Biden faces backlash for ‘first black woman’ comment amidst challenging week

Hannah Abraham

WASHINGTON: Joe Biden’s argument that his disastrous debate performance last week was a one-off is seemingly falling apart.

In his latest verbal slipup, the president said he was “proud” to be the “first black woman to serve with a black president.”

The 81-year-old president mixed up his words during an interview with Philadelphia’s Wurd radio station when referring to his vice president, Kamala Harris, and former President Barack Obama.

“By the way, I’m proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first black woman, to serve with a black president,” he said.

Biden likely jumbled the sentence because he’d earlier spoken about being the first vice president to serve under a black president.

Earlier in the interview, he also spoke about how he was the first president to have a black woman as vice president and had appointed Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, the first black woman to serve on the Supreme Court.

It comes just days after Biden’s debate with former US president Donald Trump, which was marked by verbal gaffes and confusing statements.

Biden is now facing increasing pressure to drop out of the presidential race. In a poll by Reuters and Ipsos, one in three Democrats said Biden should quit.

The Biden camp has offered multiple explanations for the president’s slurred words, nonsensical phrases, and vacant stares, including jet lag, a cold, and incompetent aides.

But donors have publicly voiced their concerns with what they say are Biden’s age-related problems.

On Thursday, the millionaire heiress Abigail Disney announced she’d stop donations to the Democratic Party until they “replace Biden at the top of the ticket.”

Her statements echoed that of the Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings, who told The New York Times, “Biden needs to step aside to allow a vigorous Democratic leader to beat Trump and keep us safe and prosperous.”

Biden has told supporters he doesn’t speak as “smoothly” or “debate as well” as he used to but has publicly vowed to fight on.

Axios, citing people close to the president, said Biden worked best between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and struggled to function outside that window.

His press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, said to reporters that “he’s a little slower than he used to be.”

Biden told governors he needed to get more sleep and stop holding events after 8 p.m., CNN and The New York Times reported.

Biden’s campaign didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider about the reports.

On Friday, Biden’s mental acuity is set to be scrutinized when he sits for an interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, who used to be head of communications at the White House during Bill Clinton’s presidency.

Biden’s previous interactions with Stephanopoulos include a rare sit-down appearance in 2021, during which he defended the US’s decision to pull its troops from Afghanistan.

Courtesy: businessinsider