Seventy-two hours after the debate in Atlanta last week, President Biden and those closest to him have settled on the same strategy police officers use to shoo bystanders away from a car crash: “Nothing to see here.”According to the talking points being repeated by the president’s aides and surrogates, the debate was a 90-minute blip in a long campaign.
Mr. Biden didn’t have “a great night,” as he told donors Saturday, but fund-raising is going strong and he has already bounced back.
Aides have been pushing a similar message for more than a year, as polls have shown that voters are worried about the president’s age.
They have brushed off such concerns, calling them little more than a creation of the media and the MAGA movement supporting the campaign of former President Donald J. Trump.
Jen O’Malley Dillon, the president’s top campaign strategist, said on Saturday that any drop in the polls would be the result of “overblown media narratives.” Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, dismissed anxiety about the president’s performance, saying on “Fox News Sunday” that “it’s like one debate.”
Persons:
Biden, surrogates, Biden didn’t, MAGA, Donald J, Trump, Jen O’Malley Dillon, John Fetterman, ”
Organizations:
“ Fox, Sunday
Locations:
Atlanta, Pennsylvania