President Biden‘s trouble among Democratic voters headed into 2024 isn’t the job he’s doing. While there are always detractors and some on the left want faster progress on reforms, the Biden administration has delivered on numerous issues he campaigned on — enough that his approval numbers seem unnaturally depressed.
(Note: Another take is that pollsters are as wrong now as they were about Trump/Clinton in 2016.)
“An ABC News poll shows Clinton leading Trump, 50% to 38%”-10/23/2016. #VoteBlueToEndThisNightmare
— Heidi stuart (@StuartHeidi) June 19, 2020
Judged on his record alone, some longtime political operatives speculate that if Biden were 58 years old today, he’d probably be looking far better in the polls, no matter the troubles at the border and with inflation, for which there is enough bipartisan blame to go around.
But Biden isn’t 58 or even 78 anymore. And the main problem Candidate Biden has — and every poll has it right at the top — is his age. (He’d be 82 when and if he begins a second term as POTUS.)
How to make an octogenarian seem younger is a quandary for both Biden and his advisers. But there are coded messages that can be sent, and with technology representing the great generational divide, a show of Biden’s comfort with the everyday tech of the young has evidently been deemed essential by his team. Thus: The Selfie Tweet.
Little did Ke know he was dealing with a selfie expert. pic.twitter.com/xzjBFO3fD9
— President Biden (@POTUS) May 11, 2023
In the tweet above, actor Ke Huy Quan and his wife Echo gleefully greet Biden, who looks bright-eyed and engaged as he works his “Scranton Joe” persona.
“Who the hell is this guy?” Biden says in mock surprise as Quan excitedly approaches. Then after Quan confesses to a selfie addiction and requests one with the President, Biden takes the phone from Quan’s hand and turns it landscape-style to snap the selfie himself.
How many grandparents can do that? is the gist behind the spot. Biden, tweeting from the @POTUS account captions the post: “Little did Ke know he was dealing with a selfie expert.“