President Joe Biden鈥檚 team is telegraphing a strategy to put the president forth for more casual, unscripted events and an accelerated public schedule as he seeks to shift the narrative away from his poor debate performance.
Biden鈥檚 reelection campaign on Friday announced an 鈥渁ggressive travel schedule鈥� this month that will take him, the vice president, the first lady and the second gentleman to every battleground state following calls from allies to ramp up campaigning and public messaging efforts. In its announcement, the campaign said the president 鈥渃an also be expected to engage in frequent off-the-cuff moments over the course of the month, as he has consistently throughout this campaign.鈥�
The president鈥檚 reelection campaign will also launch a $50 million 鈥減aid media blitz鈥� in July, including what it is calling 鈥渟trategic investments鈥� during events likely to draw a large swath of voters, such as the 2024 Olympics and the Republican National Convention. The media buys will focus on battleground state voters and include TV, radio and digital ads that the campaign says will focus on abortion, the economy and democracy.
Biden is now under intense scrutiny at this critical moment for his political future 鈥� with heightened attention on every verbal slip, diversion, and moment of confusion, and questions about whether that strategy will have its intended outcome.
As a growing number of elected officials, Democratic donors and supporters express deep concerns about Biden鈥檚 age and capacity to serve a second term as president, aides have acknowledged that the stakes for Biden鈥檚 one-on-one interview Friday with ABC News鈥� George Stephanopoulos could not be higher. Biden is also expected to hold a press conference next week during the NATO summit.
But even before last Thursday鈥檚 presidential debate on CNN, Biden鈥檚 delivery has been halting at times, and close observers of the president have noted that his speech and delivery have lost some pacing, crispness and focus in the years since he took office.
In a radio interview taped Wednesday that aired Thursday, Biden made some verbal missteps.
鈥淚鈥檓 proud to be, as I said, the first vice president 鈥� first Black woman 鈥� to serve with a Black president, proud to have been involved with the first Black woman on the Supreme Court,鈥� he said during an appearance with Andrea Lawful-Sanders of 鈥淭he Source鈥� in Philadelphia.
Reached for comment Thursday night, a Biden campaign spokesperson slammed the 鈥渁bsurdity鈥� of criticism of the president鈥檚 missteps.
鈥淚t was clear what President Biden meant when he was talking about his historic record including a record number of appointments to the federal bench. This is not news and the media has passed the point of absurdity here,鈥� Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said.
Biden laid out a similar argument in another radio interview taped Wednesday with a Wisconsin outlet but did not bungle that answer.
Biden gave lengthy answers during both radio interviews to questions such as what he has done to improve the lives of Black Pennsylvanians and why it is an important election 鈥� ticking off his accomplishments and filibustering the way any skilled politician might filibuster an interviewer.
The president sometimes gets talking and will stop himself before 鈥� or after 鈥� veering into tangents.
Biden鈥檚 opponent, former President Donald Trump, has also repeatedly made verbal missteps and can divert into lengthy asides.
As he addressed military families celebrating Independence Day on the White House鈥檚 South Lawn Thursday, Biden read from a teleprompter, but spoke off-the-cuff briefly 鈥� stopping himself after he referred to former President Donald Trump as 鈥渙ne of our colleagues.鈥�
鈥淚 was in that World War I cemetery in France, and 鈥� the one that one of our colleagues, the former president, didn鈥檛 want to go and be up there 鈥� I probably shouldn鈥檛 say. At any rate, we got to just remember who the hell we are 鈥� we鈥檙e the United States of America,鈥� he said.
Biden also made a confusing reference to presidential road closures: 鈥淚 used to think when I was a senator, there were always congestion on the highways. There鈥檚 no congestion anymore. None. We got on the highway, there鈥檚 no congestion. And so 鈥� the way they get me to stop talking, they鈥檒l say, 鈥榃e just shut down all the roads. Mr. President, you鈥檙e gonna lose all the votes if you don鈥檛 get in,鈥� but anyway.鈥�
Biden has been largely insulated from potential signs of aging by his team, with strategies including short, tightly scripted events on teleprompter; the use of shorter steps on Air Force One; and significantly pared-back engagement with reporters compared with his most recent predecessors.
But some Democrats are increasingly convinced that those efforts were less aimed at preventing spoken gaffes or freewheeling diversions and more focused on eliminating more alarming incidents showing a weakened, aging president in recent months.
Close observers of the president notice that, with age, Biden does not enunciate with the same sharpness and clarity that he did even during the last campaign and can lose his train of thought more frequently than he once did.
鈥淚 know I鈥檓 not a young man. I don鈥檛 walk as easily as I used to. I don鈥檛 talk as smoothly as I used to. I don鈥檛 debate as well as I used to,鈥� Biden said last Friday at a Raleigh, North Carolina, campaign rally.
CNN鈥檚 Phil Mattingly, Samantha Waldenberg and Arlette Saenz contributed to this report.
