Biden 2024: it’s official

President Joe Biden announced today that he will seek reelection to the office in 2024.

Biden makes his announcement

He and Vice-President Kamala Harris made a joint announcement at 6:00 a.m. EDT, according to Fox News.

He released a video, mis-titled “Freedom,” in which he laid out his policy agenda for his first and second terms.

Freedom. Personal freedom is fundamental to who we are as Americans. There’s nothing more important. Nothing more sacred. That’s been the work of my first term: To fight for our Democracy. This shouldn’t be a red or blue issue…

This is not a time to be complacent. That’s why I’m running for re-election. Because I know America. I know we are good and decent people. And I know we are still a country that believes in honesty and respect, and treating each other with dignity. That we’re a nation where we give hate no safe harbor. And we believe that everyone is equal, and that everyone should be given a fair shot to succeed in this country.

From other remarks that Fox did not quote, he made clear the “freedoms” he defends:

• Abortion on demand,
• Respect for every kind of lifestyle except the heterosexual,,
• Support for the indoctrination of children into the LGBTQIA+ “community,”
• Ballot harvesting, refusal to sanitize voter rolls, and other “reforms” designed to provide convenience without security, and:
• Gun control.

The announcement also named national co-chairs for the Biden and Harris campaign:

• Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.),
• Representative Lisa Blunt-Rochester (D-Del.),
• Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.),
• Representative Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) (House Assistant Minority Leader),
• Representative Veronica Escobar (D-Texas),
• Governor Grechen Whitmer (D-Mich.), and
• Jeffrey Katzenberg, the “K” of Dreamworks SKG and its current CEO.

He begins at a considerable disadvantage, however. According to polling by Fox, he has less-than-fifty-percent approval in demographics he will need to win, including:

• Women,
• Voters 45 years of age or older,
• Suburban voters, and
• Rural voters.

He has a majority of Democrats, but by no means all of them.

An anniversary – sort of

Biden made the announcement today, four years to the day after announcing for 2020.

Not everyone, even on his own side, is happy about it. He already has a primary challenger: Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., “Bobby’s” son, challenging him on COVID and other vaccines. And NBC News has polls showing that 70 percent of the American public do not want to see Biden run again. And nearly half of those answering “no,” cite his age as their reason. (He’s 80.)

Dmitriy Medvedev had this pithy reply to the announcement:

Байден таки решился. Отчаянный дед.
На месте американских военных я бы немедленно создал бутафорский чемодан с фальшивыми ядерными кодами на случай его победы, дабы избежать непоправимых последствий.

Translation:

Biden finally made up his mind. Desperate grandfather. If I were the American military, I would immediately create a fake suitcase with fake nuclear codes in case of his victory, in order to avoid irreparable consequences.

Of note is that Dmitriy Medvedev never, but never, said that of Donald J. Trump.