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WASHINGTON.- Knowing that the debacle that unleashed his performance in the debate with Donald Trump, and in the face of panic among Democrats, President, Joe Biden, made it clear this Friday that will not withdraw from the race for the presidency in a forceful speech at a campaign rally in North Carolina, his first attempt at contain the unprecedented crisis that has plunged his campaign.
“Friends, I know I am not a young man, to state the obvious,” Biden said as he closed his speech, sparking a standing ovation from the crowd, who shouted at him “Four more years! Four more years!” “I don’t walk as fast as I used to. I don’t speak as clearly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. –the president admitted, criticized like never before–. But I know what I know. I know how to tell the truth! I know how to do this job! I know how to get things done! I know how millions of Americans know that when you get knocked down, you get back up!“He shot back defiantly, clenching one of his fists.
Biden responded with that phrase and with the energy that was lacking in the debate to the tsunami of despair unleashed by the Democrats after the duel with Trump who showed his worst version. The president was far from clearing up the doubts that he dragged into the debate, showing himself in several sections of the discussion disoriented, without reflexes, with his gaze down or lost, and with strong difficulties in providing articulate, coherent or forceful answers even on some of the issues in which he had the advantagesuch as access to abortion or the defense of democracy. Trump offered his usual script of lies, hyperbole, false statements, exaggeratedor, also, hilarious, but he left an image of solidity that Biden never managed to conjure up, even though it was his main mission.
In his speech this Friday in North Carolina, one of the “swing” states in which the presidential election will be decided, Biden compiled every one of Trump’s lies, and again said he has “the morals of an alley cat”, in an attempt to mark the contrast that his campaign hoped to leave in the debate, but that Biden never managed to completely tie. His performance ended up capturing all the attention, and marked the entire discussion after the duel. Even so, Biden seemed determined to move forward.
“I am here in North Carolina because I plan to win this election in November,” Biden said at the start of the event. “We will preserve, protect and defend our democracy. “This is what is at stake in this election: your freedom, your democracy and all of America,” said Biden, in a speech in which he seemed more energetic and comfortable that in the CNN studio where the presidential debate took place, although he coughed several times.
“Did you see Trump last night?” he asked at another point, in relation to the debate. “He broke a new record for the most lies told in a single debate,” he insisted.
The historic debate marked a turning point in the presidential campaign, but not for the reasons the Biden campaign had hoped. Far from its original plan, the president’s team had to go out on Friday to reaffirm that Biden will not back down and will be the Democratic presidential nominee, despite brutal pressure from all sides. David Plouffe, strategist for the second presidential campaign of Barack Obama, He turned to a code of war used by the Armed Forces for the worst crises to describe the state of the Democratic campaign: “DEFCON 1″.
“He absolutely won’t drop out,” Biden campaign spokesman Seth Schuster was quoted as saying by the site. The Hill. But that conversation was already established, with a great common denominator: only Biden himself has the final answer.
Biden’s team was trying to stay the course, despite everything. Jen O’Malley Dillon, president of the Democratic campaign, had released a statement a few minutes after the end of the debate that revealed the message that she wanted the campaign to install, innocuous and disconnected from reality after Biden’s performance.
“Tonight, President Biden laid out a positive, winning vision for America’s future — one where every American has a fair shot at the American dream, where every one of our rights is protected, and where our president fights to strengthen our democracy, not tear it down,” Dillon said. “Trump’s performance tonight reminded the American people why he was impeached four years ago, and reinforced just how much is at stake this November for the future of our country.” Because of all that’s at stake, a growing chorus of voices called for Biden to step aside.
An email released by the Democratic campaign headquarters amid speculation about Biden’s future attempted to keep the focus on Trump. The message listed some of the lies the tycoon uttered during the clash. And one of Biden’s spokesmen, James Singer, said: “Donald Trump is a threat to our democracy, our economy, our rights and the very idea of America. He cannot be our president.” And he concluded: “Last night’s debate only made that clearer in the eyes of the American people.” For many, including Democrats, the debate only deepened doubts about Biden himself.
