Some staffers for President Joe Biden have an innovative idea for how they can combat concerns about his age.
They want him to pick up the pace when he walks.
On Monday, NBC News published a report about the anxiety the president is feeling about his chances in the 2024 election.
“In a private meeting at the White House in January, allies of the president had just told him that his poll numbers in Michigan and Georgia had dropped over his handling of the war between Israel and Hamas,” the network reported.
It added, “Both are battleground states he narrowly won four years ago, and he can’t afford any backsliding if he is to once again defeat Donald Trump. He began to shout and swear, a lawmaker familiar with the meeting said.”
The article noted Biden “has long believed that he isn’t getting sufficient credit” for what he argues is a strong economy.
However, the report said Biden has “chafed at restraints” his staff have placed on him in an attempt “to minimize the chances of a flub.”
It added, “At times, Biden gets suggestions that conflict with one another. Some advisers have told him he should walk faster out of concern that his gait feeds impressions that he’s too old.”
“And yet the White House is sufficiently worried about him tripping that he has taken to boarding Air Force One via a shorter staircase through the belly of the plane, forgoing the iconic image of the president waving from the main doorway high above the tarmac.”
The article comes as several polls have found many Americans are concerned about Biden’s age.
Such concerns have been fueled of videos of Biden tripping, or nearly tripping.
However, even videos of him walking stiffly and apparently very cautiously have also sparked concerns.
Joe is at a secure part of the US-Mexico border taking a stroll
— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) February 29, 2024
pic.twitter.com/rjPIHoFuMv
