April 16, 2025 - 2:30am
In his first public remarks since stepping down from the presidency in January, Joe Biden largely stuck to the script that defined his four years. He assailed the Republican Party for standing for the rich and powerful while defining his own political brand as one that defends the working class.
Appearing at an event organised by the Conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled, Biden criticised the Trump administration for cutting staffing at the Social Security Administration, arguing that it made the lives of seniors of modest means much worse. He also cited Elon Musk’s claim that Social Security resembles a “Ponzi scheme”, arguing that “No one, no one, no one, should take it away”.
Defending Social Security has been core to the Democratic Party’s brand since Franklin Roosevelt established the system in the mid-20th century. When former President George W. Bush sought to introduce privatisation into the system during his second term, his approval ratings plunged and never recovered for the rest of his term.
Fighting the Republicans on this ground makes sense for Democrats, but it’s also telling that Biden did not join in a chorus of Democratic opposition to Trump on issues as varied as global tariffs to deportations without due process.
As Biden’s voice often softened to a near-whisper, it was easy to remember why he pulled out of the presidential race in the first place. By avoiding some of the most controversial fights happening in politics today, that may have been Biden’s way of tacitly admitting that he is no longer on the masthead of the Democratic Party.
Maybe this will be Biden’s role going forward. Rather than serving as the tip of the spear in attacking Trump, he will serve as a reminder of the Democratic Party as he represented it in Congress and the White House alike: a friend of workers and especially their earned benefits.
This means that Biden can strategically appear before audiences like the one he spoke to above, who are focused on legacy Democratic issues like protecting Social Security and disability rights, while younger Democrats like Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen or New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez can take on things like the Trump administration’s suspect deportations to El Salvador.
This could allow the party to demonstrate one of its stronger features to the American people: its diversity. The Old Guard like Biden are well-suited to continue to hold up the mantle of Franklin Roosevelt on core economic issues while quietly helping the Democrats with tasks like fundraising with legacy donors. Meanwhile, the younger and more dynamic flank of the party can test out different approaches to tackling contentious issues around immigration, civil liberties, culture war issues, and foreign policy.
Over the next 18 months, we can expect Biden to continue to feel out his strong points — areas where he can remind Democrats of their glory days — as he hits the road to promote core party values. We shouldn’t be surprised if he picks more venues like the one he appeared at this week, where he can speak to older generations of voters who remember the solidarity of Franklin Roosevelt, the smarts of Bill Clinton, and the optimistic attitude of Barack Obama.
Biden’s evolving role may prove to be a strategic asset. No longer the face of the party, he now has the freedom to reinforce its foundational values — economic fairness, social safety nets, and respect for working Americans — without getting pulled into the daily partisan skirmishes. In doing so, the party can present not just a “Big Tent,” but a clear division of roles — where experience reinforces the message, and new voices drive it forward.
Zaid Jilani is a journalist who has worked for UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, The Intercept, and the Center for American Progress.
ZaidJilani
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SubscribeYou’re kidding, right? Actually attempting with a straight face to re-animate this vegetable?
The left should treat Joe’s history like they did COVID. Wait a few years, and then pretend it never happened.
Hmm, Biden on immigration. Biden on…wait! Let’s go ask Obama since it turns out he had been running the White House. Remember when Obama once appeared with Biden and the President commented on how the entire room had flocked to Obama and no one even looked at him? They all knew!
Welfare is a Ponzi Scheme, each generation takes more of the risk, and eventually it just won’t work , it’s liabilties 2 vast , not enough coming in
biden had like 99% of billionaires supporting him, he can’t talk about the rich and powerful, when the democrats did all it could to please them
Biden is not an asset, he’s a man with Dementia, who has’nt been right for over 4 years. He put the US / World in a worse position that he got it.
If the Democrats plan is to wheel biden out every so often, they truely are screwed
Biden is sadly a reminder of an elderly Democratic elite, and an insulated White House. His inner circle rallied around him to prop up his own pig-headed pride and denial, to pretend that he was doing just fine and could vigorously lead the country for another four years, when he was clearly in cognitive decline. And of course, the answer to any questions, even after The Disastrous Debate, was to gaslight people with “Ageist!”
As long as he’s alive he’ll have a place in the party, but he should not get too involved in electioneering.
This is a silly article about an old demented man who is lauded for reading a script written by someone else and not messing up as he usually does
Curious (not really) that the author forgot to mention that Biden referred to black people as ‘colored’ in this speech. If that is evidence that the Left is moving on from minute vocabulary policing, and that frankly there is nothing derogatory about the term, then I applaud it. But if Trump would’ve been assailed for his alleged racism over such a comment, then why the silence when Biden does the same? (I think we all know the answer: ‘rules for thee, not for me’. And so the Left’s moral grandstanding and hypocrisy continues, undiminished.)
Biden comes from the old Democrats, so he get a pass, you know the party of the KKK, Jim Crow, and giving how old Biden looks, the confederacy problay. at least he did’nt repeat the story about young black children touching his legs and how he was gonna beat up the local black man
“Maybe …(Biden) will serve as a reminder of the Democratic Party as he represented it in Congress and the White House alike: a friend of workers and especially their earned benefits.”
If this truly had been the manner in which Biden/Harris represented the Democratic Party in Congress and the White House, a Democratic administration might still reside on Pennsylvania Avenue. Instead, Biden is — for good reason — more powerfully remembered as a friend of Wokers and their unearned benefits.
“He assailed the Republican Party for standing for the rich and powerful while defining his own political brand as one that defends the working class.”
He must be senile. Since the end of the Clinton reign the Democrats have been the party of the rich and powerful and the Republicans are now the party of main street and the working class
The younger and more dynamic flank of the party can test out different approaches to castrating children, abolishing national borders and stoking identitarian racism
Oh please!
An essay that smacks of desperation.
Yes. The other message hasn’t been working: “The deplorables outnumber us, so we have to lock them in a room with Sanders/Warren/AOC until they gain enlightenment.”
In the words of the great John McEnroe, “you cannot be serious.”
“he can speak to older generations of voters who remember the solidarity of Franklin Roosevelt”. There aren’t many of them around, though, are there? You’d have to be over 85 to remember him at all, I reckon.
“Economic fairness” is all very well, but who voted for Trump and who voted for Harris? That doesn’t look like a strength for the Democrats to me.
Here’s the problem, when I heard Biden was in the news again my literal first reaction was, “oh yeah, Biden is still alive.” That is usually not a good sign when you want to build a political movement around someone and even worse when it’s not just a figure of speech.
They better be careful when embracing him; apparently he can be a little handsy.
…The poor guy was already an autopen puppet during his presidency, how on earth can he function as a credible voice going forward!