“One of the really pathological aspects of this situation is that we look at every speech, every rally, every debate and say, how was he today? This is no way to think about the presidency of the United States,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, said on MSNBC’s “Alex Wagner Tonight” Thursday. And the question is, can President Joe Biden “stay awake three days in a row and make all the right decisions in a job that requires near perfection?”
Hymes said:[I]It doesn’t matter tonight. One of the really pathological aspects of this moment is that we look at every speech, every rally, every debate and say, ‘How did he do today?’ This is no way to think about the U.S. presidency.”
Himes also said foreign policy is Biden’s forte, something he confirmed at a press conference that evening.
He then added: “The country and the Democratic Party are very pleased and probably not surprised that the president did a pretty good job tonight on foreign policy. He knows foreign policy well. But we’ve been so focused on this, we’ve forgotten the fact that the presidency is incredibly demanding. I’ve never been in the presidency, and I probably never will be, let alone debating Donald Trump. The presidency is 24/7. You’re woken up at 3 a.m., Russia is refueling missiles, oh my God, Iran is doing something with Hezbollah, and your political opponent just accused you of being a traitor. That’s a level of stress that no one but the president of the United States can understand. And I love and respect the president, but this isn’t about whether he can give a good press conference, right? This is a question of whether he can stay awake for three days in a row and make all the right decisions when, three years from now, Russia is fueling their missiles and Iran is doing something and his political opponents are calling him a traitor. This is a job. We look at the Olympians in Paris. This is a job that, like them, requires as much perfection as divine providence will allow man. People need to ask themselves if that is the trajectory that they are witnessing right now. And they need to be honest about it.”
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