Being first ladies, her marriage to the president and a possible reelection run were some of the things that Biden said about her on the Africa trip

The First Lady’s Decision to Endorse a White House Run: A Voice for Joe Biden, his Family, and Theirs

In a recent interview, the former First Lady said she thinks the president is doing a great job, but stopped short of endorsing another White House run.

Obama has experience as a first lady, and knows how important it is to run for a second term.

“It’s a personal decision that he and his family have to make. She believes that if she hadn’t been through it, she would be a little more cavalier about opining on it. I know that it is a personal call. and I don’t want to be one of the millions of people weighing in on what he should do, he and Jill should do.”

Her comments are the latest indication that President Joe Biden is on the verge of launching a reelection bid, even as a formal declaration has yet to be made.

Biden was the first old President of the United States when he turned 80 last month. Jill Biden, 71, doesn’t want that to be the marker that leads every article and analysis about her husband after he has departed the Oval Office, friends and associates said.

Donald Trump and his family: What are they telling us about Biden’s plans for the presidency? An adviser to Biden and a top White House official

“It’s probably the only job that few people know what it feels like to do, but everybody thinks they know how to do it. When it comes to being Commander in Chief of the most powerful nation on Earth, Obama said, everyone is a backseat driver. “But it’s a tough job and I think that he’s doing the best he can under some tough circumstances.”

President Biden is spending Thanksgiving with his family. He has said he will talk with his family over the holidays about whether to act on his intention to run again in 2024.

At a recent event, an adviser to Biden and a top White House official was asked about it.

ANITA DUNN: His decision to run in 2020 came after a family meeting that was actually, as he posed it, called by his grandchildren. Pop needs to have a conversation. The family is going to be deeply involved in whatever decision he reaches because that’s who he is.

DUNN: We are engaged in some planning for the simple reason that if we weren’t engaged in planning in November of this year, we should be in the political malpractice hall of fame.

MARTÍNEZ: When Donald Trump announced that he was going to run in 2024, I think everyone did a collective look toward D.C. to see exactly what President Biden was planning on doing.

The First Lady Has Come Into The White House: Making the Most of a Superfluous Fourth-Term in Washington, and Hosting a Social Summit for Their Families

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As of early autumn, the first lady was mostly skeptical according to one person familiar with her thinking. But in the month since the November midterm elections, in which Democrats defied the fate of most parties of first-term presidents, friends noted a change.

She has been exhausted over the last several weeks, but she has begun to say the quiet part out loud.

“This time of year is busy, to say the least,” she said. “I know that you probably have holiday shopping to do, cards to address or cookies to bake. … It’s not easy, is it? Sometimes all these feel like a full-time job, on top of volunteering or organizing or your real full-time job.”

She is going to the White House for Christmas. They will be joined by members of their families,” said Vanessa Valdivia, Jill Biden’s press secretary, who declined further comment on family discussions.

The first lady, and she alone, has the full weight of kibosh; she can still stop what seems inevitable in a political calculus if she has concerns about her husband’s age or how another run would affect his legacy or their family. In 2004, she voted no on his higher office ambitions for the second year in a row.

Biden is coming off a physically and emotionally taxing period, which she will have to make up for during her holiday break. Though still leaning into the presumption a second term is in the cards, the last two weeks have nonetheless run her ragged with the obligatory duties that the often-introverted first lady finds most draining, sources close to her said.

In addition to the recent wedding of her granddaughter, and the administration’s first State Dinner, hundreds of invited guests have been streaming through the White House over the last several days for dozens of holiday parties. On Wednesday, Biden and the president hosted yet another large-scale social event, a formal dinner in the East Room of the White House, for African nation leaders and their spouses in Washington this week for a summit. Jill Biden was also charged with planning and hosting events for the spouses on Wednesday and Thursday, when a luncheon at the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture will occupy a chunk of her day.

