By Peter Nicholas, Courtney Kube and Carol E. Lee -
NBC News
WASHINGTON.— President Joe Biden was furious.
In a private meeting at the White House in January, allies of the president told him that his results in polls in Michigan and Georgia fell because of his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas.
They are both swing states and he narrowly won them four years ago, so he can't afford to back down if he wants to defeat Donald Trump again.
He began yelling and cursing, according to a lawmaker familiar with the meeting.
Biden believed what he had been doing was the right thing, despite the political consequences, he told the group, according to the lawmaker.
Asked about the episode, Andrew Bates, White House spokesman, assured that "President Biden makes national security decisions based solely on the country's national security needs, without any other factor."
Joe Biden.Sara Stathas/Bloomberg via Getty Images
For months, Democrats have watched with growing alarm as the 2024 presidential campaign unfolds, as the president struggles to gain ground on his defeated predecessor.
The frustrations running through the party have reached the top, with Biden at times questioning travel decisions and communications strategies that have left much of the electorate in the dark about his registration, interviews with nearly 20 lawmakers, current and former officials show. of the Biden Administration and allies.
The starting signal for the presidential election campaign came last week while Biden won the Democratic nomination.
However,
he continues to look for ways to convince voters that he deserves a second term
for political achievements that other former presidents have not achieved.
[Biden and Trump are the virtual presidential candidates of their parties after victories in this Tuesday's primaries]
History suggests he will have a hard time recovering.
Biden's 38% approval rating at this point in the electoral calendar is lower than that of the last three presidents who lost reelection: Trump (48%), George HW Bush (39%) and Jimmy Carter (43%), according to data from the Gallup poll.
Biden has long
believed he is not getting the credit he deserves for an economy
that has created 15 million new jobs.
To reach distracted voters who might be listening to the State of the Union, Biden asked his speechwriters to tone down the rhetoric and clearly explain what he has done, according to a person familiar with the speech preparations.
During internal discussions, the candidate pressures aides to tell him which parts of his career he should highlight in each state, according to another person familiar with the matter.
Surrounded by protective advisers who want to minimize the chances of a mistake, the 81-year-old president has chafed at restrictions he sees as contrary to his natural instincts as a shrewd politician, said a third person familiar with internal discussions.
At times he has felt withdrawn and eager to get out more, meet voters face to face and take the fight directly to Trump, said the third and fourth people also familiar with the matter who, like the others, spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss campaign strategy and the president's private opinions.
['Double haters', the disaffected voters who could define the race between Biden and Trump]
There are signs that some within his party are also losing patience with him.
"Biden stood in front of the entire world and said: 'I'm ready. I'm the man who can defeat Donald Trump,'" said Democratic Representative from Washington, Adam Smith.
"So you better do it. We don't have time for you to worry about whether people are saying things correctly or not, or whether the poll numbers are where they should be. I want focused energy and not defensive fury."
Trump is a "beatable" opponent
At times, Biden has directed his ire at his close associates.
Given the successes he has had in passing major bills and improving the economy, Biden was irritated that his message was not getting through to the general electorate, sources said.
Eight months before the election, Biden's campaign team remains confident in its chances.
A memo that campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez sent in December suggests that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris' plan was to begin "intensifying" campaign travel at the beginning of the year, something that is already happening.
Since the State of the Union address, Biden has traveled to Wisconsin, Michigan, Georgia, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania.
Early this week she will move to Nevada and Arizona.
"The president and his advisers wanted him to come out more and planned for him to do so at the beginning of the election year, as has been the norm for previous presidents seeking re-election," said the second person familiar with the matter.
[What Biden told special prosecutor Hur in the 5-hour interview about his handling of classified documents]
Biden's advisers see Trump as an eminently beatable and deeply flawed opponent.
In a recent campaign call with reporters, campaign chairwoman Jen O'Malley Dillon said Trump appears to have little interest in appealing to voters beyond his most loyal base.
"We know that he lost in 2020," he said.
"To win he has to expand his voter base and find new people to join him and he has shown that he is not focused on that."
"A little upset with himself"
Sometimes Biden receives suggestions that conflict with each other.
Some counselors have told him that he should walk faster because the way he walks gives the impression that he is too old.
And yet the White House is concerned enough about his missteps to decide that he will now board Air Force One via a shorter staircase that runs through the belly of the plane, foregoing the iconic image of the president waving from the front door on the plane. clue.
"He's probably a little upset with himself for not being more forceful with his staff," said a person familiar with the internal discussions.
Privately,
Biden questions whether he should trust his instincts over the guidance
he receives from the group of advisors who serve his political interests, this person added.
"The man has been successful for decades in Congress and became vice president and president," said a fifth person, who previously worked in the Biden Administration.
"If you try to change the person, you're making a mistake. Let the president go out and do his thing."
"A communication failure"
The consensus among Democratic officials is that Biden needs an army of collaborators to help him spread the word about how his record has concretely improved the lives of Americans.
He cannot carry the message alone.
Andre Dickens, the Democratic mayor of Atlanta, said Trump's bluster tends to steal the spotlight, but Biden's work is making city streets safer.
He cited bills that allowed him to pay retention bonuses to police officers and fund youth programs that help curb crime.
[The campaign for November has just begun and Biden already has several challenges to meet]
"After a blowhard like Trump who says every day what he hates and what he likes, Biden is... smooth and calm and gets the job done," Dickens said.
Informing voters is "the job of the mayor and county leaders who have benefited from the Biden Administration's policies," he added.
Simplicity could be Biden's most promising approach, some of his allies noted.
They suggest presenting his record as part of an American renaissance, a success story that is putting money into people's pockets.
"I think it's actually a bit of a communication failure on the part of the White House," said Mary Landrieu, a former Democratic senator from Louisiana and Biden ally, when asked about the president's inability to get credit for legislation aimed at restarting manufacturing. American high-tech and upgrade the country's roads and bridges.
Nearly $4 billion in clean energy projects are underway in Louisiana thanks to a law Biden signed into law under the name the Inflation Reduction Act, a title that does not reflect the true purpose of the law.
"There's a real story to be told," Landrieu said.
"It's a winning message and it's about jobs, prosperity and evolution. If that message can't be communicated, I think Americans will respond."