After this weekend’s efforts by President Joe Biden to right the ship of his candidacy with various well-scripted campaign appearances and a 22-minute interview with ABC News’s George Stephanopoulos, the British media have restated their policy decision: Joe’s gotta go. Financial Times was blunt, reporting that the “clamor grows for his exit” and quoting an unnamed veteran Democratic operative about the upshot of the ABC News interview: “It’s the worst possible outcome. Not nearly strong enough to make us feel better, but not weak enough to convince Jill [Biden] to urge him to pull the plug.”
FT further turned to Obama sidekick David Axelrod, who reported that Biden was “dangerously out of touch with the concerns people have about his capacities moving forward and his standing in this race.” Axelrod also penned an op-ed published by CNN on July 6 headlined “Biden’s Defiant Delusion,” in which he said that Biden failed to “quell the panic that has gripped the Democratic Party…. At this rate, Biden is likely headed for a landslide defeat to a lawless and unpopular former president.” Axelrod’s summary judgment: “Denial. Delusion. Defiance.”
The Economist rendered its judgment: “The ABC News interview was undoubtedly an improvement from the debate.… The problem for his campaign is that more coherent bluster is still bluster.”
