JOE BIDEN HAS acknowledged that he ran as a “transitional candidate” in the 2020 US presidential election, but changed his mind due to how “divided” politics has become in the country.
The US President said he is “reluctant to walk away” now because there is “more to do”.
He was speaking to BET News’s Ed Gordon for a sit-down interview for ‘Black America Votes: The Biden Special’, which will air in full later today.
In a clip from the special, Biden said: “When I originally ran, you may remember Ed, I said I was going to be a transitional candidate, and I thought that I’d be able to move from this just pass it on to someone else, but I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided.
“And quite frankly, I think the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom, and I think I’ve demonstrated that I know how to get things done for the country, in spite of the fact that we were told we couldn’t get it done.
But there’s more to do, and I’m reluctant to walk away from that.
Biden’s age and his fitness to complete another term has dominated the headlines around his campaign, which amplified after his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last month.
Numerous Democrats have called for him to step down, including former speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and actor George Clooney, who is a longtime supporter and fundraiser.
The 81-year-old president has already acknowledged his poor debate performance but has insisted several times that he is staying in the race.
In the BET interview, Biden said he “made a serious mistake” in the debate, and seemingly speaking about what would make him drop out of the race, said: “If I had some medical condition that emerged. If doctors came to me and said: ‘You got this problem, that problem.’”
When asked about reproductive rights and restoring Roe V. Wade, which he has committed to doing if reelected, Biden warned about the possibility of Trump being reelected and appointing two more judges to the US Supreme Court.
The US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, which had enshrined legal abortions across all 50 states, in June 2022. Since then, some 20 states, mostly in the South and Midwest, have prohibited abortion outright or severely restricted access.
This year, the court significantly rolled back the power of federal agencies, while also partially ruling in early July in favour of Trump’s immunity claims.
Of the nine current US Supreme Court justices, six were appointed by Republican presidents. Trump appointed three – Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. This was the most by any president since Ronald Reagan, who appointed four.
“The Supreme Court did it. Trump appointed the Supreme Court with the express purpose of doing it,” Biden said, referring to the overturning of Roe V Wade.
“There’s gonna probably be two more appointments to the court,” Biden explained, saying two judges will probably retire. “Just imagine if he has two more appointments on that court, what that means forever.”
US media, citing unnamed sources familiar with the planning, has reported that Biden is weighing proposals to reform the Supreme Court, including possible term limits and a new ethics code for the conservative-dominated bench.
He has previously resisted calls to overhaul or reform the court of nine lifetime-appointed justices, but that may be changing.
It was unclear whether Biden would come out in support of the measures in the near future or in his second term if he wins the presidential election in November, the New York Times reported.
However, the measures Biden is reportedly considering – including backing a constitutional amendment that would overturn the court’s ruling on presidential immunity – would require bipartisan congressional support that is almost certainly out of reach.
Amid the legal setbacks the Supreme Court has handed down to Democrats, it has also recently been engulfed in ethics scandals.
Conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas refused to step aside on cases related to the 2020 election, even as flags linked to Trump’s false election claims were discovered to be flown outside Alito’s home, and Thomas’s wife was part of Trump’s effort to overturn the vote result.
With reporting from © AFP 2024
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