Biden Has a Valuable Foil in Trump

Dan Balz: “President Biden begins his campaign for a second term in both an enviable and unenviable position. Unenviable because the country remains in a sour mood, his approval ratings are weak, and there is minimal enthusiasm for his candidacy. Enviable because Donald Trump, who at the moment is Biden’s most likely opponent, is an ideal foil to make the election a choice and not a referendum.”

“Biden’s announcement video released Tuesday morning was an echo of his 2020 campaign video, with images and language that put the former president and his followers at the center of a 2024 message. Biden will run in part on his legislative record and his desire to ‘finish the job,’ as he said in the video. But just as much, he will continue to warn voters, as he did in both 2020 and in 2022, of the dangers ahead if Trump wins the White House and of the policies of a Trump-dominated Republican Party.”

Peter Baker: “President Biden has acknowledged that he has not accomplished all he wished to. But that, he maintains, is an argument for his re-election.”