President Biden is taking Americans into uncharted territory because of his age and determination to run for a second term. He is the oldest person to ever serve as president and the oldest person to run for re-election, and if elected, he would be 86 years old at the end of his term. By contrast, President Ronald Reagan was an unprecedented 77 years old when he completed his second term in 1989.
A surprisingly broad swath of Americans, both Biden’s supporters and detractors, increasingly doubt his ability to serve as president for another five years because of his age. “A Times-Siena poll last fall found that more than 70% of voters in battleground states said Biden was too old to be an effective president,” said Nate Cohn, chief political analyst for the Times. “I agree with the opinion that it’s too much.” The release of Special Counsel Robert K. Hur’s report on Thursday, and Hur’s assessment that the president describes himself as a “well-meaning old man with a bad memory,” is a constant reminder that the American people It will test the trust we have in the people. their president.
Mr. Biden’s performance at Thursday night’s press conference was aimed at assuring the public that his memory was fine and arguing that Mr. Xu was missing the point. Rather, the president delivered emotional and agile rebuttals at a time when people wanted stable, even-handed and competent answers to fair questions about his health, and therefore about his cognitive acuity and temperament. raised further questions.
In other words, his guarantee didn’t work. He’ll have to try harder — for Mr. Biden, with the help of teleprompters and aides, to get through the campaign and hope to somehow defeat a clearly unqualified opponent like Donald Trump. , the stakes in this presidential election are too high. A real chance to take back the White House.
Biden’s allies have already embarked on Washington’s standard tactic of dismissing the special counsel’s report as partisan. Whatever Mr. Xu’s motives, the details he presented gave voice to concerns voters already had. The president must reassure the public and build trust by convincingly doing things he has been reluctant to do. He needs to go out on the campaign trail more often and have unrehearsed interactions with voters. He could take on more town hall meetings in the community or on national television. He should hold regular press conferences and provide command and direction for the country.
As it stands, he has fewer substantive, unscripted interactions with the public and the press than any president in recent memory. As the Times’ Michael Shea reported last year, “In the 100 years since Calvin Coolidge became president, only Richard Nixon and Ronald have held as many press conferences every year as the current occupant of the Oval Office. -Only Reagan.” As of late January, Biden had given fewer interviews than the past six presidents, just 86. Trump did it 300 times, and Barack Obama did it 422 times. For the second year in a row, Biden has refused to even give an interview. This was the practice of allowing the president to speak privately to the American people before the year’s biggest sporting event, citing an unconvincing reason to distance the nation from politics.
It’s part of the latest White House concerted strategy to reach Americans through online influencers and carefully produced videos rather than through public encounters that could challenge the president. It is. But Biden’s age and absence from public life combined to cause him to lose public trust. He looks like he’s hiding, or worse, hiding. The details in Heo’s report only heighten those concerns, and the Trump campaign is already capitalizing on them.
It’s a dark moment for Biden’s presidency, at a time when many voters are looking to him to offer the country a compelling alternative to Trump’s unique dangers. When it comes to the most important issues of integrity, performance, and suitability for president, there is no comparison. During the most difficult period of his presidency, Mr. Biden has provided a wise and steady presence to support threatened allies and steer the U.S. economy out of recession. He needs to do more to show the nation that he is fully capable of serving as president until he is 86 years old.
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