Once, when my father was in West Virginia on police work, a man approached him and demanded to know about a “rumor” that President Franklin Roosevelt was “disabled.” The man threatened to beat my father or anyone who told them that FDR was in a wheelchair.
My father was a detective with the Washington D.C. Police Department and worked as a security guard for FDR. (I have a picture of his father in a fedora guarding Roosevelt at the Senators’ baseball game, with the president standing up with the help of orthodontic braces to throw out the first pitch.) )
Like everyone around President Roosevelt, my father kept quiet about the president’s paralysis, not wanting to appear weak. His father assured the West Virginia thug that Roosevelt was “a fine athletic man.”
In an era before television and social media, the White House was able to suppress the fact that President Roosevelt contracted polio at age 39 and could barely walk. With the aid of a colluding press corps, a censoring Secret Service, and various subterfuges, FDR was even able to campaign with the appearance of being mobile.
But stealth about health is no longer possible, and the sooner President Biden’s team stops being in denial about it, the better off Democrats will be.
Jill Biden and his advisers are devising ways to obscure the signs of aging, from short press conferences to almost zero print interviews to television interviews with mostly flattering MSNBC anchors.
But many Americans are quite concerned about the 81-year-old president’s twilight symptoms. That’s the elephant in the room. However, elephants never forget.
Biden is fighting the bad guys, but it’s not enough. He has to admit to himself that his stumbling moments (and there will be more of them over the next five years) are a major weakness. He and his inner circle have to figure out how to deal with it. At 77, Donald Trump makes gaffes and shows signs of aging, but he conveys more energy.
The president sulked at the media and accused his staff of mishandling classified documents as he popped out Thursday night to contradict Special Counsel Robert Hur’s comments and show he was calm. . Anger is never a good thing. Biden should have taken a breather.
When asked by CNN’s White House correspondent MJ Lee about concerns about his age, Biden declared: “That’s your decision. That’s your decision.” But in one poll, 71% of voters in battleground states said Biden was “too old to be an effective president.”
Pushing aside the image of a crocheting grandpa, he looked like a crocheting grandpa. “I mean well, I’m old, I know what I’m doing,” he barked.
It reminded me of the days when President Bill Clinton kept insisting he was still relevant. Proclaiming that he knows what he is doing does not build his confidence.
Asked why he claims to be the only Democrat who can defeat Trump, Biden said: “Because I’m the best person in this country to be president of the United States and to finish the job I started.” I retorted.
It sounded ominously like Donald Trump claiming, “Only I can fix it.”
Just as Biden was starting to take a little break — the economy was improving, Trump was still bad, Republicans in Congress were in a state of ennui — Mr. It left the impression that I shouldn’t have directed it. button. He said he would not press charges because a jury would find Biden a good, forgetful old man.
Merrick Garland’s appointment of Trump as Biden’s special counsel was a mistake. Like James Comey, Garland is a man who loves his virtues so much that he’ll bend over behind him to show them off. I’m too fair, so it would be unfair. Democrats often fall into this mindset to their own detriment. Biden thus destroyed the Anita Hill v. Clarence Thomas hearing, throwing the match at Justice Thomas, who is currently corrupting the Supreme Court in an effort to be fair to Republicans who desperately want to win in committee. Noda.
Still, the report sounded like a fire alarm going off in the capital. That’s because, fair or not, the report crystallized the White House’s problems. Biden did not accept his first term victory and refused to step down to make room for new blood. So now he must go to war with Trump and stop him from returning to the Oval in a rampage of grotesque revenge.
But in a world where Republicans in Congress have become farcical and heated, Biden and his gang have no choice but to cover up for the president, hide it, and intimidate reporters who point out his mental state. It is clear that there is no plan to deal with it. President Trump’s delusions are a real problem.
Biden doesn’t just live in a bubble, he lives in bubble wrap. Exaggerated close-ups of Uncle Joe all the way through, such as avoiding town halls and Super Bowl interviews, just don’t work. It doesn’t work to get defensive when Trump is attacking. Counting on Trump’s meanness to ensure victory, like Hillary, won’t work.
Democrats have to grab some stinky salts to vape for a long time. This year will be the most ferocious and violent year.