Obama reportedly concerned over Biden bid as President battles Covid-19

WASHINGTON - Mr Barack Obama has reportedly told allies that Mr Joe Biden must reconsider whether to stay in the White House race, as the US President remained holed up at his beach house on July 18 with a bout of Covid-19.

The former president believed the 81-year-old Biden, who had been his vice-president for eight years, should “seriously consider the viability of his candidacy”, the Washington Post reported.

Mr Biden’s candidacy is on a knife-edge, with

a growing list of senior Democrats calling on him to step aside

as concerns about his age and health spark fears that he is on course to lose badly to Donald Trump in November.

While rival Trump prepared for his star turn at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 18, Mr Biden found himself in both personal and political isolation.

His personal doctor, Dr Kevin O’Connor, said on July 18 that Mr Biden was

still experiencing mild Covid-19 symptoms

and was taking the drug Paxlovid, but that his vital signs remain normal.

“He will continue to conduct the business of the American people,” Dr O’Connor said, in a letter released by the White House.

His Covid-19 diagnosis came at the worst possible time for his campaign, forcing him to cut short a trip to Las Vegas and isolate at his holiday home in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.

Mr Biden told reporters on July 17 that he was “doing well”, but was later seen looking frail as he slowly descended the steps of Air Force One.

Calls for Mr Biden to step aside have grown since

a disastrous debate performance

against Republican Trump three weeks ago, in which he appeared tired and confused.

A drumbeat of US media reports has suggested that the clock is ticking on his bid to prevent Trump from making a sensational White House comeback.

The top Democrats in Congress, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, both reportedly met Mr Biden in recent days to warn him that his candidacy threatens his party’s prospects in November’s election.

‘Close to the end’

Influential former House speaker Nancy Pelosi added to his woes by privately telling Mr Biden he cannot win and could harm Democrats’ chances of recapturing the lower chamber, CNN and The New York Times reported.

The Axios news outlet quoted party figures as saying that Mr Biden could drop out as soon as this weekend, while broadcaster NBC quoted a person close to Mr Biden as saying: “We’re close to the end.”

Mr Biden’s campaign, however, insisted that he was staying in the race.

“Our campaign is not working through any scenarios where President Biden is not the top of the ticket,” deputy campaign chairman Quentin Fulks told a press conference, on the sidelines of the Republican convention in Milwaukee.

White House national security spokesman John Kirby, meanwhile, said Mr Biden was being “kept up to speed” by his team despite the political turmoil and his illness.

However, the split-screen with Trump could not be more stark, with Trump formally accepting the Republican nomination in Milwaukee as Mr Biden hunkers down.

Trump, who at 78 is just three years younger than Mr Biden, is riding a wave of support from his party after

surviving an assassination attempt on July 13

that left him with a bandaged ear.

The US could now be approaching the climax of an extraordinary period of political drama.

Any move to replace Mr Biden on the ballot, with Vice-President Kamala Harris leading the contenders, would likely come ahead of the Democratic National Convention starting in Chicago on Aug 19.

Mr Biden has said Ms Harris “could be president” but would not step down unless hard polling data or a medical condition persuaded him he could not beat Trump in November. AFP