In the American capital, Joe Biden’s possible candidacy for a second term is a well-kept secret. Only the headmaster concerned does not seem to hide it.
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A Tuesday trip to Arizona proves the 80-year-old Democratic leader is seriously laying the groundwork for staying in the White House — until he turns 86.
He’s going there for the first time as President, and if the official reason is to promote a new semiconductor plant in Phoenix, there’s no denying that this deeply divided state in the Southwest United States will be one of the most important liaisons of any successful presidential campaign.
November’s midterm elections, which saw Republicans fail to retake the Senate and capture the House by a narrow margin, far from the expected “red wave,” were played out like a real victory by Joe Biden.
And just as his opponent Donald Trump begins his own 2024 campaign in a climate of scandal, the incumbent American President is enjoying the best of his first term.
The US economy is currently defying forecasts of a severe recession.
The Biden administration’s major investment programs, passed by Congress over the past two years, are beginning to pay off, pumping money into the manufacturing of high-tech products like semiconductors in the world, green energy, but also more traditional infrastructure like roads and bridges .
Abroad, the US-backed alliance against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is still holding up after nearly a decade, offsetting the bitter sense of American failure in Afghanistan.
In Washington, Joe Biden has just completed a successful state visit to French President Emmanuel Macron.
“Things are moving, they’re moving in the right direction,” the Democratic President launched recently after the publication of good figures for the American labor market. Statements that do not resemble those of someone who wants to leave the political stage.
Joe Biden said his decision wouldn’t be made until “early next year,” and his chief of staff, Ron Klain, told the Wall Street Journal Monday he expects the president to make a decision “soon after the parties” and “that his decision is.” to go”.
Indeed, it seems to be an open secret for his political entourage.
“I expect him to run,” Hakeem Jeffries, the January House leader for the Democrats, told Fox News on Sunday.
“From what I’ve heard from him, publicly and privately, he intends to run again,” Senator Chris Coons, a longtime friend of Joe Biden, told AFP.
Even Newt Gingrich, a staunch supporter of the Republican right wing, grudgingly voices his admiration for Mr. Biden.
“Stop underestimating President Biden,” he wrote on news site Axios, warning Republicans about the effectiveness he has shown during his tenure.
But it is the doctors and family of the current President of the United States, not political commentators, who will decide on his future candidacy.
Some of the family “talks” mentioned by Joe Biden took place on the very posh island of Nantucket, off Massachusetts, USA, where he was with his relatives for Thanksgiving. More family councils are expected over Christmas with the influential First Lady Jill Biden.
The annual medical report, which is to be published soon, could also be decisive.
Eighty-year-old Joe Biden has some of the hallmarks of aging: thinning hair, a stiff gait — and a few falls — and frequent speech problems.
A year ago, however, the White House doctor concluded that he was “fit” to perform his duties.
Will that still be the case in two years?
Some medical tests have already been conducted, others will follow, and the results are expected “in the coming months,” White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday.