Stumbling Biden is more than just America's problem
The Independent
|July 13, 2024
The 75th anniversary Nato summit was seen as the test of Joe Biden's fitness for presidential office, after last month's televised debate that went so badly wrong.
It was less the two-and-a-half-day gathering itself - which expert planning would ensure ran pretty much glitch-free - but the US president's hour-long solo press conference that was scheduled to follow, which would be the first time since that fateful debate that he would have to face sustained questions and give spontaneous answers.
In the event, the growing number of those calling on Biden to abandon his bid for re-election had their scalp even before he had tried almost too hard to stride presidentially onto the platform for his duel with the world's media. Just a couple of hours before, he had made what seemed the most extraordinary gaffe, when he addressed Ukraine's President Zelensky, in his presence, as... "President Putin", before correcting himself after shocked prompts from reporters.
Now, forgetting names is not a cardinal sin, and - in the greater sum of things nothing that, of itself, would exclude someone from the highest office. But to confuse the names of your chief protege and your chief adversary, in the presence of the former and in front of the world's cameras, is quite a gaffe; one that betrays perhaps not only a common effect of advancing age, but how large Putin looms in the mind of the US president at this stage of the war in Ukraine. No wonder Zelensky, never the most patient of individuals, cancelled his own planned press conference, although whether he was wise to do so is another matter.
Denne historien er fra July 13, 2024-utgaven av The Independent.
Abonner på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av kuraterte premiumhistorier og over 9000 magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
FLERE HISTORIER FRA The Independent
The Independent
Beleaguered Nancy on the brink after Rangers revival
Celtic boss Wilfried Nancy is surely standing on the precipice after Old Firm rivals Rangers came from behind to win 3-1 at Celtic Park.
3 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
The former bus driver who steered Venezuela off a cliff
Michael Day on the story of Nicolas Maduro, a corrupt and bungling leader who impoverished his proud, oil-rich nation
4 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
BBC's £28k compensation paid to 7 October survivors
The BBC has paid £28,000 in compensation to an Israeli family after a film crew entered their destroyed home without permission following the 7 October attack.
1 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
What it means to be a man
Josh Finan gives a sensitive turn as an academic teaching philosophy at a UK prison in BBC's 'Waiting for the Out', which explores masculinity and trauma
3 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
Which airport do you think is the worst in the world?
Q What is your least favourite airport in the UK and worldwide?
1 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
‘Just a rumour’: Maresca to Man City never made sense
The Italian was linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium to replace Pep Guardiola. Wishful thinking
3 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
‘My sister vanished aged 2 and was never seen again’
Katrice Lee disappeared from a supermarket on her birthday in 1981. Her sister tells Harriette Boucher she remembers the day and remains hopeful of eventually getting answers
4 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
It's a drop-off fee free-for-all
Simon Calder on charges for driving friends to the airport
3 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
The Alaa Abd el-Fattah who I know is a humanitarian
I first knew Alaa Abd el-Fattah as a disembodied voice whispering through the bars of the steel door to my cell in Cairo's notorious Tora Prison.
3 mins
January 04, 2026
The Independent
Trump: We're going to run Venezuela until transition
The United States will run Venezuela until there is a peaceful transition, Donald Trump has said, after US forces captured its president in an extraordinary overnight attack that has sent shockwaves around the world.
5 mins
January 04, 2026
Listen
Translate
Change font size
