Political analyst Mark Halperin said Monday that he anticipates President Joe Biden struggling after his presidency ends in January.
Since President-elect Donald Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris in November, Biden has largely refrained from wielding political influence, Politico reported on Monday. Halperin, on “The Morning Meeting,” compared Biden’s potential post-presidency challenges to the more active and profitable pursuits of former Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama.
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“We had three straight presidents who were pretty young men when they left after full terms, right? Clinton, Bush and Obama. None of them really sought the limelight. Clinton did a little bit; Clinton did,” Halperin said. “[Clinton] Global Initiative, but all of them had normal post-presidencies in the sense that they got book deals, they gave speeches for $250,000 and up, they did lots of international travel, giving even more lucrative speeches. They played the roles they wanted to play. Bush painted and Obama started making Netflix stuff and Clinton did the Global Initiative. And they all have libraries, although Obama’s is financed in a private way.”
“But Biden may never even live to see the building of a library, in part because of his age, but also because he’s gonna have trouble raising money,” he continued. “And I don’t know — is he gonna get a big book deal? Is he gonna get paid speeches? Like, he’s about to go from a guy who was a senior senator for decades, then vice president, then out briefly, but then back as president. It’s going to be a shock to the system. You think he’s feeling kind of irrelevant now?”
Biden was struggling to raise the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to establish a presidential library, The Wall Street Journal reported in October.
Halperin then recounted how Clinton made a “ridiculous attempt to get attention” by making a speech to the Arkansas legislature during his transition to Bush, saying the Democrat “felt so overshadowed” by the 2000 election.
“Biden’s just not gonna be capable of doing any of that. Now, he may not care. He may say, ‘I’m just going to play with my grandkids and go through my papers,’ whatever. But Politico did this new investigative piece about the background stuff,” he added. “Like, even if the pardons don’t hit the hornets’ nest, he’s gonna be in for a rude awakening, I think. And I’m not sure he’s gonna be equipped. If he wants attention, I’m not sure he’s gonna be equipped to garner it.”
Democratic strategist James Carville on Thursday expressed sorrow for how Biden’s career is ending after issuing a sweeping pardon to his son Hunter and Trump’s victory.
“All of this is self-inflicted. It’s tragic, it’s sad … It’ll be six years before somebody comes back and talks about all of the stunning things, the manufacturing that he’s brought back … What’s so sad, it didn’t have to be this way,” he said. “He brought it all on himself … At the bottom of this, Joe Biden is and will continue to be the most tragic figure in modern American politics. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that.”
Biden has faced scrutiny for his mental acuity during his presidency, especially after his debate with Trump in June. The president has made numerous gaffes, including calling Trump supporters “garbage” in October.
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