Comment on A look at the key players in the Lebanese elections

NPR: “He was deflecting and rationalizing away his vulnerabilities, but understanding why Biden hasn’t stepped aside is to understand his politics and the core of who he is as a person. He has faced myriad challenges personally and politically, and those obstacles have defined who he is. Biden is used to people telling him he can’t or he shouldn’t do something, and he believes the naysayers have long been wrong.” “Of course, those obstacles are all very different from the one he currently faces, because Father Time is undefeated.”

The Economist: “What President Joe Biden’s cingulate cortex looks like is not public information. Both he and Donald Trump were assessed in 2020 by Jay Olshansky, a gerontologist at the University of Illinois, and a team of colleagues, using what information was available. They predicted that the probability of either man surviving the presidential term both were then seeking was more than 90%.

Politico: “Many were shocked by the president’s blatant denial about his standing in the race, and his repeated dismissal of his party’s widespread concerns. It’s an approach some Democrats described as ‘dangerous.’” New York Times: “The president’s critics among the Democrats, including those asking him to step aside, said Mr. Biden appeared to be out of touch or in denial about his prospects for re-election.”

“Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, has scheduled a virtual meeting on Sunday with senior House Democrats to discuss President Biden’s candidacy and the path forward,” the New York Times reports. “The session, which is to include the ranking members of congressional committees who make up the top echelons of the party in the House, comes at a time of profound worry among Democrats on Capitol Hill about Mr.

“All sounds fine in President Biden’s world. That devastating debate? Just a bad night. Those dismal poll numbers? Simply inaccurate. The gloomy election predictions? The same old doomsayers, wrong again. The Democrats who want him to drop out? No one has told him that,” the New York Times reports. “For Mr.

“Iranians turned out in higher numbers than in previous votes to elect a reformist president who ran on a platform of re-engaging with the West and loosening the country’s strict moral codes for women,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Washington Post: Iranian reformist wins presidency, beating a prominent hardliner.