Would it help Biden's campaign if he stayed out of the public eye?

[Obama24]

The so called "basement campaign" worked.

Let's be honest, Biden is not the speaker he once was. He comes across physically also as rather frail, slow of movement; stiff.

When he is in a controlled environment, it works.

But when he gives more impromptu speeches, what is focused on are his gaffes or lapses in speech or memory.

Consider how tightly controlled Reagan's image was, and then compare it to Biden's.

Reagan's people cultivated image of vigor and physical strength despite also him being an old, mentally declining man.

Biden on the other hand has had a problem with image management from day one, I would argue. He has had many achievements, but failed to sell them to the public or get the public to even believe they exist. What they see isn't an effective legislative leader, but a frail old man.

I feel the more the public sees of him, the more his re-election chances narrow. The less seen, the better.

The average American goes on what they can see, and beyond that, what they see in soundbite. Biden makes many mistakes that make for great right wing soundbites. I feel a limited presence as the September - November cycle of the campaign begins would be potentially helpful to his re-election.

Thoughts?

[Obama24]

[quote author=○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└ link=topic=592185.msg9478750#msg9478750 m
That strategy works better when your opponent is mishandling a pandemic.
[/quote]

Trump is his own worst enemy, regardless of whether there is a pandemic, typhoon, or an asteroid hitting Earth. I'd say a low key campaign, using Obama or charismatic administration surrogates in battleground states, then coming out strong as hell during debates, could work.

[Obama24]

The opposite, actually.

Trump benefits from not being in the spotlight, Biden does benefit. That's why the State of the Union speech turned things around at least slightly.

He has more to prove in terms of his physicality and cognition, and he gets to draw his own contrasts between himself and Trump.

The problem is taking that spotlight from Trump whose ubuquity always makes him a priority in the headlines, to both his benefit and detriment.

What about a middle ground -

Short and sweet attack dog (against Trump) statements on platforms such as Tiktok, basically create astroturf viral videos that are Biden speaking directly to the people, especially young people - but in highly controlled environments (and short enough) that gaffes wouldn't be an issue?

Your average 18-24 year old doesn't give a single sh*t about SOTU speeches, or frankly even long form speeches for that matter. And in long form speeches, except on rare occasions, Biden doesn't do that well.

I think he should go above the traditional stump and make his message to the public via short videos of himself - not traditional ads (although use those also), but direct appeals to the American youth.

Biden rn really can't campaign on the single most popular issue - the economy - because the perception is that the economy is bad.

What he CAN campaign on are Trump's fitness to be President AND abortion and LGBT rights.

Democracy is an abstract. Only terminally online people or hardcore Dems really care about the abstract of democracy. 'Saving democracy' doesn't really play except as red meat to the base.

What does a democracy mean to a young person? It means stuff that effects them or their friends personally.

So you make videos saying, "This election is not about me. It's about you being able to keep your reproductive rights as a woman." "It's not about electing me, it's about voting in favor of gay and trans people having equality.", "This election isn't about me, it's going forward and not turning the clock back to 1950 for people of color."

He can of course do traditional stumps, and talk about unions in those areas, talk about the traditional Dem stuff where needed. But I think the traditional long form speech by Biden should be few and far between. Use Tiktok. Use Youtube. Make it short. Make every word count. No gaffes.