“The presidency, it turns out, is a speaking role. It’s a speaking role. You’ve gotta be able to talk. You got to be able to do interviews. You got to be able to give speeches. You gotta be able to debate,” he says.
CNN political commentator Van Jones said Joe Biden seemed “detached from reality” during his ABC News interview with host George Stephanopoulos on Friday.
“Look, the presidency, it turns out, is a speaking role. It’s a speaking role. You’ve gotta be able to talk. You got to be able to do interviews. You got to be able to give speeches. You gotta be able to debate. It’s a speaking role,” Van Jones said in response to Biden’s interview.
“They got to be able to make decisions behind closed doors. But that’s that’s the presidency is a special role. It’s a speaking role. I thought today you saw more of the Biden that you could feel some confidence in because it’s just the typical a little soft, a little stumbling, mumbling, but nothing alarming, nothing that would panic.”
He added, “The problem is when the biggest night at a campaign that guy was not on the stage. So I do think that today he did better. I do think over time that is useful. The problem that you have is that the stuff that he said about the campaign is just not factual. What you love about Biden in general is that big heart and he cares but you don’t want somebody who’s detached from reality.”
Van Jones then noted that Biden’s remark that the 2024 presidential race is still a toss-up seemed “detached from reality.”
“You have to acknowledge some of the reality. I think the problem that you have, the panic happening in the party, is people think this guy has detached from reality, he has a guard of people around him. They won’t tell him the truth and he just being stubborn.”
Indeed, five House Democrats so far have called on Biden to drop out of the 2024 race this week.
And Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) is also reportedly attempting to assemble a group of Democratic senators to ask Biden to exit the presidential race.
Some key House and Senate Democrats are planning meetings next week, with House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) expected to convene a virtual meeting with Democratic committee ranking members on Sunday to discuss Biden’s path forward.
