Carol Lee: People Around Biden Are Saying He Can’t Turn This Around, He Can’t Win

Lee: “What we learned, in talking to a number of sources, is that there are people who are around the president, it’s not just lawmakers outside of the president’s circle, it’s not just Democrats out in states or party leaders, it is people who are actually working on the president’s re-election effort, who privately are saying after two weeks since the debate that this just isn’t something he can turn around. Their view is they’re looking at numbers, they’re looking at the money from donors that’s dropping off. They’re already reassessing to downgrade what their expectations are for bringing in money, fundraising for this month. They’re already cutting back on certain fundraisers in terms of the number of people who will be there and how much money they’re going to raise. So they’re looking at this whole set of data and saying that this is not a winnable situation and that this is not something that the president can turn around and believe that he needs to get out of the race. They also believe that he needs to do so rather quickly, that it’s not something that can continue to drag out. I think when you’re talking about the president’s press conference last night, what people like this are thinking is, you know, putting the president out there is something that the White House has to do. This is what Democrats say they want, but it’s as much part of their solution as it is their problem. Because when Democrats are watching what the president is doing, there’s anxiety ,they’re hanging on his every word, waiting for something to happen, and thinking to themselves, ‘How did it come to this? How are we judging this president and whether he can go forward on him doing a basic thing that comes with the job, which is holding a news conference?’ And then they’re asking the question of, is this sustainable? He has to get it right every time for the next four months. That is not something that Democrats, including people who are working and like the president and support him and want him to win this race, they just don’t believe that he has the capacity to do over the next four months and they don’t think this is winnable.”