On Friday’s broadcast of NewsNation’s “The Hill,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green (D) responded to President Joe Biden blaming his travel schedule for his debate performance by stating that “the 90-minute interview process or debate process requires kind of rapid-fire, high-intensity challenges. And that’s what he was experiencing. It is definitely something that he’s trying to say, deliberately, he doesn’t want to spend energy if he’s going to be judged in this political and partisan way.”
Host Blake Burman asked, “He says he’s got to pace himself and won’t be traveling a lot. Do you agree with that self-diagnosis?”
Green answered, “That was definitely part of it. The President was exhausted. There’s no question. He did not do well in that debate. None of us deny that, including the President and the first lady. But he did do much better when he was explaining foreign policy to the rest of the nation. He’s quite sharp. Look, an 81-year-old gentleman is going to have moments where they skip a word, where they feel exhausted. … but what I can tell you is that, cognitively, he is quite able to put major, complex policies together.”
Burman then asked, “[Y]ou heard the President there say that he basically needs to dial his travel back before a major event, in this case, the debate. How can the commander-in-chief, Governor, say, I can best represent this country, but, if something big happens, I need to stop traveling? That’s part of the job, is it not?”
Green responded, “It is. But, the 90-minute interview process or debate process requires kind of rapid-fire, high-intensity challenges. And that’s what he was experiencing. It is definitely something that he’s trying to say, deliberately, he doesn’t want to spend energy if he’s going to be judged in this political and partisan way. He also wants to be clear, he has a team around him that has done an extraordinary job, and, frankly, that’s really what the office of the presidency is. None of these guys go 24 hours a day.”
Green added, “I got to see him firsthand, because we had the Maui wildfire, just under a year ago. He walked the disaster zone with us. He greeted 300 people.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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