President Biden on Friday tried to ease widespread panic among some Democrats about his ability to lead the party into November after the previous night’s dismal performance in the debate by delivering a more energetic speech in North Carolina in which he acknowledged some of his own shortcomings.
“Folks, I can’t walk as easily as I used to. I can’t talk as smoothly as I used to. I can’t debate as well as I used to,” Biden said at a campaign rally in Raleigh.
“But I know what I know,” he continued, “I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job. I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get up.”
Biden faced off against Trump in a Thursday night debate that ended disastrously. Biden’s predicament has prompted debate among Democrats about whether he should step aside, and even some of his former aides and staunchest allies acknowledged it was not a great performance.
The president appeared to acknowledge those concerns head-on at a rally on Friday, and White House and campaign officials denied rumors that he was dropping out of the race that some Democrats began suggesting on Thursday night.
“As Biden, I can assure you that I wouldn’t run again if I didn’t believe in my heart that I could do the job,” Biden said in Raleigh, “because, frankly, the stakes are too high. The stakes are too high.”
Biden on Friday repeatedly denounced Trump’s frequent false and misleading statements in response to numerous questions during the debate.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I don’t know what you did last night, but I spent 90 minutes on stage debated a guy with the morals of a wildcat,” Biden said, repeating the words he had used the night before. “Did you see Trump last night? My guess is he set a new record for the most lies told in a single debate, and I mean that.”
Biden slammed Trump for claiming he built the “greatest economy in history,” for touting his criminal record despite it having decreased since he left office, and for downplaying the severity of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
The president slammed his predecessor’s numerous legal troubles and felony convictions in New York City, calling Trump a “one-man crime wave.”
Biden’s energetic self during his scripted speech on Friday was a far cry from the candidate who took the stage Thursday night.
The president’s voice was raspy and he spoke haltingly, at times stuttering and struggling to get his points across. Shortly after the debate began, the White House announced that Biden had a cold.
Biden’s performance in the debate was seen as a chance to turn his campaign around, with him trailing Trump in opinion polls in several battleground states that will determine the outcome of the November election, but close in others, including Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.
The Biden campaign is hoping to win over North Carolina, a state that Biden lost by fewer than 100,000 votes in 2020. Biden has visited the state multiple times this year in an attempt to flip the state to Democrats.
“I came to North Carolina for one reason and one reason only,” Biden said Friday. “Because I’m going to win this state in November. I think we can win. If we win here, we’ll win the election.”