“She still has laryngitis, and is hoarse,” said a source familiar with the first lady’s rigorous schedule, alluding to Biden’s noticeably altered voice at speaking engagements this week. “She had three back-to-back parties on Saturday alone.”

It will be the loudest voice in the room when he announces his plans for 2019, as that is what her husband looks at the most.

Those familiar with her thinking say that while more firmly in the “we’re doing it” corner than she was 3 months ago, Mrs. Biden still considers whether her husband is capable of a long, drawn out battle.

There is a person with ties to the Biden family who says thatJill Biden is aware of how the last few years have affected Joe Biden. “We – collectively, as a country – all know the age issue, sure. But she’s the one who is consistently able to analyze it.”

But a deeper analysis of what that would mean for Joe Biden’s legacy has only come more recently for the first lady, said others who have had more insight into conversations.

She is not sure how to shift that narrative in practice. One of the people who know her, talking about the problem of the age issue, said that she wasn’t sure whether four more years would help or hurt.

Biden’s Last Chance to Leave Washington alone – Time for the General Relatives to St. Croix in the Light of the Wall Street Journal

“The president will make that decision. I expect it shortly after the holiday,” said Ron Klain, Biden’s chief of staff, at a Wall Street Journal summit earlier this month. “I expect his decision will be to do it.”

The president joked in an interview with ABC News last week that he had to call his wife “to find out” whether he was running in 2024. He stressed that his intention “has been from the beginning to run. But there’s too many other things we have to finish in the near term before I start a campaign.”

Joe Biden told a news conference last month that this was a family decision. We’re going to have discussions about it, I think everyone wants me to run.

With the clock running down on the Bidens’ announcement, it’s time for their last chance to leave Washington alone-time, so that she can fully comprehend what “all in” actually entails.

The couple heads to the warmer climes of St. Croix between Christmas and New Year’s; laying in the sun with a book is a favored activity for the first lady.

Jill Biden and the First Lady of the U.S. Senate Minority Party: Is there a timetable for 2020?

I hope that’s the case. and I get a little time to actually sneak away for a week,” the president said at his November post-election news conference at the White House, where Jill Biden sat in the front row. It would be early next year when we make that decision.

Jill Biden told CNN that the president’s surprise trip to Ukraine last week and domestic issues have kept him busy in recent days, adding that “nothing’s been planned as yet.”

Is there a way for 30-year-olds to get on the train to Poland? Go nine more hours, and meet with Zelensky. she said. Look at the man. Look what he is doing. He does what he does every day.

Jill Biden said she’s not frustrated by all the “will he or won’t he” speculation and wouldn’t confirm whether a decision on a 2024 run has been made or when it might be announced.

During her interview with CNN, the first lady reacted to the proposal from Haley, saying that it was ridiculous.

When asked if her husband would take that test if he was re-elected, Biden said that they wouldn’t talk about it.

First Lady Jill Biden Abroad: What she and her family have to say about a proposal for a reelection bid

Haley, a former US ambassador to the United Nations and twice-elected South Carolina governor, first put forth the proposal when she announced her presidential candidacy last month. The proposal was slammed by Sen.Sanders, an independent from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats.

“We are fighting racism. We’re fighting sexism. We’re fighting homophobia. I think we should also be fighting ageism. Trust people, look at people, and say, ‘You know, this person is competent. This person’s incompetent.’ There are a lot of 40-year-olds out there who ain’t particularly competent,” Sanders said in an interview with CBS News last month.

First lady Dr. Jill Biden warned parts of East Africa are “on the precipice” of famine as the region is dealing with a severe drought, threatening livelihoods and the ability of families to feed their children.

Her comments came in a series of wide-ranging interviews during a recent five-day trip to Africa that were part of “CNN Primetime: Jill Biden Abroad.” She talked about life as first lady, relationships with women who held the role in the past, and even weighed in on classified documents found at their house in Delaware.

The first lady said her family has not had one definitive sit-down meeting to discuss a reelection bid as has been typical for the Biden clan in the past, saying instead there’s been a series of rolling conversations with their children and grandchildren.

