David Axelrod, a former adviser to President Barack Obama, openly pondered on Sunday whether President Joe Biden should run for a second term in 2024.
A series of posts to X by Axelrod offered an analysis of the political situation in response to The New York Times publishing poll results showing former President Donald Trump topping Biden in five out of six key battleground states.
“It’s very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden’s team says his resolve to run is firm. He’s defied [conventional wisdom] before but this will send tremors of doubt thru the party–not ‘bed-wetting,’ but legitimate concern,” Axelrod wrote.
It's very late to change horses; a lot will happen in the next year that no one can predict & Biden's team says his resolve to run is firm.
He's defied CW before but this will send tremors of doubt thru the party–not "bed-wetting," but legitimate concern. https://t.co/g6zeWF0T87— David Axelrod (@davidaxelrod) November 5, 2023
“The greatest concern is that his biggest liability is the one thing he can’t change,” Axelrod added. “Among all the unpredictables there is one thing that is sure: the age arrow only points in one direction.”
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Some of Biden’s supporters and others have called on him to consider dropping out amid low approval numbers, unfavorable polling in a hypothetical 2020 rematch against Trump, and trepidation about his fitness to continue serving as commander-in-chief. Already the oldest person to be president at 80, Biden would be 86 at the end of a second term. His tendency to lose his train of thought while speaking and moments caught on camera where he has tripped or fallen over have spurred concerns about his ability to lead effectively.
Axelrod served as a top strategist for Obama’s two winning presidential campaigns and as an adviser in the Obama White House in which Biden served as vice president. Despite their shared history, Axelrod has consistently voiced worry about Biden’s age becoming a political liability. Axelrod did so again on Sunday, even as he touted the incumbent’s work as president.
“The [president] is justly proud of his accomplishments. Trump is a dangerous, unhinged demagogue whose brazen disdain for the rules, norms, laws and institutions [of] democracy should be disqualifying. But the stakes of miscalculation here are too dramatic to ignore,” Axelrod said in his X thread.
“Only [Biden] can make this decision,” he added. “If he continues to run, he will be the nominee of the Democratic Party. What he needs to decide is whether that is wise; whether it’s in HIS best interest or the country’s?”