How Joe Biden’s Cancer Diagnosis Disrupts the Discourse Around His Failed 2024 Candidacy
Democrats are experiencing an intense bout of whiplash from the Joe Biden news cycle.
New revelations from a highly anticipated book, Original Sin, by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson, have reopened old wounds from the 2024 election, with elected officials—and even some 2028 hopefuls—facing uncomfortable questions this past week about Biden’s cognitive decline in office and his fateful decision to run for reelection. Original Sin, which officially hits shelves Tuesday, adds fresh reporting on the race, and follows a couple books, Chris Whipple’s Uncharted and Amie Parnes and Jon Allen’s Fight, which also delved into Biden’s bungled candidacy and the party’s loss to Donald Trump.
It’s a conversation many in Biden’s party would prefer to avoid, and indeed, former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg argued that the Democrats are “not in a position to wallow in hindsight” as they’ve got “some fundamental tests for the future of the country and this party.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer expressed a similar sentiment telling reporters on Tuesday, “We’re just looking forward.” Last week, in response to the news cycle, a spokesperson from Biden’s office argued, “We’re still waiting for someone, anyone to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline.”
But such sentiments couldn’t slow a flood of leaks and excerpts detailing previously unreported instances of health lapses, including Biden not recognizing George Clooney at a fundraiser and internal suggestions that he use a wheelchair if elected to a second term. The book also explores the tactics that the White House engaged in to dissuade the media from reporting on said health concerns, including a strategy that encouraged Democratic operatives to attack journalists publicly.
Some Democrats opted to publicly distance themselves from Biden and the administration’s calculated strategy to keep his health decline out of the public eye. During an appearance on Pod Save America, Beto O’Rourke argued that “Biden should not have run again,” in 2024, adding that he “failed this country in the most important job that he had.” In a statement to the Washington Post, Rep. Ro Khanna said, “In my few interactions at public events, I found him coherent and proud of his record, but it is now painfully obvious he should not have run.” Even Buttigieg acknowledged that “maybe” Democrats would’ve been better off if Biden had not run again. Right now, with the benefit of hindsight,” he said, “I think most people would agree that that’s the case.”
The discourse even made its way to Saturday Night Live, where “Weekend Update” coanchor Colin Jost joked that “according to a new tell-all book, Biden’s inner circle reveals that they were worried the president would need a wheelchair in his second term. Especially after they were all done stabbing him in the back.” The following morning, Khanna was on ABC’s This Week reiterating that “obviously, he should not have run,” while over on Meet the Press, Senator Chris Murphy told NBC News’s Kristen Welker that “in retrospect, you can’t defend what the Democratic Party did because we are stuck with a madman, a corrupt president in the Oval Office, and we should’ve given ourselves a better chance to win.”
