America needs a leader, and Biden isn't acting like one. His Oval Office speech didn't help.
It’s hard to believe that President Joe Biden’s “big boy” solo news conference was only two weeks ago. It feels like a lifetime of news has happened since then.
At that event, the media grilled Biden about his horrible performance at the June 27 debate with former President Donald Trump.
At the end of the news conference, Biden was asked this question: “If your team came back and showed you data that she (Vice President Kamala Harris) would fare better against former President Donald Trump, would you reconsider your decision to stay in the race?
And Biden answered in his weird whisper: “No, unless they came back and said, ‘There’s no way you can win.’ Me. No one is saying that. No poll says that.”
How quickly times change.
Since then, Trump faced an assassination attempt at a rally in Pennsylvania; the Republican National Convention officially nominating Trump took place in Milwaukee; and Biden got COVID-19.
Oh, and on Sunday, Biden dropped out of the presidential race via a letter on social media.
Democrats were warned: Conservatives told the truth about Biden. Democrats failed to listen.
It took Biden three days to face the country Wednesday evening in a public Oval Office address and offer more of an explanation about his momentous decision.
It was too little, too late.
The American people deserved a better explanation, much sooner
Biden told the country that it has been the “honor of my life to serve as your president,” but he said he has also realized that it’s time to “pass the torch to a new generation.”
No incumbent president since Lyndon Johnson in 1968 has decided not to seek reelection, and Biden waited much longer to make his choice. We’re less than a month from the start of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
How did Biden go from being so adamant that he’d soldier on with his campaign to believing “it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and focus solely on fulfilling my duties as President for the remainder of my term,” as he wrote in his letter Sunday?
Biden didn’t offer a good explanation in his Wednesday address.
His illness, along with his sudden decision to abandon the presidential race, spurred all kinds of unfounded rumors, with people wondering if Biden had been hospitalized or worse. Biden wasn’t seen publicly for nearly a week until he left his home Tuesday in Delaware.
And Americans' uncertainty about the condition of their president is on Biden for not making a formal announcement much sooner.
Americans needed to hear from him directly right away.
Biden's health raises questions: What did Kamala Harris know about Biden's deteriorating health? And when did she know it?
Is this what preserving democracy looks like?
Biden spent much of his brief Oval Office remarks defending his record and what he’s done, and how he plans to spend his remaining months in office.
As he usually does, Biden reiterated how this election is all about preserving and defending our democracy.
Yet, Biden did not give an adequate rationale as to why he waited so long to make his decision. By doing so now, so late in the game, he denied Democrats a true primary in which they could have picked from a robust crop of candidates.
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Instead, they appear stuck with Harris, whom no one voted for in the 2020 primaries. She has quickly become a media darling and star fundraiser now that the Democratic Party has rallied around her.
At 59, she is decades younger than Biden, 81 – and Trump, 78 – but she doesn’t bring much else to the table.
Biden also refused to level with the American people about his health, even as he struggled to read at times from the teleprompter.
There are tumultuous times ahead in the coming months, and Biden did not offer any confidence that he’s the one to lead us through them.
Ingrid Jacques is a columnist at USA TODAY. Contact her at [email protected] or on X, formerly Twitter: @Ingrid_Jacques
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Biden's speech failed to convince anyone he's still up to the job
