White House Report Card: Biden’s excuses fuel push to exit 2024 race

This week’s White House Report Card finds President Joe Biden facing a growing chorus of panicky Democrats worried about their own political fate urging him to drop his reelection bid.

The sting of Biden’s poor debate performance last week with former President Donald Trump continued to linger but instead of rallying around their leader, Democrats and their liberal media allies are abandoning the 81-year-old chief executive.

In a Hail Mary interview with ABC News on Friday, former Clinton aide and anchor George Stephanopoulos asked several questions of Biden that had a similar theme: Leave now. While humiliating, Biden kept his smile on and pushed back, saying only God could force him out of the race.

He and his team poured out multiple excuses for his poor performance. He had a cold, he was jet-lagged, he was sleepy, he suffered from some unknown condition, he was over-prepared for the debate. None of it worked.

To readers of the Weekly Report Card and most conservative media, Biden’s mental decline is an old story. But the debate forced Democrats and the liberal media to admit that they’ve been hiding that fact from the public.

Top leaders, including Vice President Kamala Harris, and media partners, such as the Washington Post and the Associated Press, have led that cover-up and now have to answer for it. And, of course, they won’t. The Washington Post even congratulated itself for its new coverage of Biden’s failings.

Democratic pollster John Zogby graded Biden’s week an “F,” and suggested that “Plan B,” having Harris replace Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, was being prepared. “It is harder and harder to see how he can stay,” said Zogby.

Conservative analyst Jed Babbin also graded the week an “F” and said that the president’s wish to end his day at 8 p.m. is unrealistic. “Anybody remember Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ad from 2008 in which former President Barack Obama was accused of not being prepared for a sudden wake-up call? Biden needs more sleep, so there’s no need to wake him up for a crisis. Until there is one,” he wrote.

John Zogby

Grade: F

There is a slow and steady drumbeat among donors, members of Congress, and leading liberal media to persuade President Joe Biden to end his campaign for reelection. Sen. Mark Warner [D-VA] is calling a meeting of fellow Democratic senators to do the same as a group. And House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries [D-NY] has called a Sunday meeting of his caucus to discuss the president’s campaign.

It appears that “Plan B” is already happening behind the scenes as the conversation is shifting to Vice President Kamala Harris as the inevitable nominee. While Biden is fighting to keep going, it is harder and harder to see how he can stay and how he can move behind the issue that has been dogging him for over two years.

I watched his interview with ABC News and, while he looked better and gave a spirited defense of his years of office, I don’t think there is anything I saw that will allay fears about his ability to wage an effective campaign.

Sadly, for him, 206,000 new jobs were created last month and breaking news suggests perhaps some progress in the Israel-Gaza peace process. But no one is talking about that.

Jed Babbin

Grade: F

This has been a fun week for some White House observers but not for President Joe Biden and his minions. The aftermath of his miserable debate performance is still resonating, and most of the Democrats — at least those who haven’t yet come out to say Biden should drop out of the race — seem panicky and unable to handle it.

First to some policy matters. Biden’s bans on liquid natural gas exports and use of non-compete agreements in employment contracts have both been thrown out by federal courts. They were abuses of power that Biden didn’t — at long last — get away with. There are a lot more.

Second, Biden threatened to abandon Israel if it retaliated strongly to Iran’s April attack, which launched more than 300 missiles and drones at Israel. Biden’s appeasement of Iran and his ridiculous pressures on Israel are a large part of his legacy.

The best part of the week has been the reactions by the Democrats and even the foreign media to the disastrous performance Biden gave at last week’s debate with former President Donald Trump.

Biden has lost the support of much of the most liberal press. The Washington Post, which has been in the bag for Biden even before he began his 2020 campaign, published an article with a speech Biden could give resigning from the race.

Probably the most severe criticism came from the liberal British outlet, the Economist, which published an editorial under a picture of an old person’s walker with the seal of the U.S. president hung precariously on it.  Part of that editorial said, “Representing America abroad, Mr. Biden will project decrepitude to the delight of China and Russia and the dismay of America’s allies.” And so he will.

Biden isn’t coping at all well with his debate crash-and-burn. He said that he won’t schedule any more events after 8 p.m. because he needs more sleep. Anybody remember Hillary Rodham Clinton’s “3 a.m. phone call” ad from 2008 in which former President Barack Obama was accused of not being prepared for a sudden wake-up call? Biden needs more sleep, so there’s no need to wake him up for a crisis. Until there is one.

Everyone who saw the debate knows that Biden isn’t capable of handling the toughest job in the world. Hell, he’s not even capable of functioning for five minutes in a row.

And finally the White House said that the future of the Democratic Party rests with Vice President Kamala Harris. That is tantamount to a political suicide note.

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John Zogby is the founder of the Zogby Survey and senior partner at John Zogby Strategies. His podcast with son and managing partner and pollster Jeremy Zogby can be heard here. Their firm polls for independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Follow him on X @ZogbyStrategies.

Jed Babbin is a Washington Examiner contributor and former deputy undersecretary of defense in the administration of former President George H.W. Bush. Follow him on X @jedbabbin.