In addition to the growing controversy over the allegations from Tara Reade, the Joe Biden campaign is facing increasing scrutiny from Democrats over the awful optics from his basement approach.
Concerns over Coronavirus have relegated Biden to campaigning from his home, but his team’s technical broadcasting skills aren’t making the cut.
John Verhovek and Molly Nagle report at ABC News:
Joe Biden to scale up campaign as Democratic anxiety grows ahead of general election fight with TrumpFormer Vice President Joe Biden has approved a series of new hires that will significantly expand his presidential campaign and could begin to quell concerns among a growing chorus of Democrats that are anxious for his team to scale up ahead of the general election fight with President Donald Trump.The staffing includes new senior advisers with a focus on the virtual side of campaigning, all coming from former competitors-turned-endorsers’ campaigns.Caitlin Mitchell, the former chief managing officer of Warren for President, is joining the campaign as a senior adviser for digital, and will advise on digital strategy and help the campaign as they quickly scale up their in-house teams, according to a Biden campaign aide…The hires come as the the former vice president’s team has been faced with a steadily increasing drumbeat of criticism in recent weeks from anxious Democrats that the candidate and his campaign are not implementing both the organizational and strategic changes they say are needed to unseat a well-funded and seemingly omnipresent incumbent on a political battlefield upended by a global pandemic.
The optics have been truly terrible:
Tom Tapp writes at Deadline:
Joe Biden’s Virtual Campaign Rally Plagued By Glitches; Vice President Asks, ‘Am I On?’Joe Biden is seen walking in from a sun-filled terrace, aviators on. For a second, it could be a high-budget campaign spot.Then a seemingly confused Biden asks an aide, “They introduce me?” To the same off-camera staffer: “Am I on?”Biden’s subsequent speech is plagued by streaming issues.What was billed as a virtual campaign rally in Tampa turned into a glitch-filled example of how not to do a Web event.DJ Jack Henriquez played tunes and bopped his head. The problem was, viewers were held captive watching Henriquez do just that for a total of 4 minutes.
This could explain why Obama is seemingly projecting himself into the campaign on certain issues. It’s as if Obama knows Biden can’t handle this on his own.
From the Isikoff piece at Yahoo News:
Exclusive: Obama says in private call that ‘rule of law is at risk’ in Michael Flynn caseFormer President Barack Obama, talking privately to ex-members of his administration, said Friday that the “rule of law is at risk” in the wake of what he called an unprecedented move by the Justice Department to drop charges against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn.In the same chat, a tape of which was obtained by Yahoo News, Obama also lashed out at the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic as “an absolute chaotic disaster.”“The news over the last 24 hours I think has been somewhat downplayed — about the Justice Department dropping charges against Michael Flynn,” Obama said in a web talk with members of the Obama Alumni Association.“And the fact that there is no precedent that anybody can find for someone who has been charged with perjury just getting off scot-free. That’s the kind of stuff where you begin to get worried that basic — not just institutional norms — but our basic understanding of rule of law is at risk. And when you start moving in those directions, it can accelerate pretty quickly as we’ve seen in other places.”
Obama isn’t waiting for Biden to comment on this situation, he’s just stepping in to make sure it gets said.
That’s rather telling, isn’t it?
Featured image via YouTube.
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