Fighting for his political life is a familiar, even invigorating role for Joe Biden. He’s been discounted enough times before but to be “pushed out”—his words—after winning every primary and more than enough delegates to secure the nomination, it’s not going to happen, he says. “I’m not going anywhere.”
His family is standing with him, his wife Jill and sister Valerie, who Democrats relied upon to provide wise counsel—not just cheerleading. His son, Hunter, has been seen at the White House so much lately that one well-connected lawyer/lobbyist Democrat dubbed him “the acting chief of staff. He’s the gatekeeper. He’s the one who’s bucking up his dad.”
Hunter is the X factor here, wanting to encourage his father like deceased brother Beau did, and not wanting the stress of his felony convictions to hamper his father. Having Hunter on the scene is not helping Biden politically, but that’s not what this is about. A Democrat who worked for Biden earlier in his career says simply, “Biden stood by him through all the darkest times. This is more of a family thing than a political thing. It has nothing to do with his criminal cases, it’s much more about how the family operates.”
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Biden called into MSNBC to say he’s not going anywhere, and the doubters can challenge him at the Democratic Convention next month. He sounded like the Biden Washington has known for decades—combative and cocky. The family—Jill, Valerie, and Ted Kaufman, the longtime aide who for a short time filled his Senate seat—must be telling him he can do this, that he can beat Trump and embark on a second term.
After the disastrous debate, Jill was holding her husband’s hand and telling him how great he was. “You answered all the questions!” It was so out of kilter with what we had just seen of Biden’s inability to forcefully debate that Jill’s judgment was brought into question. Did she want a second term too much? Was she setting aside any concerns about her husband’s health?
Nancy Reagan was the ultimate protector looking out for her husband’s wellbeing. She and others knew that he was faltering before his re-election, but a second term was too important for his legacy to willingly step aside. It was “morning in America,” the theme of his re-election campaign. He won 49 states.
There were lapses. Reagan would forget the name of a Cabinet official and then joke about how he gets to meet new people every day. The Reagan team rolled the dice and Reagan made it through well enough, achieving a warmer relationship with the then-Soviet Union, which secured his legacy.
The difference between Reagan and Biden, says the Democratic lobbyist, “Reagan had Deaver and Nancy, and the power of the visuals. He never looked bad.” Top aide Mike Deaver elevated photos of Reagan to an art form, filling television screens with imagery that overrode negative commentary from reporters and pundits.
Ronald and Nancy Reagan wave from the limousine during their inaugural parade in Washington, D.C., U.S. in January 1981.
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library/Handout via ReutersReagan was formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s eight years after leaving the presidency. His son, Ron Reagan, wrote in his 2011 book, My Father at 100: A Memoir, about his concerns that “something beyond mellowing” was happening to his father three years into his first term.
This is his recollection of watching Reagan debate Walter Mondale in 1984:
“At 73, Ronald Reagan would be the oldest president ever re-elected. Some voters were beginning to imagine grandpa—who can never find his reading glasses—in charge of a bristling nuclear arsenal, and it was making them nervous. Worse, my father now seemed to be giving them legitimate reason for concern. My heart sank as he floundered his way through his responses, fumbling with his notes, uncharacteristically lost for words. He looked tired and bewildered.”
If we go deeper into history, Woodrow Wilson had a debilitating stroke and his wife, Edith, covered for him for the last 18 months of his presidency. She acted as his gatekeeper, screening all communications and deciding what she would bring to her bedridden husband’s attention. She described her role as a “stewardship.” Republicans belittled the arrangement as “petticoat government.”
More recently, Melania may not even be on board for Trump’s second term if he gets it. Ivanka Trump, the former president’s eldest daughter, has distanced herself from his third run for president, saying she loves him but that her life has taken a different turn and is now focused on raising her three young children.
For now, the Biden family’s dedication is helping to keep Biden in the race. He may win this game of chicken, with the congressional Black caucus and Hispanic caucus standing with him. Senator Mark Warner was scheduled to speak Monday evening at the Cosmos Club, a gathering place for elites in Washington. He cancelled after Biden called him out as one of the naysayers.
A convention challenge is likely a fool’s errand. Almost 4,000 delegates are Biden delegates. And they’re not elites. Biden’s message now, he’s running against the party elites and the big donors. The polls haven’t collapsed for him. It’s still the same tight race, just a little tighter.
What just happened in France with the far left soundly beating back a challenge from the far right defied the polls, leaving President Macron, a Biden ally, a little less worse off. The unexpected results are undoubtedly cheering the White House, where Biden is running against the polls and the media—as much as he is against Trump—in his effort to stay in the race and keep his job.
