Biden wakes up and dreams of a comeback Expert opinions on Caliber.Az

Former U.S. President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, want to return to politics and help the Democratic Party regain its lost ground, according to sources close to the couple. However, their efforts have yet to succeed, as many party members and donors reportedly say, "Whoever that is, it's not Biden," NBC News reports.

Sources say Biden personally met with the new chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Ken Martin. He offered his assistance in fundraising, running political campaigns, and other activities that could help boost the party’s ratings, which have dropped to their lowest level since 1990.

Former First Lady Jill Biden has also expressed her willingness to campaign and raise funds for the Democrats, people from her circle told the network.

While Biden still has supporters within the party, many believe the Democrats need a younger and more convincing leader. They see Biden, at 82, as a symbol of the party’s past rather than its future, especially given his association with their defeat in last autumn’s presidential election.

Many activists consider Biden directly responsible for the Democrats' election failure, as he withdrew from the race only in July 2024, leaving the party’s new candidate, Kamala Harris, with insufficient time to prepare her campaign. However, Biden himself feels no remorse, according to a source familiar with his private conversations.

In March, CNN conducted a poll among Democrats and their supporters, asking which politician best represents the party’s core values. The results showed that only 1% chose Biden. Meanwhile, as noted by the network, the current Republican president, Donald Trump, is making sure Biden remains in the public eye as a political figure. According to NBC’s calculations, since the start of his second term, Trump has publicly mentioned Biden, his family members, or his administration an average of seven times per day.

What do Biden’s recent moves mean? Could he be aiming to reclaim a leadership role within the Democratic Party? Is such a comeback possible? If so, under what conditions? And what advantages (or, as Trump would put it, “trump cards”) does Biden have over other key Democratic figures?

American experts shared their insights on these questions with Caliber.Az.

Analyst, publicist, and professor Grigory Ioffe believes that Biden’s recent moves either mean nothing—some events are simply empty, like a forecasted fog that dissipates before it even forms—or they resemble an improbable story from the “you couldn’t make this up” category.

“Biden may aim for anything he wants, but his return to a leadership role in the Democratic Party is about as realistic as a satellite launching to Saturn or Venus tomorrow. He was in deep dementia throughout his presidency. One of the biggest media controversies in the U.S. over the past two months has been: How was his condition kept hidden for so long? It turned out that Biden didn’t even sign his own pardons, including a series of preventive pardons. All the signatures were made by a device that replicates handwriting using real ink, raising doubts about whether Biden even knew what he was signing. He practically never held Cabinet meetings, and on the rare occasions he did, his wife presided over them,” the professor explained.

Ioffe is convinced that under no circumstances can Biden reclaim a leadership position, nor does he hold any advantages over other key Democratic figures.

"Moreover, you can't bring back something that was never there. Biden only became the Democratic Party's presidential candidate when the real danger emerged that Bernie Sanders might take on the role, something that big business would never allow. Biden was seen as a moderate Democrat, but due to his age-related dementia, he immediately handed over control to left-wing radicals, who became the most active. It remains unclear who actually led the country during his presidency, though the list of potential candidates for that role isn't very large. Susan Rice, Antony Blinken, and possibly Ron Klain and Jeff Zients were part of this group. Today, the Democratic Party lacks a leader. According to recent polls, Kamala Harris still leads among Democratic voters as a potential 2028 presidential candidate (36% named her as such), but this is likely due to the absence of a real leader. Other potential candidates frequently mentioned include Gavin Newsom, Governor of California.

As for Biden, he is likely completely written off. After all, it was the people of Obama and the Clintons—two real clans within the leadership of the Democratic Party—that forced Biden to drop his presidential ambitions for 2024. This marks the irrevocable end of Biden’s political career," concludes Ioffe.

"Thus, former President Joe Biden, along with his wife Jill, has announced his return to politics," notes analyst and publicist Samson Katzman. "The 82-year-old Biden wants to help his fellow party members. What does this mean for the current moment in U.S. domestic politics? Is Joe Biden a figure capable of leading the 'party of donkeys' back to power? When it comes to prominent figures in the Democratic camp, there is no shortage. There is the leader of the Democratic minority in the Senate, New York legislator Chuck Schumer, progressive California Governor Gavin Newsom, National Democratic Committee Chair Ken Martin, the ever-voicing 83-year-old Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, Tim Walz, who ran for vice president alongside Kamala Harris in the last election, and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi."

There are many of them, the expert says, but none of them appear to be a unifying leader.

"And it is unlikely that Joe Biden can claim that role. What is even more critical is that the Democrats have no agenda capable of winning the majority of American votes. Their ideological beliefs have not allowed them to attract a broader audience to their side.

What about the current president? According to a poll conducted on March 17th by NBC News, Donald Trump’s approval rating has reached a record 47%—the highest support for him in both his first term and the first two months of his current term. 56% of Americans support his immigration policy, 47% approve of his radical measures to reduce the size of government, and 41% support the administration’s approach to Ukraine and NATO. In domestic policy, he has largely met the expectations of Americans—illegal immigration has sharply decreased, streets in U.S. cities are cleaner and safer, Trump legislated the repeal of transgender policies, and effectively ended the so-called DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies that prioritized identity over actual professional achievements.

Although international issues are not the main priority for American voters, it is worth adding that Trump has drastically changed U.S. foreign policy. Beyond some highly controversial statements about Canada and Greenland, the U.S. has reassessed its commitments to defend its Western European allies. Trump’s policy marks the end of the concept of a collective West as a community of nations united by the values of liberal democracy. The only challenge is that it is still difficult to predict the long-term results of this administration’s efforts to resolve the Russian-Ukrainian conflict and their implications for the entire system of international relations," concludes Katzman.