Journalist Zaid Jilani on Monday said some Democrats are feeling “buyer’s remorse” with respect to former Vice President Joe Biden likely becoming the party’s presidential nominee given New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I think there’s a bit of buyer’s remorse here in that Biden was the default Democrat, he was somebody who was supposed to kind of represent the party establishment and also bring the party together, but his response in terms of what’s happened with the viral crisis is more or less lackluster,” Jilani said in an interview with The Hill.TV’s “Rising.”
“Whereas Cuomo is sort of out there every day, kind of providing that voice that I think a lot of these same Democrats would like to see from Biden,” Jilani added.
Cuomo has been holding daily press briefings on the state of New York, a hotspot for the virus, and the state’s response to the pandemic.
Biden has had to halt much of his traditional campaign events, instead hosting virtual events from his home in Delaware. He’s been doing a lot of television interviews, but hasn’t commanded the spotlight like Cuomo, who is of course leading the state hit hardest by the coronavirus pandemic.
President Trump has sought to use the situation to his advantage.
On Monday, he suggested Cuomo would be a “better” candidate than Biden, during an interview on “Fox and Friends.” He added that he “wouldn’t mind running against Andrew.”
In the wake of Trump’s comments, Cuomo doubled down during his Monday briefing that he is not running or planning to run for president this year, and said he won’t “rise to the bait of a political challenge” amid a national crisis.
“I’m not going to get into a political dispute with the president,” Cuomo said.
Biden appeared on MSNBC on Monday afternoon and criticized Trump for his own criticism of state governors dealing with the coronavirus.
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