Biden Vows To Fight, Rejecting Calls To Step Aside

US President Joe Biden has hit back at criticism over his age, telling supporters in a fiery speech that he will win re-election in November after a poor debate performance fuelled concern about his candidacy.

“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” he told a rally in the battleground state of North Carolina on Friday, one day after he struggled in the televised showdown with his Republican rival Donald Trump.

“I don’t walk as easy as I used to… I don’t debate as well as I used to,” he acknowledged. “But I know what I do know, I know how to tell the truth [and] I know how to do this job.”

Mr Biden, 81, said he believed with his “heart and soul” that he could serve another term, as the cheering crowd in Raleigh chanted “four more years”.

While questions over Mr Biden’s age are not new, his shaky performance on the debate stage – which was marked by verbal blanks, a hoarse voice and some difficult-to-follow answers – triggered panic among some Democrats who raised fresh questions about his candidacy.

Mr Biden’s campaign has remained emphatic that the country’s oldest presidential candidate is still fit to serve another term. Campaign officials said he would not step aside for another nominee, despite the poor performance.

And while several campaign surrogates – including Vice President Kamala Harris – admitted in interviews that the president stumbled during the debate, they reiterated their commitment to the elder statesman and stressed that his answers were more substantive than Mr Trump’s.

In the days since, many senior Democrats and Biden allies have made additional efforts to defend the former president’s performance and calm liberal jitters.
Former President Barack Obama, who remains one of the party’s most popular figures, tweeted that “bad debate nights happen”.

“This election is still a choice between someone who fought for ordinary folks his entire life and someone who only cares about himself,” Mr Obama wrote, adding that Mr Trump is “someone who lies through his teeth for his own benefit”.

But Democratic fears about Mr Biden are far from quashed.
Party officials, political operatives, and people close to the president who spoke to the BBC’s Katty Kay painted a picture of an anxious party concerned about the strength of their candidate.

BBC