‘I was the best person to lead the world’: Biden breaks silence on pressure to quit 2024 race
WASHINGTON, DC: Former President Joe Biden, made headlines over his health and upcoming memoir, has devoted an entire chapter to responding to his critics over the past two and a half years.
‘Promise Me, America’ is a memoir by former US President Joe Biden that reflects on his single term in the White House.
Biden speaks out against critics who forced him to quit 2024 race
Biden, who has been on a media tour to promote his upcoming memoir, has addressed questions about his mental fitness, his decision to run for reelection, and what he believes was unfair treatment following his disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump.
“The difference in 2024 was not that I had a bad debate. Lots of presidents had bad debates. The difference was that every other president was given the chance to redeem themselves in a second debate. As it turned out, that chance would not be available to me,” the former president writes in “Promise Me, America,” according to the text of a chapter obtained by CNN.
In pages ahead, Biden addressed what he felt during the three-week period when the calls for him to drop out mounted and he remained largely out of sight.
“The widely held assumption that I wasn’t following what was happening could not have been more at odds with reality. I followed it. Hell, I was living it. I knew exactly how many Democratic members of Congress and governors had pulled their support of me. I did phone calls with sitting members of Congress where no one held back,” Biden wrote.
Further touting his victory as democratic nominee, Biden wrote, “I wasn’t living in a dream world. Here’s where I was living: I had won the Democratic nomination for president. And I had won it decisively. I had a real record of achievement as president. I had a vision for the future that I thought was right for the nation.”
Biden writes he was the ‘best person to lead the world
Biden further defended his 2024 presidential bid, saying he was the best person to lead the world and questioning why he was asked to quit.
“I believed I was the best person to lead the world. Was I old? Yes. Was I able to do the job? Yes. Were voters angry about inflation? Yes. Were they angry about immigration? Yes. All tough problems. But not insurmountable ones.”
“I knew better than anyone how old I was,” he added.
Biden said he knew his capabilities and limitations, adding that he closely monitored his ability to meet the demands of the presidency and had never failed to carry out his responsibilities.
The former president, who is undergoing treatment for stage IV prostate cancer that has spread to his bones, has rarely spoken publicly since leaving office. On Sunday, he announced that he would scale back in-person promotion of his memoir, “Promise Me, America.”
However, Biden uses the book to mount a lengthy personal defense of himself.
