Becerra defends Biden as ‘fit’ for office: ‘He knows how to see around the corner’
President Joe Biden’s secretary of health and human services defended him on Tuesday as fit for office amid an open revolt within the Democratic Party over his ability to proceed as their nominee this fall.
In an interview with McClatchy at HHS headquarters, Secretary Xavier Becerra said the president’s decades of experience should be seen as an asset.
“Not only can he do the job, but he’s been doing it,” Becerra said. “We are fortunate to have someone who can use all of his experience to take us further.”
Biden’s halting debate performance in Atlanta last month prompted panic among Democrats over his ability to sustain a winning campaign against his Republican rival, former President Donald Trump, who has consistently led him in battleground state polls.
Several Democratic members of Congress, alongside prominent partisan pundits and editorial boards, have called on him to step aside. But Biden has refused to consider voluntarily withdrawing from the race, leaving the party with little choice but to support him.
“If you recall where we were four years ago, the depth of a pandemic — Americans losing their jobs, Americans losing their health care — today, more Americans employed than ever before. Today, more Americans with health coverage than ever before. Today, Americans free of the ills of COVID in the way they were four years ago,” Becerra said in the interview. “No president in the history of this country has ever placed 700 million vaccines in the arms of Americans to keep them alive, and keep them healthy. And the result is our economy is healthy.
“So is he fit? He’s proven it. He is, and he can do the job,” Becerra continued. “I think his experience has helped him be a great president. And we want people who know where to go, how to navigate those tough roads ahead. And he knows how to see around the corner, because he’s seen so many of those corners over the course of his life.”
Becerra spoke with McClatchy for “The Abortion Fight Goes Local,” a special series on abortion to be published July 10.
This story was originally published July 9, 2024 at 3:22 PM.
