Joe Biden, at his first press conference as President, looks to the next campaign for the White House. So far considered a single-term leader – for his age, 78 at his election – Biden has broken that taboo: he said he has every intention of running in the elections in 2024, for a second term.
“I’ll run with Kamala at my side”
“That’s what I expect,” Biden said of his re-nomination to White House. With the current vice-president Kamala Harris by his side. From the solemn East Room of the White House, Biden then spoke at 360 degrees on many of the hottest issues today and which could define his presidency and his chances of re-election: from the vaccination campaign to aid for the recovery of the economy, from the migrant crisis on the border with Mexico to the obstruction of Republicans in Congress, to the need for reforms that broaden the right to vote for Americans.
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200 million vaccinations by April
On vaccinations, he raised the administration’s target to 200 million from one hundred million inoculations in his first hundred days in the White House, a late-April target. What action the experts appear to be at hand, given the current acceleration in the administration of doses. Most of the American states have indicated that they will beat the May 1 deadline for the expansion of access to the vaccine to the entire adult population, and not just categories at risk.
Effective aid to the economy
On the economy, Biden celebrated the effectiveness of the new 1.9 trillion relief package, the American Rescue Plan, just approved and signed by him. And that should be followed by further plans on infrastructure, energy and climate change and education and qualification. “We see signs of recovery in the economy,” he said, which will be helped precisely by government intervention in favor of families, the unemployed and small businesses. who “still suffer” from the pandemic crisis.
Migrants, humane treatment but crisis to be solved
On the new immigration crisis that emerged on the southern border, with the arrival of new waves of people, children and families from Central America, it offered a broad and complex answer. The opposition accuses him of having attracted new illegal immigrants by reporting less rigid attitudes. Biden responded by stating that he had entrusted the mission of following her personally to Vice President Kamala Harris. He defended a “human” attitude at the border, which sees in particular unaccompanied children assisted. However, he argued that the crisis must first be resolved upstream, dealing with the tragedies of the countries of the region from which migrants flee in desperation. He promised that “things will improve very, very quickly”. And he added: “We can do it and we will do it,” accusing the previous Trump administration of having bequeathed an agency involved in immigration without adequate resources.