‘I know how to do this job:’ Defiant Biden aims to limit debate damage

https://www.semafor.com/article/06/28/2024/i-know-how-to-do-this-job-defiant-biden-aims-to-limit-debate-damage?utm_campaign=semaforreddit

45 comments

  1. From Semafor’s Caroline Anders:

    The vigorous, defiant President Joe Biden who took the stage at a North Carolina rally on Friday stood in stark contrast to the hoarse, hesitant man who debated his Republican challenger the night before.

    “I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” he said to raucous applause. “Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job.”

    Biden’s energetic speech seemed engineered to limit damage from the night before, when his underwhelming performance against former President Donald Trump set off a fresh wave of panic through the Democratic Party.

    [Read the full story here.](https://www.semafor.com/article/06/28/2024/i-know-how-to-do-this-job-defiant-biden-aims-to-limit-debate-damage?utm_campaign=semaforreddit)

  2. Joe, there’s only one thing you can do to limit the debate damage- step aside and let one of the young, popular Democrats sitting on the bench step in.

  3. > I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong

    Ok, prove it then. Drop out of the race

  4. Please don’t let the democrats circle the wagons like this

    Stand aside Biden it’s time, let someone have a real chance at beating Trump

  6. >“I know I’m not a young man, to state the obvious,” he said to raucous applause. “Folks, I don’t walk as easy as I used to. I don’t speak as smoothly as I used to. I don’t debate as well as I used to. But I know what I do know: I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong. And I know how to do this job.”

    The quote in the title and in the article are taken from Biden’s NC rally after the debate. For those interested, here is the video:

    [WATCH LIVE: Biden attends campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina after first presidential debate](https://youtu.be/HYghfyxtZnc?t=515)

    EDIT: Watching the video of the rally there was a little more to the quote than included in the article:

    >”I know how to get things done. And I know what millions of Americans know: When you get knocked down, you get back up.”

  7. He really did fantastic at the rally, night and day difference between that and the debate. Just gotta wonder which is the real Biden at this point. And why did he fumble so much during the debate.

  8. Just let Whitmer, Shapiro or Kelly take over please.

    Also, we know you (r/politics member) are going to vote to Biden no matter what. But the debate wasn’t about your vote. It was for the 4 undecided voters in Wisconsin who are inevitably going to decide the election and their biggest concern, Bidens age, just got validated on national TV. Swing voters don’t care about policy or lies, they care about optics. Thats the one thing Biden doesn’t have.

  9. Biden does know how to govern. The issue is that the average American cares more about vibes and how you present yourself.

  10. Probably one of the better responses he could have had tbh. I can appreciate the honesty and taking ownership that he did poorly.

  11. He’s going to be under a microscope after last night, not that he wasn’t already, but it was pretty important that he show some rebound and he did.

    I don’t think there’s any one thing he can do, but he’s going to have to build back people’s confidence step by step and getting videos of events like this out there will help.

  12. “I know how to do this job”

    That is no longer the point. The point is whether you inspire people to Vote for you. After last night, you don’t provide such inspiration to several segments of society (including young voters) and that could very well allow Trump to be elected. Please do what good for the country and withdraw from the election.

  13. Sounded like a completely different person. This is the Biden we needed last night, but he’s always been so bad at debates. It’s like he tries too hard to find the right words and not stutter that he ends up mumbling and mixing up words. Meanwhile, Trump will confidently say the craziest lies you’ve ever heard without a second of hesitation. Either way, I think the last 4 years of Biden’s policies say a lot more about his ability to lead than a single 2 hour debate. People act like the President needs to make split second life and death decisions constantly, but good leaders take time to think through a situation before coming to a decision and that’s what Biden is good at.

    Also, the comments on every post talking about how Biden needs to give up the nomination are extremely annoying and not subtle at all. They’re either conservatives trolling the channel or liberals that would throw away the election because of one bad debate. Not only will Biden not step down, him stepping down would hand the win to Trump since no Dems are even close to beating him in the polls except Biden.

  14. > My “I know how to do this job” T-shirt has people asking a lot of questions already answered by my shirt

  15. Look, Trump aggressively floods the zone with BS.  It’s a completely different animal to deal with.   Biden likely over prepared and had a zillion different comebacks that workshopped well and didn’t translate to the debate.  It doesn’t matter to me.  I know Trump is a monster.  I know Biden is a good president.  The rest is fluff.  I will vote accordingly. 

  16. If trump was actually talking policies and not just spewing nonsense then we would be in a deeper hole. I believe he can climb out of this one and get everything back on track.

  17. The issue for undecided voters is not “does he know how to do the job” it’s “can he represent America as strong and secure to our peers and enemies”

    This election is the most extreme example of having only two bad choices and the electorate is exhausted.

  19. It astonishes me that people have overreacted and jumped ship on Biden for one bad debate night. Yet we’ve had 8 bad years of Trump – all the convictions, indictments, felonies, and impeachments and people wanna sign up for 4 more years of that assholery?

    Sign me up for mummbly grandpa anytime.

  20. If this debate and the issues it’s (had) created (around it) happened a year ago, there’d be plenty of opportunity to change course. We’ve got 4 months and change, there’s zero opportunity to reverse course. The last stop was a while back, we’re here now, do what we can with what we have, and what we can do is stop trump. Nothing comes before that.

