Biden’s Unwanted Return to the Spotlight

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The speaker conveyed a concerning message: potential cuts to the government office responsible for Social Security could prevent beneficiaries from receiving their payments this month. While the message to disability advocates on Tuesday night was pressing, the delivery felt very familiar.

Former President Joe Biden stated, “Let’s remember that in the 90 years since Franklin Roosevelt created Social Security, people have consistently received their checks, during wars, recessions, and pandemics. Now, that could change for the first time, which would be devastating for millions of families.”

Biden’s first public address since leaving the White House felt like a return to the past, featuring his familiar dismissiveness towards his 2020 opponent, referred to as “This Guy” instead of Trump. It included clichés like, “They’re shooting first and aiming later,” and awkward phrasing, such as, “In less than 100 days, this new Administration has caused so much damage and destruction, it’s astonishing how quickly it happened.”

It’s the no one is asking for, just 85 days after Biden left the White House.

Post-presidencies usually follow a pattern of stepping back from the spotlight for a while. While Trump broke this trend, Obama traveled and socialized with celebrities. George W. Bush returned to Texas to paint and mostly avoided politics. Bill Clinton briefly allowed Hillary Rodham Clinton to take the lead as she became a New York Senator shortly after her time as First Lady ended. All of them started working on their Presidential libraries, quietly fundraising.

Biden has chosen a different path, returning to Washington frequently for meetings related to his post-presidency. He recently accepted a lifetime achievement award from the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. He at a Model UN event in New York and this weekend for a Passover seder with Delaware’s Governor. He in black tie for opening night of Othello on Broadway, snubbing another star-studded play, Good Night and Good Luck led by George Clooney who penned a brutal op-ed Biden to leave the 2024 race, earning permanent exile from the Biden orbit.

Biden has started outlining his memoirs and reduced his calls to Capitol Hill, taking a break from daily political struggles. Surprisingly, even his allies in the Senate haven’t seen progress on a presidential library. He also hasn’t been fundraising, which becomes more difficult as one moves further from active politics. Some donors are unsure where Biden intends to build his library, if he ever does.

His focus might be less on fundraising and more on contrasting himself with Trump’s controversial start to his second term. Democrats highlight Biden’s perceived accomplishments: a tax credit that significantly reduced childhood poverty, substantial spending to aid Covid-19 recovery, major subsidies for U.S. businesses through clean-energy investments, and an economy that generated over 16 million jobs. Biden seemed to enjoy returning to the stage at the Advocates, Counselors, and Representatives for the Disabled conference in Chicago on Tuesday.

His political instinct isn’t wrong that Social Security is a good re-entry point: 73 million Social Security recipients are older and disabled, and even if the checks do get out this month, Republicans are on a collision course over funding the program. Trump has repeatedly promised he would not cut it, but the math doesn’t add up in the spending plans he is pushing. Congress is pursuing a spending framework that makes deep but vague cuts, and there are really only a few piles of money big enough to cover them. The Senate framework sets a baseline of $4 billion in reductions, while the House is chasing at least $1.5 trillion in spending slashes.

Meanwhile, Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk, has already cut the Social Security Administration by 10% and dozens of regional offices, putting an on the . Musk has called Social Security “the biggest Ponzi scheme of all time” and suggested cuts to automatic spending programs have to be on the table. White House officials insist that he’s merely talking about fraud, but Democrats don’t buy it.

Democrats are uniting around the issue of Social Security threats in search of a clear message in the post-Biden era. House Democrats designated Tuesday as a national day of action focused on the entitlement program. Senate Democrats their first ads of the cycle on Tuesday, targeting Republican incumbents in Maine and North Carolina. Republicans are facing protests at public events demanding that the retirement safety net not be altered. Meanwhile huge have turned out for Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez even deep-red places like Utah, while Sen. Cory Booker’s record-breaking marathon speech on the floor drew rapturous

However, Biden’s Tuesday event highlighted why he hasn’t been able to generate the same level of enthusiasm. Biden joked about his long career in public service, referencing legislation he supported “as a United States Senator 400 years ago.” He also mocked Musk’s focus on deceased beneficiaries, saying, “By the way, those 300-year-old folks getting that Social Security, I want to meet them. Hell of a thing, man. I’m looking at longevity. Because it’s hell when you turn 40 years old.”

The 27-minute speech on Tuesday didn’t evoke nostalgia for Biden, and few believe his continued presence will address the long-term issues facing Democrats. Biden may desire a comeback, but pushing too hard could leave him isolated.

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