Washington.- President Joe Biden has offered plenty of excuses for his terrible performance in last week’s presidential debate. But none of them have helped ease Democrats’ concerns about Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
The White House, for its part, insists that these are explanations, not excuses. Here are some of them.
A bad cold
In the opening moments of Thursday’s debate, shortly after Biden, 81, told a bemused audience that “we finally beat Medicare,” aides said the president was suffering from a cold.
Biden’s voice was hoarse and at times his eyes looked glassy. But despite the cold, he made it from the debate to a party to watch a replay of the event and then to a restaurant. He also delivered an energetic speech on Friday in North Carolina.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Wednesday that she initially leaned toward the cold as an explanation, but knew his schedule and jet lag were issues. She later suggested that Biden traveled and then got a cold, possibly linking the two.
“It was my fault,” Jean-Pierre said of not speaking out about his jet lag sooner.
He studied too much
Other advisers said Biden had simply prepared too much during his time at the Camp David presidential retreat, that the president had simply crammed too much data into his head.
Biden spent six full days in Maryland at Camp David, which is located in the Catoctin Mountain Park. Jean-Pierre said Biden also fulfilled all of his presidential obligations while working late.
I don’t feel very well
Biden’s wife, Jill, told supporters Friday in New York City that Biden wasn’t “feeling great” during the debate. It’s unclear what she was referring to — whether it was the cold, a feeling of exhaustion or something else. But the First Lady laid out the campaign’s main argument: that 90 minutes shouldn’t define his entire presidency.
Jet lag (from a trip taken almost two weeks earlier)
Biden offered another explanation Tuesday night at a fundraiser in Virginia, saying his problem was jet lag after spending time in France, California and then Italy before taking a break in Delaware and Camp David.
The president arrived at Camp David on June 20, seven days before the debate. The presidential residence is in the Eastern time zone, the same time zone as CNN’s studios in Atlanta.
“I decided to travel around the world a couple of times, crossing I don’t know how many time zones,” Biden said, adding that he went through “15 time zones” and joking that “then I came back and almost fell asleep on stage.”
That explanation raised further questions about how much time Biden needs to recover from the trip.
“I would say that I don’t think it’s a new excuse,” Jean-Pierre said of jet lag, adding that it was due to a lot of travelling before stressing that “we certainly don’t want to justify it.”
Jean-Pierre later added that Biden did not do any further damage control on his debate performance immediately afterward because he was traveling through North Carolina, New York and New Jersey before returning Saturday night to Camp David.
Air Force One is equipped with extensive communications equipment so that presidents can stay informed while in the air.
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