  22. The fact that Trump uttered lie after lie, but literally all the heat is on Biden for being a) old and b) a mediocre debater, which he has kind of always been, tells you everything you need to know about the supposed “liberal bias” in the media 🤦‍♂️

  24. He’s doing the job _right now._ I may not agree with him on everything, but he’s doing a helluva better job than Cheeto Benito did.

  25. The DNC is still living in an age where a Democrat can be elected governor of Arkansas

  26. All these old people refuse to step aside for younger generation of talent is destroying all the progress. Look at what happened with RBG. Imagine if she had step down during Obama era like so many people asked her to. The ego of old people is screwing up all young people for generations.

  27. Doing “the job” as President of the United States means surrounding yourself with the best people and then getting out of their way and letting them do “their jobs”. That’s not an easy task but it doesn’t require that you be a gifted speaker or a master debater.

  28. I honestly feel bad for Joe: the guy is clearly not and has never been a stellar public speaker. He is a dedicated public servant and that much is clear – the US deserves that much anyways

  29. None of those people win with four months until Election Day. Maybe Newsome because he already has a pretty big donation and campaign machine in place.

    All the other names either lack name recognition, experience or both.

    And let’s face it. This country isn’t at a point where they’re electing a gay man to be President. I don’t think a woman could win with just four months time. It’s unfortunate but it’s where we’re at. The moderate voters that are crossing over to vote for Biden over Trump are not there yet socially.

  30. Honestly, this poor old man has been through so much shit in his life and he’s the one who stepped up in order to save our democracy when no one else in the Democratic Party seems to have the balls to do so. I appreciate the energy from the audience hyping him up after an awful night having to debate a traitorous lying felon who is also running for president. People might not like it but he’s the guy. Vote vote vote

  31. As the last president made perfectly clear it’s absolutely unnecessary to speak clearly to be the best president ever. Maybe Biden should pad his resume with some felonies.

  32. Unfortunately these debates have turned into less about facts and more about appearance. I’m shocked at how people think Trump “won” the debate based on how he sounded and looked. He fucking lied the whole time.

  33. A beacon of hope! Thank you President Biden for level-headed leadership that focuses on solving actual problems. Truly inspirational 😎🇺🇸👍. Now more than ever we need leaders who are practically immune to social media hysteria

  34. Running the country isn’t about yelling the loudest into a microphone.

  35. The daily job does not involve debates in real-time.

  37. Oh ffs the amount of excuses on here is pretty pathetic. He’s clearly far too old, pretending like this isn’t a huge issue is ignoring blatant reality. He’s simply not fit to debate him and as such he’s a huge liability. Democrats have absolutely made a mess of this. They should have been working on a replacement the second they won the election. The cost of their incompetence could be absolutely catastrophic for the world.

  39. He is 82 now and will be 86 at the end of his next term. It’s not that he had a bad night. It’s that he may be too old to do the job. That’s the fear people have. And he proved this to be a well founded fear. He’d have to make daily vigorous speeches and give strong interviews to put this idea to rest. But he hasn’t and he won’t, bc in fact he looks, sounds, acts like a very old man who is a shell of his former self. It’s plain before our eyes. I’m sad and incredibly angry that people close to him didn’t do more to urge him to stick to one term. Yes I will vote for him but I’m not who matters. It’s the swing voters in a few states who will decide and this will convince enough of them that they can’t vote for him again. It’s selfish for him to keep going.

  40. > I know how to do this job

    I believe you. But can you do it for four more years?

  41. We know he can do the job of President, in that respect he’s been one of the best in the past 75 years.

    What we’re not sure of is if he can do the job of candidate. He did in 2020 so there’s evidence he can. And he’s been fine up until last night. But last night wasn’t just a failure, it was a massive failure and it’s going to take a LOT to win back the confidence of both pundits and the public, and it’s going to take a LOT from the public to convince apathetic and non-voters to support him give the amount of anti-Biden propaganda that will be pushed on social media and in regular media over the next few months.

  42. You know one unironically good thing that has come out of this debate.

    The reaffirmation that despite everything, people behind Biden have something that Trump voters have never had.

    The ability to admit when their preferred candidate has a weak moment.

    Absolutely nobody is trying to spin Biden’s performance. He didn’t perform well, period.

    Imagine if this were Trump, and how many conspiracy theories would be on Truth Social and all the other usual wave of bullshit we’ve become accustomed to.

    There still plenty of campaign left and hopefully this is a wake up call to people who ignored the primaries.

    Because if people showed up for the primaries, we could actually end up with a younger candidate.

  43. Last night’s debate was rough. I was so frustrated. Why couldn’t we had this energy last night? I heard he’s had a cold, and debating with 2 min answers and 1 minute rebuttals with a stutter and being old, not the greatest situation . Plus debating a lying liar! But I’m still supporting Joe, and I know he’s got a good team. The alternative is frightening beyond words.
    Have a good weekend!

  45. It’s not about whether you can do the job dude, IT’S ABOUT WHETHER ENOUGH VOTERS THINK YOU CAN. And about 75% don’t think so. It ain’t fair but it’s reality and you need to step aside for the good of the country Joe.

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