US election: Did President Joe Biden's primetime TV interview assuage concerns after debate debacle?

President Joe Biden gave what is perhaps the most important television interview of his career on Friday. It was a rare primetime interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News, lasting 22 minutes.  It was taped in the library of a Wisconsin school, and it was a desperate effort to assuage concerns about his mental ability and physical strength and, therefore his candidacy. 

Compared with his debate appearance last week,  Biden looked tanned, he was more presentable, and he came without a tie and with a couple of shirt buttons undone. Clearly, it was an attempt to present a more vigorous and healthy appearance. 

However, after watching the interview, three things were quite clear: one, Biden's debate debacle was evidently not a one-off thing, the health concern is still there and yet he is unwilling to take a cognitive test. Two, he is not going to drop out of the race on his own. And three, after this performance, the Democratic Party is unlikely to be convinced about Biden's ability to stay on in the race and beat Donald Trump in the fall.

On the health front, despite Biden's improved appearance and some sharp answers, concerns remain. It is clear that the president has health concerns. And this interview, all 22 minutes of it was, in fact, all about assessing Biden's health, both mental and physical. It was not really on policies or governance or major political questions. On that account, Biden was unable to score a clean win. 

There were a few extended pauses during the answers, the voice turned hoarse and hesitant, at least at times, and Biden appeared to have lost his train of thought a couple of times. There were no seismic bloopers that would have forced Biden to drop out immediately, however,  his performance was not so strong to silence his critics and inspire confidence among his supporters. However, he was unable to give a clear explanation about his debate performance, he said he just had a bad night, just like anyone else, and then blamed it on a cold and then jet lag, and then said he was distracted by Trump, and he also blamed the press for amplifying his health concerns. 

There was more pressure on Biden on this account Thursday with CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr Sanjay Gupta, who is a practising neurosurgeon, asking him to undergo a thorough cognitive and neurological testing and to publicly share his results. He said Biden's confused rambling, his loss of concentration, and the lack of facial animation were concerning. But Biden was evasive when Stephanopoulos asked him whether he would commit to an “independent medical evaluation” of his neurological and cognitive abilities, after repeated pressing, he just refused. “Look, I have a cognitive test every single day. Everything I do as president is a cognitive test,” he said, wriggling out of the question.

Biden also made it clear that he would not drop out of the race. He said he would drop out only if “the Lord Almighty” directed him to do so. In a way, he appeared either overconfident or delusional,  depending upon your perspective, as he repeatedly denied that he was down in the polls, despite multiple nonpartisan national and battleground surveys giving  Trump the edge. When Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed him about Trump's growing lead and his low approval ratings, Biden said that was not a concern for him,  “Not when you’re running against a pathological liar, he said, referring to Trump. Not when he hasn’t been challenged in the way he’s about to be  challenged.” 

Almost inexplicably, Biden's interview gave the impression that no further information—about his health problems or his debate performance or the growing disunity among Democrats—could dent his conviction that he alone is the party's best hope to beat Trump.

No wonder the interview did little to assuage mounting concerns from Democrats, especially the Democratic Congress members about his chances and about his mental acuity. A House Democrat said after the interview that it failed to change the mind of anyone. He said that a growing number of senators and Congressmen agree that "it's time" for Biden to step aside. Members of the Congress seem particularly bothered about the unfolding scenario as most of them are on the ballot with Biden in November. They fear that Biden could take them down along with him. That is why four of them have already come out openly against Biden. 

Democratic governors, meanwhile,  have voiced support for Biden, after nearly 20 of them met with the president earlier this week at the White House. None of them are facing immediate re-elections and they all, especially Whitmer from Michigan, Gavin Newsom from  California, Josh Shapiro from Pennsylvania and J.B. Pritzker from Illinois, to name a few, seem to be eyeing the 2028 presidential elections. So, in a way, if Biden loses, their route is clear for the next race. But if Biden steps down and Kamala Harris comes up as the replacement, it could potentially keep them out of contention for eight years. That possibly explains why Democratic governors are responding somewhat differently to the ongoing crisis compared with Congress members.

Coming back to the debate, some of Biden's replies have clearly rattled and even irritated the Democrats. Towards the end,  Stephanopoulos asked Biden, “If you stay in, and Trump is elected, “how will you feel in January?” And Biden's reply was not so reassuring: “I will feel as long as I gave it my all, and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about,” he said. That kind of stubbornness could come off as completely shocking to most Democratic voters. Democrats worry that the answer may portray  Biden as a selfish politician who is interested only in his future, and his success. And that could spell the doom for the party in November, forcing the  Democrats to face a triple whammy, losing not just the White House, but also the Senate and the House of Representatives, ceding complete control to Trump and his brand of politics.