The United States of America (USA) President, Joe Biden, has announced he is withdrawing from contesting the presidency in the 2024 elections, for his second term.
The president, who has been in self isolation, after contracting the Sars-CoV-2 virus, made the announcement on twitter (X), after sustainable pressure from individuals within his own Democratic Party.
“My fellow Democrats, I have decided not to accept the nomination and focus all my energies on my duties as President for the remainder of my term” he announced, adding an endorsement for his Vice President, Kamala Harris, “my very first decision as the party nominee in 2020 was to pick Kamala Harris as my Vice President. And it’s been the best decision I’ve made. Today I want to offer my full support and endorsement for Kamala to be the nominee for our party this year. Democrats – it’s time to come together and beat Trump. Let’s do this” he concluded.
The president’s campaign to contest for this year’s elections, began to unravel at the end of last month, in a presidential debate against his Republican rival, Donald Trump. His faltering performance, during which he seemed confused at times, itself became a subject of debate nationally, on whether he was fit to run for a second term, due to his advanced age.
Despite calls for him to step aside, and allow another candidate for the Democratic Party to take his place however, the president was initially defiant, declaring that he would not be seeking reelection, if he did not feel that he could do the job.
But the pressure to withdraw from important figures in his party, including reportedly, Nancy Pelosi, one of the most senior democrats in Congress, continued to mount. Pelosi is said to have argued that opinion polls favouring Donald Trump, against Biden, were too strong to ignore.
The pressure was not just from the democrats who spoke out against the president continuing to be their flag bearer, the silence from the party’s grandees, including former presidents, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, spoke volumes, and in the end, the president could not with stand calls for him to stand down.
Reports from the Biden camp, suggest that he goes feeling betrayed by not only those who pushed for him to go, but those who did not come out unequivocally in his support. This was hinted at, in his letter announcing his decision to stand down.
The letter listed his administration’s achievements, adding that “while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down and to focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term…”
The President will address the nation about the decision, in the coming days.
