President Joe Biden announces 2024 reelection bid

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00 U.S. President Joe Biden has finally formally announced he is running for re-election in

00:05 2024.

00:06 Let's take a listen to what he had to say earlier.

00:13 When I ran for president four years ago, I said we're in a battle for the soul of America,

00:18 and we still are.

00:20 The question we're facing is whether in the years ahead we have more freedom or less freedom,

00:26 more rights or fewer.

00:27 I know what I want the answer to be, and I think you do too.

00:31 This is not a time to be complacent.

00:38 That's why I'm running for re-election.

00:46 Angela Diffinley is with me on the set.

00:49 Interesting, that wasn't a live announcement.

00:51 It was a pre-recorded announcement.

00:52 There has been a lot of conversation about Joe Biden's age.

00:55 He is 80 years old.

00:56 And despite all of that, the announcement really didn't come as much of a surprise.

01:00 No, he's been saying for some time.

01:02 At the beginning when he first said he would stand, a lot of people thought that it was

01:05 simply an announcement to stop that energy seeping away from the president.

01:10 As soon as you say you're not going to seek a certain term, you lose authority.

01:15 And so right at the very beginning when he said that, but it has become increasingly

01:19 clear that he really did intend to stand.

01:21 And here we are.

01:22 He's released this video.

01:23 He would be 86 at the time he was to hand over to his successor if he does a full term.

01:30 That's quite something to consider.

01:33 And a poll has just been released, which reveals that 70% of Americans think that he should

01:40 not stand again.

01:41 And 50% of Democrat voters think he should not run again.

01:45 And they cite age as the key factor.

01:48 They are worried about his age.

01:50 Now, of course, before that, we have the primaries.

01:53 There's no guarantee that he will be the candidate, but it's certainly he is the favourite.

01:58 And we have Robert Kennedy Jr., the nephew of JFK, who is an anti-vaccine candidate.

02:04 So he is not considered a very serious candidate.

02:07 Marianne Williamson has also put herself forward.

02:10 But the serious money is on Joe Biden getting through the primaries and being the Democrat

02:15 candidate.

02:16 Right.

02:17 So looking ahead, then, what kind of campaign can we really expect from him and from his

02:21 VP, Kamala Harris, from now to next November?

02:23 I think there'll be a fair amount of attention on Kamala Harris because, of course, again,

02:26 we have the age thing.

02:28 He talked in that video there about the soul of America, and he would very much like it

02:33 to be on that ground.

02:35 If he's up against Joe Biden, there won't be too much talk.

02:38 If he's up against Donald Trump, there won't be too much talk about age, although they

02:42 look different.

02:44 Biden has always been gaffe prone.

02:47 It's debatable whether it's got worse or not with age, but there is a whole industry devoted

02:51 in America to recording Joe Biden's gaffes.

02:53 So that will probably be a key feature of the campaign.

02:57 He will want to concentrate on his success in the midterms, on his respectable results

03:03 on the economy in America.

03:05 He has boosted infrastructure.

03:07 He will want to highlight Republican infringements on abortion and, of course, above all, that

03:14 Capitol Hill riot.

03:16 So he will want to focus on those sort of things.

03:18 We will see how that pans out.

03:21 It is phenomenal to think that in a country of 300 million people, we will have probably

03:27 two very senior men running for president.

03:31 Another key factor is in the last campaign, Joe Biden was able to have quite a sedentary

03:37 campaign.

03:38 It was in the middle of Covid.

03:39 He was following regulations.

03:40 He stayed a lot in Delaware.

03:43 This time he's going to be running the country and he's going to be out on the stuff.

03:46 That is exhausting.

03:47 So we'll watch.

03:48 We'll see how it happens.

03:49 Watch this space.

03:50 OK, Angela, thank you for that.

03:51 France 24's Angela Diffley.

03:52 Bye.

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