Washington: Gaffe-prone US President Joe Biden made yet another series of blunders at the closely-watched NATO Summit in Washington on Thursday in an unfortunate development as the 81-year-old President is trying to move past concerns that he is too old to run for re-election. Biden's speech at the NATO Summit was under scrutiny as his dismal debate performance against rival Donald Trump on June 27 spooked allies and fuelled concerns over his age.
While speaking at the NATO Summit, Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as (Russian) 'President (Vladimir) Putin'. "Russia will not prevail in this war. Ukraine will prevail in this war, and we'll stand with them every single step of the way. That's what the compact says, loudly and clearly. And now I want to hand it over to the president of Ukraine, who has as much courage as he has determination. Ladies and gentlemen, President Putin," Biden said.
Realising his mistake, Biden attempted to correct himself by saying, "President Putin? You're going to beat President Putin. President Zelenskiy. I'm so focused on beating Putin we got to worry about it, anyway. Mr President." Later, during a news conference, Biden mixed up the name of his Vice President Kamala Harris with his rival Trump.
Zelenskyy responded to Biden's comments by saying, "I am better (than Putin)." Biden replied: "You are a hell of a lot better," before Zelenskyy began his own address. Later, Biden defended his gaffe by saying the NATO summit was successful under his leadership. "Have you seen a more successful conference?... And the Putin piece, I was talking about Putin and I said... 'now at the very end, I said here, I mean Putin. I said, no, I'm sorry, Zelenskyy'," he added.
Biden refers to Kamala Harris as 'VP Trump'
"Look, I wouldn't have picked Vice President Trump to be vice president if she was not qualified to be president. So start there," Biden said as he responded to a question about his confidence in Harris. He also struggled to find the words "chiefs of staff," mistakenly referring to the group of the country's top uniformed military leaders as "commander in chief," the title he holds.
"And so our military is working on following the advice of my commander in chief my, my, my, the chiefs of staff, of the military as well as the secretary of defence and our intelligence people," he said. A reporter later confronted Biden over his mistake of referring to Kamala Harris as Trump and asked him how he would combat the criticism over his age and memory, to which Biden replied, "Listen to him."
Biden under greater scrutiny over age concerns
Verbal gaffes are not unusual in the long political career of Biden, who overcame a childhood stutter, but there is closer attention on him amid the fallout from his dismal debate performance against presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Last week, addressing a rally at Wisconsin on Friday, Biden said he would defeat Trump "again in the 2020" presidential race.
As the elections are nearing in the US, incumbent Biden is facing voices against him by the day, asking him to step aside and make way for Kamala Harris for the presidential polls. According to some polls, Harris might have a better chance of beating Trump than Biden has. Biden is under pressure from some Democrats to step aside and open a path for his 59-year-old vice president, Kamala Harris.
Senator Peter Welch and nine Democrat Representatives have openly called for Biden to end his re-election bid and allow someone else to compete. Hollywood star George Clooney, one of the top fundraisers for the Democratic presidential candidate, withdrew his support saying the Democrats cannot win the presidency with him. Clooney said in an opinion piece that the 81-year-old President should drop out as he was not the same man he was in 2020.
(with inputs from agencies)
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