Former U.S. ambassador to Canada says Biden isn't strong enough for another term as president
Bruce Heyman says Democrats must consider alternative candidates for the presidential race
A former U.S. ambassador to Canada says he does not believe President Joe Biden has the strength to compete for the presidency or serve another term.
"He is significantly different than he was just four years ago, or two years ago," Bruce Heyman told CBC's Power & Politics. "I think it's time to move, pass the torch on to a new generation."
Heyman said he has been in touch with people who have seen Biden at recent fundraising events. He said many noticed that Biden "speaks from a teleprompter, takes very little questions, looks very much his age."
"They were concerned about the fragility of how he was walking and how he was behaving," said Heyman.
While Heyman speaks highly of Biden — he was sworn into his job as ambassador by Biden when he was vice-president — he said the president is "losing his base" in an election with "high stakes."
"The importance of it should never be underestimated, Donald Trump represents the greatest threat to democracy," he said.
Heyman also posted a statement to social media last night. It went up just before Biden took the stage for a highly anticipated solo news conference marking the end of the NATO summit in Washington. It was Biden's first since his shaky presidential debate performance just two weeks earlier.
Facing the media, Biden reaffirmed his intention to seek a second Oval Office term "to complete the job I started," despite mounting calls for him to drop his reelection bid.
In that news conference, Biden made an attention-grabbing gaffe when he mistakenly referred to Vice-President Kamala Harris as "Vice-President Trump."
"I wouldn't have picked Vice-President Trump to be vice-president if she was not qualified to be president," Biden said, while answering a question from Reuters about his confidence in Harris.
That mix-up came a few hours after a NATO event where Biden mistakenly referred to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as Russian President Vladimir Putin, before correcting himself.
Heyman is not the only Democrat suggesting Biden may not be fit to lead the United States for another four years. He said he has been in contact with many Democratic donors and former ambassadors who agree there needs to be a change of candidate.
Earlier this week, Hollywood actor and Democratic mega-donor George Clooney publicly joined the chorus of voices calling on Biden to quit the presidential race. More than a dozen Democratic lawmakers have called on the president to step aside.
Several of those Democrats have suggested Harris could be the party's nominee in Biden's place. Reporting by the New York Times suggests Biden's campaign team is polling to see how Harris would fare against Trump.
Heyman said that while Harris "deserves respect," the party should avoid naming her the nominee for president "without a fair and robust selection process."
"The Democratic Party boasts a wealth of talented individuals who could potentially lead us into the future," he said. "I propose a series of town halls, debates and interviews to showcase these candidates, culminating in a convention in Chicago to select our nominee."
The Democratic National Convention is set for August 19 to 22 in Chicago. That is where the party will officially nominate its candidate for president.
Heyman said that he will support the Democratic nominee, regardless of who it is.
"However, we owe it to the American people to present the strongest possible candidate to lead us forward and safeguard our democracy," he said.
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With files from Geoff Nixon, Alexander Panetta