Presumptive 2020 Democrat presidential nominee Joe Biden recently held two virtual Florida campaigns earlier and one did not go very well.
The first one was a discussion with Jacksonville-based African-American leaders. It wasn’t broadcast so it’s unclear if any glitches occurred during that one. The second one, however, started off badly and only got worse from there.
Speakers including U.S Reps. Charlie Crist, Kathy Castor, and State Sen. Janet Cruz appeared pixelated. Their feeds were visibly delayed and at one point, the stream cut to black with no audio for several minutes. Finally 40 minutes into the rally, Biden was introduced. A full seven seconds after his introduction Biden appeared, not moving. As he leaned against a wall, Biden sported his trademark aviators. He was like an older, parody version of Jon Johnson during the Miami Vice days leaning against a door frame and seeming incredibly bizarre.
“I wish that we could have done this together and it would have gone a little more smoothly,” Biden says, removing his sunglasses to start his speech.
Then in the next few seconds of the video after he walked up and started talking, the video started pixelating and the sound delay was so incredible that you’d hear his voice and only moments later would you watch his mouth move. Nothing was matching up.
A lot of Twitter users noticed the same thing. They were comparing Joe Biden making broadcasts in a little room to the simulated character Max Headroom. Some even referred him to looking more like a condo board president in Fort Lauderdale attempting Zoom for the first time than a presidential candidate.
Later on during the virtual rally, the video was still pixelating and the sound was still delayed. His speech was focused on how Trump has let America down. He slammed the President as unqualified and unable to lead the nation throughout the glitching video footage. On top of that, a bird was chirping incredibly loud in the background. The loud squawking stole the show. You couldn’t help but chuckle.
Now the bird wasn’t his fault but the rest…serious technical problems. If the situation was turned around and this was Trump you know the Biden campaign would take full advantage ripping him on another thing. President Trump’s Campaign has painted Biden as a “doddering old man” and if he and his team can’t even figure out how to up their digital game, the attack will cut deep. Maybe Biden’s next campaign rally won’t be as glitchy but we sure used the laugh today.
Biden has been the presumptive Democratic nominee for almost two months now. It took his campaign weeks to build a home studio so he could communicate with viewers, leaving a conspiratorial “Where’s Joe?” campaign to float in the ether. Top campaign strategists have even warned Biden and his team that they better figure out this whole digital campaigning thing in a hurry. Mind you, this similar technical meltdown also happened back in mid-March during a virtual town hall from Illinois. Almost two months later and the same struggles are resurfacing.
If the quality and sound of the virtual video calls represent anything of his campaign, well it’s a complete mess.
