would you bring this up?”
Many Democrats believe that Mr. Ha, a Justice Department veteran who was selected by Mr. Biden’s Attorney General Merrick Garland to serve as special counsel, is a Republican who served as federal prosecutor in Maryland under the Trump administration. They are emphasizing this fact and are criticizing it.
But whatever Mr. Xu’s motives, the report’s seemingly unwarranted language was more than offensive to the 81-year-old president. It was another log in a raging fire that threatens to engulf Biden’s re-election.
Mr. Xu is a lawyer, not a doctor, so his assessment seemed unfair and out of place. But often the most damaging stories in presidential elections confirm negative impressions that voters have already formed.
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was shown on tape at a private fundraiser in 2012 saying that 47% of Americans are essentially wards of the states and their rights and would never vote for him. The leak has further strengthened Mr. Romney’s image of being insensitive. financier. At the time, I was a strategist for President Barack Obama’s campaign, and we used Mr. Romney’s words to paint him as out of touch with working-class voters.
Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton did the same in 2016, when she spoke at a fundraiser and called Trump supporters “a bunch of deplorables.” Her offhand comments gave her opponents more opportunities to paint her as a disparaging cultural elite.
The negative image of Biden persistently pushed by Republicans is that the world is out of control and that the elderly and infirm Biden is not in command. And that story is here to stay.
A CNN poll in November found that only 25% of voters believed Biden “has the stamina and acuity to serve effectively as president.” (Although Trump gave him passing marks for stamina and acuity, he is only three years younger and is often prone to confusion himself.)
A new CNN poll released last week found that nearly half of Democrats cited Biden’s age when asked to list their main concern about his candidacy.
This concern is largely fueled by his appearance on camera, which is an albatross for the Biden campaign. The videos, which show the president’s shuffling gait and at times fumbling, energyless and admittedly forgetful performance, have become a goldmine for social media trolls.
The president’s image as a resilient president is belied by a series of important accomplishments that speak to his abilities and would normally elevate his status, including landmark congressional victories and global leadership. But voters don’t seem to want to take credit for the president’s accomplishments, and tend to blame every problem on the president’s shortcomings.
Meanwhile, Trump, the de facto Republican nominee, is seen as more energetic, but has legal and ethical problems and is prone to similarly mind-boggling gaffes. The battle continues in what is expected to be a brutal war of attrition.
Thursday’s press conference was aimed at stemming the bleeding over Xu’s report, but it added to concerns.
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An angry Biden lashed out at reporters who asked him reasonable questions about his age, and escalated the situation by calling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi the “President of Mexico.”
Far from regretting his handling of classified documents, Biden threw his staffers under the bus, saying, “I take responsibility for not seeing exactly what they were doing.” And he contradicted elements of Huh’s report in a way that motivated House Republicans who smelled blood to pursue the special counsel’s materials behind an impeachment inquiry.
With no signs of backing down, Team Biden must regroup after an obviously miserable day. Nervous Democrats are anxiously grasping for a consistent message, an aggressive campaign and a candidate who can prove he can get the job done.