WASHINGTON (National Times) President Joe Biden faced more calls from fellow Democrats to abandon his re-election bid on Friday, following a news conference in which he delivered nuanced responses but occasionally stumbled over his words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was unclear whether Biden\u2019s performance would convince doubters in his party that he is their best bet to defeat Republican Donald Trump in the Nov 5 election and serve another four-year term in the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At least 17 congressional Democrats so far have called for him to drop out and allow the party to pick another standard-bearer, including some who announced their positions after the news conference on Thursday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Democrats are worried that Biden\u2019s low public approval ratings and growing concerns that he is too old for the job could cause them to lose seats in the House and Senate, leaving them with no grip on power in Washington should Trump win the White House.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US president makes it clear he has no plan to step aside<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n But Biden made clear that he did not plan to step aside. \u201cIf I show up at the convention and everybody says they want someone else, that\u2019s the democratic process,\u201d Biden said, before shifting to the stage whisper he often uses for emphasis to add, \u201cIt\u2019s not gonna happen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden perhaps did not reassure those who were spooked by his poor presidential debate performance against Trump on June 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At one point, he referred to his vice president, Kamala Harris, as \u201cVice President Trump\u201d. That came just hours after he introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as \u201cPresident Putin\u201d at the Nato summit, drawing gasps from those in the room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden occasionally garbled his responses at the news conference, yet he also delivered detailed assessments of global issues, including Ukraine\u2019s war with Russia and the Gaza conflict, that served as a reminder of his decades of experience on the world stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Some Democrats were not reassured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe must put forward the strongest candidate possible to confront the threat posed by Trump\u2019s promised MAGA authoritarianism. I no longer believe that is Joe Biden,\u201d said Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, who called on the president to end his campaign after the news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But one influential party figure, Representative James Clyburn of South Carolina, reiterated his support on Friday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI am all in. I\u2019m riding with Biden no matter which direction he goes,\u201d he said on NBC\u2019s \u201cToday\u201d programme.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" WASHINGTON (National Times) President Joe Biden faced more calls from fellow Democrats to abandon his re-election bid on Friday, following a news conference in which he delivered nuanced responses but occasionally stumbled over his words. It was unclear whether Biden\u2019s performance would convince doubters in his party that he is their best bet to defeat […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":85593,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","entry"],"yoast_head":"\n