Mother Jones illustration; Susan Walsh/AP
It’s official. President Joe Biden is running for reelection. In a video released on Tuesday morning, Biden announced he was running to “stand up for democracy,” echoing a similar theme to his first campaign.
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. https://t.co/V9Mzpw8Sqy pic.twitter.com/Y4NXR6B8ly
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) April 25, 2023
The announcement, anticipated for months now, follows many of the same debates that animated the lead-up to his 2020 run. Is the 80-year-old Democrat, the oldest president in US history, too old for this? Do Americans have the appetite for another potential rematch between Biden and potential Republican nominee Donald Trump? So far, polls have pointed to a familiar uneasiness. A recent one showed nearly half of all Democrats don’t want him to run for reelection but struggled to name another viable candidate. Meanwhile, many have once again expressed concern over how Biden would perform on the campaign trail.
“While Biden was able to campaign virtually in 2020, in 2024 we will almost certainly be back to a grueling real-world campaign schedule, which he would have to power through while running the country,” Michelle Goldberg wrote in a February New York Times op-ed. “It’s a herculean task for a 60-year-old and a near impossible one for an octogenarian.”
While much of the discourse reignites old debates, the obvious difference from 2020 is the Biden team’s ability to point to what’s been achieved since taking office. At the top of the list is Biden’s successful passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the landmark infrastructure bill aimed at improving American health care and fighting climate change. Though the IRA marked the largest-ever effort to combat the climate crisis in the US, Biden’s record on the issue is more mixed, particularly after last month’s approval of a massive oil drilling project in Alaska that’s expected to pump 600 million barrels of oil over the course of a few decades. Biden’s self-proclaimed goal of becoming the “most pro-union president” is dicey after he urged Congress to end the threat of a strike by the country’s rail workers fighting for paid sick leave and improvements to a notoriously unpredictable work schedule.
This time around, Biden will likely face questions surrounding the chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan, those classified documents discovered in his garage, and Hunter’s ongoing messes. But one thing’s for sure, we’re all but certain to keep hearing the word octogenarian.
