Opinion | Biden can still win re-election but voters need signs of leadership
- US President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address was received positively and shows he can still win against Donald Trump
- The president must address tangible issues such as the economy and make longer, more frequent public appearances
For far too long, Biden’s public appearances have had the character of a solar eclipse – seldom and short. Indeed, he has given the fewest news conferences of any American president since Ronald Reagan.
One rightfully wonders why Biden’s staff thought that this approach of limited exposure and risk could ever work. It certainly did the trick during the 2020 election cycle but the circumstances differ significantly this time around and it shows. If the election were held tomorrow, Trump would likely win.
I have also been very dubious about Biden’s chances so far though not because of his political record. If I were to provide Biden’s résumé without his name on it, most politically astute observers would concur that he has perhaps been the most consequential first-term president since Reagan.
But perception is reality in modern politics. Thanks to unfortunate public mishaps and the inability to communicate his success effectively thus far, Biden is not perceived as a modern Reagan but rather as Jimmy Carter 2.0 and he faces the same fate as the latter.
