He also announced he would take to the campaign trail to help Vice President Kamala Harris.
President Joe Biden called himself a ātransition presidentā in his first interview after dropping out of the race, saying he exited because of fears within his party that he could cost Democrats seats in Congress.
In a pre-recorded interview that aired on āCBS Sunday Morningā with Robert Costa, Biden said he exited the race because he feared being a ādistractionā for down-ballot candidates ā and specifically name-dropped Nancy Pelosi.
āWhat happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was gonna hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic,ā Biden said, adding that he expected to face questions about Pelosiās role. āI thought itād be a real distraction.ā
The president said it was this ā combined with his belief that he was a ātransition presidentā ā that ultimately helped him make his decision to end his reelection bid. It came after a disastrous debate performance triggered dozens of Democrats to call on Biden to pass the torch, especially as he dipped in the polls against former President Donald Trump.
āWhen I ran the first time, I thought of myself as being a transition president. I canāt even say how old I am. Itās hard for me to get it outta my mouth,ā Biden said. āBut things got moving so quickly, it ā didnāt happen.ā
He also announced a campaign tour in Pennsylvania with Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was on Vice President Kamala Harrisā running mate shortlist.
This is 100% normal.
As we get to the point of āelderlyā time seems to move fast for a number of reasons. Not only is a period of time a percentage of your age, and every day means tomorrow is a smaller percentage, we go on āautopilotā more because our brain figures by now weāve seen the same thing so many times, you donāt need to be bothered thinking about what to do
Youāre just going about your day barely checked in, especially if your environment hasnāt changed.
For 12 of the last 16 years, Bidens been in the White House. Before that heās had decades of time in the Senate. Iām absolutely sure the last four years just flew by to him and he doesnāt know where the times gone.
Itās 100% normal and too be expected of someone of his age.
Which is why we need a fucking age limit on the presidency. Just because you donāt notice years going by doesnāt mean they arenāt.