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Is David Axelrod Backtracking on His Concerns With Biden?

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  November 14, 2023 9:45 PM

As we're now less than a year away from the 2024 presidential election, concerns about President Joe Biden keep adding up. The incumbent is not where he wants or needs to be, especially when it comes to the likely rematch from 2020 between him and former and potentially future President Donald Trump. What's particularly telling is that even fellow Democrats are lashing out against Biden. This is reflected not only with the Democratic voters and/or Biden 2020 voters polled, but with influential Democratic voices as well, as we've been covering.

Last week, a hot topic up for discussion was the multiple polls that had recently come out showing Biden faring poorly against Trump. This includes polls from The New York Times/Siena College, which had even David Axelrod sounding the alarm, He isn't just any political strategist, but was the chief strategist to President Barack Obama's presidential campaigns. Biden served as Obama's vice president. 

The posts he made over his X account, which spoke directly to that poll from The New York Times/Siena College, were picked up by RealClearPolitics (RCP) for last Monday.

That poll, as well as polls from CBS News/YouGov and ABC News/Ipsos were also a topic of conversation, including and especially on the Sunday shows. They too showed bad news for Biden as well as glimmers of hope for Trump and the Republican Party as a whole.

When it comes to this week's Sunday shows, Axelrod appeared on CNN's "State of the Union" alongside former Gov. Larry Hogan (R-MD) who might even be considering a presidential run.

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After Hogan pointed out that "Joe Biden is probably--is not the strongest nominee for the Democrats," adding that "it's probably in his best interest and his family's and the party's and the country's if he were to step aside," Axelrod sought to clarify his own statements in a way, even backtrack them in a way.

"What I said was he ought to think about it. And he ought to think about it only because there are certain," he explained. "I have no concerns about polls a year out. I mean, you have to look at them and analyze them and adjust. But I was in a situation as a strategist for Barack Obama in 2011 where we were facing some difficult polls."

That being said, the same concerns over age did not exist for Obama as they now do for Biden, the latter who is our nation's oldest president. It shows, too. Just a few days ago, for Veterans Day, Biden caused concern with his confusion over where to go for a ceremony.

Hedge Fund Manager Bill Ackman used the clip to lay out in a very lengthy post that Biden should not run again.

"We are in an extremely unstable, high-risk world. The job of the president is a high-stress, contact sport that requires extraordinary judgment, leadership, and indefatigable energy. You need to be at your mental and physical prime to succeed.  Unfortunately, Biden is falling fast and often," Ackman wrote in part.

He also made a personal plea to those close to the president. "If you are one of the President’s closest family members or friends, please tell him that the time has come," he wrote. "Madame First Lady, please, please do so. It is your most important civic responsibility. All of us would be incredibly grateful and the world could be a much happier, safer place."

The age question did come up. "The one number in the polling that was concerning and in the CNN poll that followed after The New York Times poll had to do with age," Axelrod acknowledged. "And that's one thing you can't reverse. And no matter how effective Joe Biden is behind the scenes, in front of the camera, what he's projecting is causing people concerns." He went on to call that "worrisome."

Later in the segment, when Axelrod, Hogan, and host Dana Bash were also discussing Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN), who has mounted a primary challenge to Biden, age came up once again. Axelrod acknowledged "the age issue is difficult," but still expressed "I believe Joe Biden's going to be the nominee of the Democratic Party."

Axelrod appeared on CNN to talk about Biden yet again, with Kassie Hunt pointing to an article from POLITICO by Jonathan Martin in which Biden reportedly referred to Axelrod as a "pr**k."

When asked for his response, Axelrod laughed off how "he wouldn't be the first I guess, in my many years in politics." Axelrod went on to share "listen, I understand. He was irritated because I raised concerns that many, many Democrats have," speaking still about the president. "And again, you know, my feeling is either get out or get going.

Axelrod and Ackman aren't the only ones to have raised issues with Biden. Nate Silver was trending over X on Monday night due to his daring to share and comment about that same POLITICO article mentioned above.

As our sister site of Twitchy highlighted, there was much unhappiness and tantrums to be had.