Nicholas Grossman: The Real Reason for All the Biden Age Talk [View all]

[Nevilledog]

https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/real-reason-for-biden-age-talk

JOE BIDEN IS OLD. THIS MAY COME as a surprise to you, but it’s true. He started his presidency at the age of 78, older than Ronald Reagan was when he left the White House. Now Biden is 81, and if re-elected would start his second term at 82. His age was the subject of heated discussion all weekend thanks to the publication last Thursday of Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report on Biden’s inappropriate storage of classified documents after his vice presidency. Hur’s announcement clearing Biden of criminal charges included a description of the president—“a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory” who didn’t remember what year he left the vice presidency or what year his son Beau died—that sparked days of news and opinion articles, cable news panels, and Sunday-show chatter.

The New York Times, for example, put multiple articles about Biden’s age at the top of their homepage the day after Hur’s report came out, including news and analysis pieces. They added three more the next day, also at the top of the homepage, along with an editorial—not their first on the subject of Biden’s age—plus multiple columns and newsletters.

For what it’s worth, I’m half Biden’s age and I can’t remember off the top of my head the year of the most important deaths in my life. I can sometimes reason my way toward an answer—for example, I remember my oldest kid doing a very toddler thing at a funeral—but I don’t just know the year. I also don’t know how much Biden telling prosecutors that he doesn’t remember was actual forgetfulness or standard evasions, like when Donald Trump as president said he “can’t recall” repeatedly in his written responses to Special Counsel Robert Mueller.

Still, yes: Biden is old. He’s always had gaffes, he’s always worked to hide his stutter, and now he’s having overt senior moments. He looks and sounds like an old man, and polls show that his age is voters’ biggest concern about him.

*snip*