In a recently launched video by his new campaign team, U.S. President Joe Biden announces his re-election bid at 80. He declares it is his job to defend American democracy, the news being published on NDTV live. His age has now made this decision a historic bid and a risky gamble as well for the Democratic Party.
He announced that on Tuesday 25th April, he will seek a second term in 2024, plunging at the record age of 80 into a campaign that could set up a rematch against Donald Trump. Biden also added that he was still fighting to save American democracy from Republican ‘extremists.’ He said that when he ran for presidency four years ago, he declared that he was in a battle for the soul of America and still he is. Now that it’s time to finish that job and he is confident of it. A second White House term at this age is indeed challenging for 2024.
This is now going to face a tough election map to hold the Senate in 2024 and is the minority in the House of Representatives now. He is probably the oldest person to have occupied the White House and would be 80 at the end of a second four-year term. About 61% of registered Democrats in a poll added that he was too old to work in government again. Doctors who assured of Biden not consuming alcohol and undergoing regular exercises five times a week have declared that is completely ‘fit for duty’ after an examination in February. The White House says that his record claims of him being mentally sharp enough for the rigours of the job. Although Biden supervised the lowest unemployment rates since 1969, his economic accomplishment has been diminished by 40 years of rising inflation. Data reveal that inflation slowed for a ninth straight month in March to 5.0 per cent and the income was rising with strong demand for workers added to unemployment at just 3.5%.
The White House claims that there already have been massive investments in infrastructure, high-tech sectors like semiconductor manufacturing and climatic changes that have ignited an economic rebirth. However, the real threats are renewed inflation and recession. Biden’s administration has told the world on day one that ‘America is back.’ It was a pledge to restore alliances strained by Trump’s unilateralism. Biden has made a quick start, with emphasis on face-to-face diplomacy and emphasizing US commitment to NATO and key Asian allies like South Korea, Japan and Australia. He fulfilled the prophecy to end the 20-year US war in Afghanistan but the humiliating exit and the Taliban triumph hurt the base of the administration’s standing at home and abroad.
Australia had previously scrapped a deal for French submarines in favour of a US nuclear-powered version, prompting Paris briefly to recall its ambassador to Washington. However, he has been praised for his handling of the Ukrainian issue and for unifying NATO. China, the rival superpower has been enjoying rocky relationships under Trump but Biden has tried to walk a diplomatic high wire described by him as a competition, not conflict. Thus, Biden claims that he is betting at 80 his first-term legislative achievements with over 50 years of experience in Washington that will count for more than concerns over his age.
