New York Times Magazine correspondent Mark Leibovich warned about putting too much hope in Joe Biden's candidacy in the wake of his successful campaign launch, saying Tuesday he was a "monumental failure" in his first two campaigns.
Biden is holding his first town hall as a 2020 candidate Tuesday. He has established himself as the clear frontrunner in the polls in the crowded Democratic field, but the Washington Post noted Sunday the 76-year-old has limited his exposure on the trail.
On Deadline: White House, liberal activist Karine Jean-Pierre encouraged Biden to be more open and take increased questions from voters. Leibovich hoped Biden would do it too, but he poured some cold water on the panel's enthusiasm over Biden.
"Yes, he's a known entity. Yes, he is the Joe Biden that everyone has seen for decades on the national stage," he said. "But as a presidential candidate, he has been a monumental failure. He has run extremely unsuccessfully twice ... He has a lot of work to do."
Biden sought the 1988 and 2008 Democratic nominations but flatlined both times. He suspended his campaign by September 1987 after being upended by a plagiarism scandal, and he dropped out in 2008 after finishing in fifth place in Iowa. However, Barack Obama made the fateful decision to select Biden as his running mate, and after serving two terms, he enjoys wide name recognition and popularity within the party after his role in the administration.
Leibovich said he saw Biden take questions in New Hampshire and the former vice president looked "out of practice."
"I talked to a lot of voters afterwards," he said. "He rambled quite a bit. He went from here to here to here, which is a Biden phenomenon, and it's not necessarily one that is winning if he doesn't correct this."
Host Nicolle Wallace noted Biden's opponent in the general would be President Donald Trump, who she said couldn't go on a trip to Japan without going off-script. Leibovich responded that Biden was a "de facto incumbent" and that was leading to his strong polling.
"The notion that Joe Biden is a safe pick for Democrats goes to the assumption that this is going to come down to the lesser of two septuagenarian, undisciplined—I wouldn't say evils, but people you know, essentially," he said. "You have an incumbent, and someone who is a de facto incumbent on the other side. Again, there is a let's-play-it-safe sensibility that I think governs a lot of his early success in the polls."
Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson said Biden still represented a contrast to the "utter chaos of Donald Trump."