If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
In the presidential election 2020, Joe Biden was the candidate who mostly stayed out of sight while his opponent, Donald Trump, drew raucous hordes of supporters willing to crawl over broken glass to cast their ballots for him in crowded venues.
When Biden finally emerged, the reaction was muted at best.
The out-of-sight recluse named Joe inexplicably triumphed. Today’s poll numbers belie the popularity he was said to have had to topple the popular incumbent, Donald Trump.
It seems that in 2024, President Joe will employ the same tactic.
On Tuesday, Fox News White House Correspondent Peter Doocy asked Biden’s official press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre (KJP), if he planned to host a campaign event. Jean-Pierre effectively said, “No comment.”
Doocy said to KJP that it had been a month since Biden declared his candidacy for re-election.
KJP said that, as people know, they follow the rule of law to anything connected with the campaign. That would be true of rallies, endorsements, events, or anything associated with the 2024 re-election.”
You can’t tell if he’ll run again, right?” Doocy inquired.
She responded, “I’m just not going to comment from here on the 2024 re-election,” before obliquely referencing the Hatch Act, a rule passed in 1939 that prohibits government workers from engaging in political activities.
Although incumbents’ political campaigns try to keep the movement and official costs distinct, it is common knowledge that being an incumbent carries significant political weight, and the line between the two is sometimes difficult to maintain.
For example, campaigning aboard Air Force One may incur costs for the president’s campaign, but simply having the famous aircraft in the background of an airport tarmac address offers a campaign prop exclusively accessible to the president.
It’s improbable that Biden’s re-election strategy is being kept secret to hide under the Hatch Act. Politicians will always search for an advantage whether they are currently in office or seeking an election.
KJP’s silence on the reelection plans suggests that either she has not been briefed on them, the campaign has not yet made them, or the campaign has made them but is not informing them.
Or perhaps Team Biden is analyzing how well their 2020 non-campaign did for them, and there is no need to “fix it,” so to speak.
