(WASHINGTON) — Former President Joe Biden has reemerged into the public eye with two back-to-back sit-down interviews, sharing his diagnosis of the Democrats’ stinging election losses, defending his mental acuity, which was fiercely questioned at the end of his term, and all the while defining his version of his more than three-decades-long political legacy.
And while some Democrats say there is “a place for Joe Biden at the table,” others say it’s better for him to be out of the spotlight and that relitigating his campaign is stagnating the party.
Speaking to ABC’s “The View” on Thursday, Biden took responsibility for President Donald Trump’s historic return to the White House and pushed back on claims of cognitive decline in his final year in office. He also addressed his next steps, saying he was “getting squared away trying to figure out what the most significant and consequential role I can play, consistent with what I’ve done in the past.”
Part of that reflection will come in the form of a book that he said he is beginning to write now. But some Democrats are torn as to whether the book and a few media appearances are where they’d like his contributions to end.
Long-time allies of the former president told ABC News that they welcome Biden’s return and advocate for him to staunchly defend and define his reputation and accomplishments publicly.
“He has a responsibility and certainly the right to defend his record. Biden would be beyond crazy just to quietly let his record get misrepresented as it has been done all last week,” Democratic Rep. Jim Clyburn told ABC News. Clyburn said he was unable to watch Biden on “The View,” but was “glad” to see Biden out there.
Former Democratic National Committee Chair Jamie Harrison also said he was heartened by Biden’s recent appearances — another of which was with the BBC earlier this week.
“Seeing Joe Biden reminds me that our president can be a good, decent and honest leader. Reminds me that we have had presidents with slight majorities that have legislated to protect the environment, stabilized and grown the economy, created new jobs, reduced the cost of health care, invested in our infrastructure and respected our nation’s history. I will always be grateful to President Biden for his commitment to saving America in one of our darkest times,” said Harrison.
Veteran Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, former interim DNC chair, said she welcomed Biden back into the public square and pointed to Trump’s frequent invocation of the former president as a principal reason why Biden ought to respond.
Brazile, a current ABC News contributor, added that Biden stayed relatively quiet during Trump’s first 100 days in office this term, honoring an unwritten presidential tradition, and stressed that Biden deserves a platform.
“There’s a place for Joe Biden at the table, and we should acknowledge that,” Brazile said. “Just because you’re a former president doesn’t mean that you have to somehow or another disappear. Former presidents have every right to speak up.”
Brazile did have one concern: that the party would look to only one voice to take cues from in this period of rebuilding — a habit she said she finds unwise. Instead, Brazile said she hopes this becomes a time when a “new group of leaders” emerge.
Ken Martin, the current chair of the DNC, expressed gratitude for Biden in a statement to ABC: “No Democratic president has invested more in the Party’s infrastructure than Joe Biden, and I’m deeply grateful for the President’s service not only to our nation but his ongoing service to the Party.”
Jamie Selzler, a DNC member from North Dakota and former executive director of the state’s Democratic party, disagreed with some points Biden raised in his interview on “The View,” particularly that he could have prevailed over Trump.
Still Selzer along with other Democrats say that despite their breaks from Biden’s view of campaigns past, feel that he should be some part of the party’s future.
“We need more voices in this fight, not fewer, and President Biden’s voice is a welcome one,” Selzer said.
Other blocs of the party are far more critical, with some Democrats telling ABC News that they find the former president’s foray defensive and a misguided distraction.
One Democratic strategist said they believe Biden is mishandling his role and stagnating the party.
As long as the conversations revolve around Biden, the strategist, who has experience in Congress and presidential campaigns, said, “we cannot move forward as a country or a party.”
“He’s not really telling his own story. He’s just fighting with everyone else about their telling of his story,” the strategist said.
This strategist said they believe that Biden should follow in the less vocal post-White House footsteps of former presidents such as Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton. This person said Biden should focus his attention on his eventual presidential library and foundation.
“These first 100 days, these first six months, like this first calendar year, it’s all going to be political questions. You don’t have to answer those anymore. You actually shouldn’t be answering those anymore,” the strategist said of Biden. “Democrats talk a lot about how Donald Trump has ruined norms. Joe Biden is kind of ruining a lot of norms with how to be an ex-president right now.”
Senior Democratic strategist Sawyer Hackett told ABC News that while Biden is entitled to defend his legacy, relitigating campaign losses, or in his estimation, “rewriting political history,” is wholly unhelpful and stressed the party is in desperate need to move forward.
“The Democratic Party is working to claw itself out of the political wilderness we were left in under the stewardship of Joe Biden. It’s utterly delusional and extremely unhelpful for Biden to wax poetic about how he could have beaten Trump, given the dire straits he left our coalition in,” said Hackett.
To Hackett, Biden will best serve fellow Democrats from the wings.
“The most consequential role Biden can play is one off stage, far from the spotlight of domestic politics,” he said.
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