News flash — President Joe Biden is old and tired.
The calendar says he’s 80 years of age, and if you watch him for a while you’ll see he’s every bit the octogenarian.
I’m not mocking him, just stating facts about a man older than any previous president.
And those facts no doubt have the White House concerned about a new book to be published next week, “The Last Politician” by Franklin Foer.
Despite tight security around the book about Biden’s first two years in office, a copy was obtained by The Guardian.
“In private, he would occasionally admit he felt tired,” writes Foer of Biden, whose “advanced years were a hindrance, depriving him of the energy to cast a robust public presence or the ability to easily conjure a name.”
“It was striking that he took so few morning meetings or presided over so few public events before 10 a.m. His public persona reflected physical decline and time’s dulling of mental faculties that no pill or exercise regime can resist.”
But we all can see that.
Foer cites no source for private statements by Biden, but publisher Penguin Random House said his book is based on “unparalleled access to the tight inner circle who have surrounded Biden for decades,” according to The Guardian.
Biden’s age has been an issue since he first ran against former President Donald Trump in 2020 and, after being declared the winner, assumed office as the oldest president in U.S. history.
More than three-quarters of the public consider Biden too old to serve four more years, according to a survey released last week. Even among Democrats, 69 percent believe Biden is too old.
The critical view of Biden’s age in Foer’s book comes despite the author’s progressive credentials, including having once been editor of the leftist New Republic.
But even as he points to Biden’s physical and mental decline, Foer says his age served him well in the Ukranian proxy war.
In that war, “the advantages of having an older president were on display,” Foer writes. “He wasn’t just a leader of the coalition, he was the West’s father figure, whom foreign leaders could call for advice and look to for assurance.
“It was his calming presence and his strategic clarity that helped lead the alliance to such an aggressive stance, which stymied authoritarianism on its front lines. He was a man for his age.”
However, even Foer must admit that Biden has said some goofy things throughout his career due to “indiscipline and indecision.” And I’ll not go into Biden’s career-long demonstrations of lack of character.
Now, there were attempts to make age an issue with President Ronald Reagan.
When Reagan, then at 73 the oldest president in history, was asked in a debate about his age, the Republican solemnly replied, “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
While Democratic opponent Walter Mondale good-naturedly joined in the uproarious laughter that followed, he later said he knew at that moment he had lost the election.
While some questioned Reagan’s mental acuity in the closing years of his presidency, it was clear to the public that he was on top of things.
It’s obvious Joe Biden is not. He often appears slow, confused and, in his own words, according to Foer, “tired.”
This is a problem not only for Democrats, but for the nation. And the world.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
