US PRESIDENT JOE Biden has sought to assure Americans he was sufficiently healthy for a second term despite his advanced age, saying he feels “good” and is ready for a potential rematch against Donald Trump.
“I feel good, I feel excited about the prospects” of winning another four years as president, the 80-year-old told reporters at the White House, as he also stressed he knows Trump well and “the danger he presents to our democracy”.
His comments come after he yesterday formally confirmed his run for re-election in 2024.
Announcing his bid in a tweet, Biden said: “Every generation has a moment where they have had to stand up for democracy. To stand up for their fundamental freedoms. I believe this is ours.That’s why I’m running for reelection as President of the United States. Join us. Let’s finish the job.”
The announcement came on the four-year anniversary of when Biden declared for the White House in 2019, promising to heal the “soul of the nation” amid the turbulent Trump presidency.
“When I ran for president four years ago, I said we are in a battle for the soul of America, and we still are,” Biden said in a video accompanying the tweet. “The question we are facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom. More rights or fewer.”
“I know what I want the answer to be, and I think you do too.”
While the question of seeking re-election has been a given for most modern presidents, that has not always been the case for Biden, as a notable swathe of Democratic voters have indicated they would prefer he not run, in part because of his age — concerns that Biden has called “totally legitimate” but ones he did not address head-on in the launch video.
Yet few things have unified Democratic voters like the prospect of Trump returning to power.
Biden’s decision to seek a second term in office sets up a potential re-run of the 2020 election, with his predecessor Trump also running for a return to the White House.
Despite his legal troubles, Trump is currently leading the field of Republican candidates and though Biden does not mention Trump by name the former president is featured in the video.
Biden, who would be 86 at the end of a second term, is betting his first-term legislative achievements and more than 50 years of experience in Washington will count for more than concerns over his age.
He faces a smooth path to winning his party’s nomination, with no serious Democratic rivals. But he is still set for a hard-fought struggle to retain the presidency in a bitterly divided nation.
An NBC News poll released over the weekend found that 70% of Americans, including 51% of Democrats, believed that Biden should not run for a second term. 48% cited concerns over his age as the main reason and another 21% cited that as a minor reason.
Trump, currently at 76, would be older when assuming office in 2025 than Biden was when he was sworn in.
With reporting by Rónán Duffy, Press Association and – © AFP 2023
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