Amid growing calls to step aside, President Biden on Wednesday said he would consider exiting the race if a doctor told him he had a medical condition that required him to do so.
Thus far, however, none of his doctors have come forward to say as much, with White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor noting in February that he is a “healthy, active, robust, 81-year-old…who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.” But few believe he’s got the mental acuity required to be president for another four years, let alone for the next several months. His debate performance last month made that clear.
Q: “Is there anything you would look to… that you would look to make you say, if I see that, I will re-evaluate?”
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) July 17, 2024
BIDEN: “If I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, you got this problem and that problem.”
pic.twitter.com/EstECHGcSE
As The New York Times noted, Biden continues moving the goalposts on what would make him leave the race.
In an interview with ABC News this month, Mr. Biden said he would drop out only if the “Lord almighty” told him to. At a news conference in Washington several days later, he said he would stay in the race unless aides came to him with proof that he could never win.
In the BET interview, he conceded that he “made a serious mistake in the whole debate” and would re-evaluate his decision if one of his doctors changed their assessment of him. (NYT)
In Wednesday’s interview, Biden also suggested he intended to only serve one term before passing the torch to someone else, but changed his mind given how divided America has become.
“You may remember Ed, I said I was going to be a transitional candidate, and I thought I would be able to move on from this and pass it on to somebody else,” the president said. “But I didn’t anticipate things getting so, so, so divided. And quite frankly, I think the only thing age brings is a little bit of wisdom.”
There’s still more work to be done, Biden argued.
“I’m reluctant to walk away from that.”