Lame duck Biden could still have an impact

WASHINGTON, United States — When Joe Biden returns to the Oval Office on Tuesday after nearly a week at his beach home recovering from Covid, he risks being the lamest of lame ducks for his remaining six months in office.

But the 81-year-old, smarting from the humiliation of having to drop his reelection bid, could still influence the success of Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign and push to resolve key foreign policy issues.

"We're not quite lame duck. It's wounded duck," Peter Loge, director of George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs, told AFP.

All US presidents leaving office face a period of limbo between election day in November and inauguration day in January.

For Biden, however, an unusually long period of some 100 days looms when voters, politicians and foreign leaders will all have their eyes on the horizon instead of on him.

Yet Biden's pledge in his stepping-down letter on Sunday to "focus solely on fulfilling my duties as president for the remainder of my term" does not have to be an empty one.

On Monday, in a call to his campaign headquarters, which have now transitioned to supporting Harris, Biden promised to remain "fully engaged."

"I've got six months left in my presidency and I'm determined to get as much done as I possibly can, both foreign policy and domestic policy," he said.

He pledged to keep working at "lowering costs for families, continue to speak out on guns and child care, elder care, prescription drugs and climate."

In addition to presidential duties, Loge said Biden will want "to do things that set Vice President Harris up for success."

Crucially, Biden can still appoint judges who could then stay in place for decades.

This remains a key lever of power in a deeply polarized country where an increasingly politicized judiciary decides on issues like women's rights and abortion.

"He has a real incentive to end strong, so that Harris can look strong until November" as she faces Republican former president Donald Trump, added Loge.

With seemingly intractable wars raging in Gaza and Ukraine, Biden may also turn his focus abroad for his final days in the Oval Office.

In his call Monday, Biden promised "to keep