The Justice Department assigned a special Counsel to investigate the matter after it was revealed that documents had been found at the president’s home and private office in Washington, DC.

“I was really surprised. She said they had no idea their home had documents in the garage. “Believe me, Arlette, I haven’t been, I mean, I don’t have time to go through, you know, the boxes in the garage. We had no idea they were there.

The Bush-era Initiative: HIV/AIDS in the Burden of Lositeti, Rwanda, a rural village visited by First Lady Michelle Clinton

It marked her sixth trip to Africa after having traveled to the continent five times as second lady. She focused on the issues of women’s empowerment, youth engagement and the need to preserve democracy.

America wants to assure the countries and the leaders of Africa, like “We did not forget you”. You know, we were isolationist, pretty much for the last four years of the last administration,” she said in a critique of former President Donald Trump. “We want to say, ‘Hey, we’re back.’”

The Bush-era initiative, focused on fighting HIV/AIDS around the globe, is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year.

The first lady looked to shine a spotlight on the famine effecting the region while she was in Africa. She traveled to the rural village of Lositeti in Kajiado County to tour a health clinic offering services to the community.

Nearly 500 patients, many of them children, received treatment that day, including medical and malnutrition check-ups and nutritional assistance, according to the US Agency for International Development.

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/politics/jill-biden-cnntv/index.html

When Kenyans Met Made Sense of World Plane, They Learn to Give More, but They Don’t Know How to Make Sense Of It

“Everybody has to come together to make sure that these people aren’t dying because of the drought,” she said. “Because believe me … they have nothing. They have nothing and their children are malnourished.”

In Kenya, officials say more than 4 million people have insufficient access to food, with that figure expected to rise above 5 million in the coming months.

In the year 2011, Biden visited the region to highlight the impact of famine. She traveled to the largest refugee camp in the country, where over 100,000 people fled to due to famine and conflict.

She said he will be remembered as a humanitarian because he has helped people. He never stopped. He was helping people all over the world even after he stopped helping Americans.

There was a visit to the Carters’ home in Plains Georgia in 2021 by the president and first lady. She said the two men had a good time talking about politics while they were together, and that they were easy to get along with.

If you ever need anything, you might want to ask me, or if you want to talk, I can help you in one way or another.

“Certainly I tell him stories, and I have things that I’ve seen and things that people want and where their challenges are,” she said. “So, it’s not that I’m like weighing in. It’s like, let me tell you what I saw or what I heard, or what people are saying to me.”

“It’s in that context because I’m out every day. I’m in the classroom. I’m out, you know, somewhere in the United States,” she added. “I think it’s a good balance really.”

Source: https://www.cnn.com/2023/03/06/politics/jill-biden-cnntv/index.html

A Memorino with the First Lady of the United States (with an Appendix by J”aj Biden)

Biden has said she is neither an adviser to her husband nor his most trusted partner and wields a significant amount of influence within the White House.

The couple speaks often via text and FaceTime throughout the day as they both maintain busy work and travel schedules with the first lady saying the president “calls a lot.”

When the US military had no control over the active war zone in Ukraine, Vice President Biden’s wife said a lot of prayers.

“I was really worried. But you know, one thing, and I have to say this with all my heart. The Secret Service did a great job keeping my husband safe, as well as the strength of our military, one of the things that I truly believe in.

The first lady of the United States is Biden, and she holds a full-time paid job outside of the White House. When her husband was vice president, she worked as a second lady at Northern Virginia Community College where she taught English and wrote full time.

She said that she has grown in this role because of opportunities like traveling to Africa or going to Nebraska. “I see so many different communities and reach out to people in all walks of life.”

Biden said her experiences as an educator and first lady have helped her build connections with people during her travels abroad, which has included trips to 10 countries in her first two years in the White House.

She said that Joe taught her that politics was personal and that she could ask someone for help if she needed it.