Former White House advisor Karl Rove described President Joe Biden’s reelection debut as a “basement double-dip” and noted that it was largely a dud.
In addition to the tepid response to his announcement, Biden’s campaign launched a website ridiculed mainly for its “meme potential.” Another questionable choice was Biden’s announcement being made via a video.
Given that one of the biggest criticisms of Biden is that he hid in his basement during his last presidential campaign, the lack of intimacy with a filmed announcement is not what his campaign needed.
But, maybe the campaign has noticed that the more Biden speaks live, the more his popularity deadens.
Karl Rove, the political strategist, also noted that the announcement did nothing to alleviate Biden’s concerns about his age. At 80, Biden is the oldest president in U.S. history and would be 86 years old by the time his second term, if at all, is complete.
Many doubt Biden can last through another term. If he is reelected and serves four years, he will be 86 years old, older than all but seven previous presidents have lived.
A better strategy would have been to assuage public concerns of frailty and cognitive decline by showing Biden in person, energetic and sharp as a tack.
Instead, they showed a video.
In Rove’s eyes, the video was also a missed opportunity because the president decided to appeal to the Democratic base rather than to independents. And the winner of the upcoming election, given how polarized the left and right are, will be the one that can capture the middle.
The infamous Biden “underground presidency” is about to embark on another underground campaign.
Part of Biden’s political genius might be that he knows he’s not a genius.
As Bill Shakespeare once said, “Better to remain in the basement and be thought the fool than emerge from the shadows and remove all doubt.”
