Staff Reports
Joe Biden’s grand tour of self-justification took center stage this week as he denied any claims that Vice President Kamala Harris had left him in the dust on the campaign trail. The 81-year-old Commander-in-Chief found time between his presidential duties and the occasional public appearance to travel to Scranton, Pennsylvania, his hometown of almost 76,000 people, to show everyone he still packs a political punch. Biden believed he could erase suspicions about his dwindling influence in a neck-and-neck election season by visiting Scranton.
Commentators have noted the striking absence of the Biden-Harris tag team since their joint debut on Labor Day in Pittsburgh. The duo’s rarity has sparked concerns among Democrats who believe Biden’s diminishing popularity might drag their campaign efforts. But Biden waved a dismissive hand at these worries. He insisted he’d been putting in a boatload of “surrogate work” while also managing to be the president, a task that, one assumes, he considers just a tiny job for someone of his stature.
Punxsutawney, PA would seem more apropos as he's only seen about once a year.
Biden Rejects Accusations of Irrelevancy and Heads to Scranton, Pennsylvania, on Campaign Trail https://t.co/SiptMVvNGe via @BreitbartNews
— Wagamemnon (@WagamemnonGlenn) October 29, 2024
If anyone doubted the dynamic duo’s closeness, Biden was eager to assure everyone that he and Harris still chat all the time. Naturally, one has to consider the nature of those conversations. Suppose the Vice President’s team is nervously tiptoeing around Biden’s ego. In that case, one can only imagine the topics they discuss—like how to deny they are systematically placing distance between themselves and the man in charge.
Reports reveal that the Harris campaign acts like Biden is that outdated GPS in their car—present but hardly consulted. They seem keen to sidestep the president’s participation, keeping him away from events that might associate them too closely with his sagging approval ratings. With a staggering 39 percent popularity, Biden is not the poster child for “change we can believe in.” Harris’s team thinks featuring Biden would only remind voters of four years of decline rather than the bright future they’re selling.
As Election Day approaches, the silence between Biden and Harris speaks volumes. There need to be public events where the two will campaign together, almost echoing the remarkable absence of a coordinated effort on the voter engagement front. Even Scranton might question whether the duo was a united front if this continues. In the world of electioneering, Biden’s campaign promises may become as substantial as a magician’s rabbit—easy to disappear when scrutiny increases.
