In the United States, Joe Biden's gaffes no longer amuse anyone

Photo: Mandel Ngan Agence France-Presse U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a campaign event at Renaissance High School in Detroit, Michigan, Friday, July 12.

Alex Pigman – Agence France-Presse in Washington

Published yesterday at 8:38 p.m.

• United States

For many years, American President Joe Biden was presented as the “slightly doting uncle” of national politics, a specialist in gaffes and convoluted formulas, but concerns about his age have completely changed the gives.

The tipping point: his disastrous performance during the debate against his Republican competitor, Donald Trump, last month, where 50 million viewers saw him go on absent-mindedly, unable to finish his sentences and getting lost in his formulas.

His communication difficulties are, however, nothing new and find their origins in particular in the stuttering from which he has suffered since childhood, which he learned to control but which sometimes comes to the surface.

These speech problems have always earned him a certain reputation as a politician who was both verbose and blundering, during his half-century political career, as senator then vice-president of Barack Obama.

Over these decades, Joe Biden, now 81, has carved out the image of a major figure in the Senate, where lawmakers can speak for hours, in front of a half-empty chamber with no one to speak for them. stop, a practice of which he has become one of the faces.

“I would like to point out that, perhaps for the first time in history, Joe Biden is 40 seconds under his speaking time”, underlined in 2006 the chairman of one of the Senate committees, after a 30-minute intervention.

200% Deposit Bonus up to €3,000 180% First Deposit Bonus up to $20,000

This propensity to overly speaking out was one of the causes of his defeat in the 1988 Democratic primaries, where he nevertheless gained notoriety for his life anecdotes, such as his train rides or his childhood in Scranton, Pennsylvania (east), subjects that he still appreciates today.

His second attempt, in 2008, earned him the nickname “slightly doting uncle” from actor Robin Williams: “Joe is like your uncle who has just tested a new drug and doesn't have the right dosage yet . »

« Merciless »

Became vice-president in 2009, the echoes of the White House highlight the regular mockery from President Obama's advisers about Joe Biden's lack of rhetorical style and precision.

“I don't remember “not exactly what Joe was referring to, not surprisingly,” Mr. Obama even said at his first press conference as president.

But after eight years of vice-presidency and then the tumultuous mandate of Republican Donald Trump, Joe Biden's verbal approximations were seen as a familiar and innocent facet of American political life.

“Wandering, stumbling, mumbling is something common to many political figures, even the most respected, and Joe Biden is one of them,” said Robert Thompson, Syracuse University professor of popular culture and media. .

“But that’s not what we saw, in a raw and unforgettable way, during the debate,” he believes, questioned by the AFP.

On screen, the US president was not only vague or imprecise, he appeared out of breath as he muttered, and sometimes haggard.

Since then, underlines Mr. Thompson, his every move has been scrutinized, with political journalists in Washington showing themselves to be doubly vigilant after having suffered a barrage of criticism over their inability to bring the president's state to the public's attention before the debate. .

“It is just astonishing to see the entire country, even the most informed journalists, shocked by the stark and painful reality of Mr. Biden's performance during of the debate,” wrote Jill Abramson, former editor-in-chief of the New York Times, on the Semafor website.

This forces Joe Biden to be irreproachable from now on, as 'once again underlined the press conference given at the end of the NATO summit in Washington, during which his slightest blunders were looped on social networks.

“Presidents make blunders all the time,” says Matt Dallek, professor at George Washington University, “but because of his performance during the debate, the slightest blunder takes on enormous proportions.”< /p>

There was a time when referring to Mr. Trump as his “vice president” was quickly forgotten but that is no longer the case.

“Donald Trump uses everything this to make fun of your age and the state of your memory. How do I combat this type of criticism ?,” a journalist asked him after another gaffe.