After months of expertly maintained suspense, Joe Biden should officially announce on Tuesday that he is seeking a second term as head of the United States, sweeping away concerns expressed about his age.
Neither the White House nor the Democratic Party have officially confirmed this. But the candidacy of the 80-year-old leader is no longer an open secret. If re-elected, the current president would complete his second term at the age of 86.
Several well-respected American media claim that this announcement will be made on Tuesday, by video.
These rumors, which agitate all of Washington, obviously remain to be taken with a grain of salt: the Biden camp has already hinted several times that an announcement was imminent, without it ever materializing.
“I told you that I intended to introduce myself, I will let you know very soon,” the president said on Monday, further fueling speculation.
Tuesday’s date owes nothing to chance. April 25 will be the fourth anniversary, to the day, of Joe Biden’s last campaign entry, at the end of which the Democrat deprived Donald Trump of a second term.
Announcing a new candidacy on this date, even though the Americans could witness a “remake” of the 2020 duel, would be a strong symbol.
No campaign event is currently on Joe Biden’s agenda for this day. But the president must speak in front of a union to share his vision on what will surely be one of his main campaign leitmotifs: his desire to restore his “dignity” to the “forgotten” popular America, which Donald Trump learned in party seduce.
The tenant of the White House may think he has the statistics with him: American presidents generally run again, and they are most often re-elected.
But the octogenarian president, by his age, defies historical precedent.
In November 2021 and again in February 2023, the octogenarian leader underwent health checks which concluded that he was in “good health”.
He certainly displays an unusual endurance, juggling between international crises and major reforms.
But the Democrat must expect, he who is already prone to blunders and whose appearance is unmistakably marked by the years, an upsurge in Republican attacks on his mental acuity.
Joe Biden has noted that, according to the polls, the candidacy of his predecessor Donald Trump, 76 years old and indicted by a New York court, is no more enthusiastic than his own.
The Democrat therefore believes that if he once beat his Republican predecessor, a divisive figure par excellence, he can do it again by highlighting his good-natured personality and his unifying program.
One big unknown remains: what would Joe Biden’s chances be if he faced a younger opponent in November 2024?
The name of 44-year-old hard-right Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is circulating widely. But he has not yet declared himself.
This would be the fourth presidential race for Joe Biden: before being elected in 2020, he had launched for the elections of 1988 and 2008, each time with a bitter failure. In 2015, very affected by the death of his eldest son, the Democrat, then vice-president, had given up seeking the succession of Barack Obama.
24/04/2023 21:12:32 – Washington (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
