Psaki: Biden’s Clearly Running, He’s Never Said Anything Otherwise

EXCERPT:

PSAKI: "I would say he’s clearly running. He’s never said anything otherwise. But the reason, in addition to what Willie said about why he hasn’t announced yet, there isn’t a clear primary he’s competing against. That’s different from what things looked like last August or even September. In addition, the benefit of being the incumbent president is having all of the pomp and circumstance around you, right, the plane, the music, and also being able to project to the public we are competent here, we are meeting with foreign leaders, we are getting things done for your communities. That is what he’s trying to project right now, because the entire message, the White House and the political advisors around him are talking about running against Trump or whomever may be the nominee, is competence versus chaos. Right now, competence is him being president. That is what they're projecting. Chaos is happening, I think we all can agree on that, on the other side. And the last piece, and Willie sort of touched on this too, is that once you announce, it triggers things like how you’re spending political money, how political travel is paid for, hiring a campaign and paying for them. Yes, it means you can fundraise, but an incumbent president will be able to fundraise. So I think they're waiting as long as they can at this point -- for good reason, as I see the race play out."