The New York Times reported the other day about how the White House is handling concerns about President Biden’s age. With the headline, Inside Biden’s Protective White House, the story begins with some now-familiar background, but later includes a very interesting detail I’ve not heard before.
Aides have President Biden take the shorter stairs to board Air Force One. When it comes to news conferences, they yell loudly — and quickly — to end the questions, sometimes stealing a classic awards show tactic and playing loud music to signal the conclusion of the event. And forget about regular interviews with major news publications, including a traditional presidential sit-down on Super Bowl Sunday.
The news that President Biden couldn’t remember years correctly may not come as a surprise to any human who’s blanked on what year they were married, or their kids were born, or even what day it is today. This nugget from Politico sums it up nicely:
“The fact that he’s a senior citizen is not going to go away,” the Biden campaign official told Playbook. “What I’ve said to my colleagues is that we all have to remind the American people that sometimes we forget shit.”
I’ve remarked before in this space that part of the reason Joe Biden’s age is such a talking point is because he walks like an old man. But The Times reports something that probably comes as news to you too:
“His gait is somewhat halting, a characteristic multiple people close to the White House say is partly because of his refusal to wear an orthopedic boot after suffering a hairline fracture in his foot before taking office.”
Oops! Ouch! That may have been a mistake, Mr. President. But it’s helpful to know for your supporters.
Maybe instead of “multiple people” talking for you, you can continue along the lines of your rant comments from the other night, when you acknowledged “I’m an elderly man,” and remind everyone that you may be old, but the other guy is incredibly stupid.
If the media was honest, every time they quote Trump they’d add the qualification that he doesn’t think about what he says or understand what he reads from the teleprompter. Someday I hope there’s a national reckoning about how we were so casual about electing someone like that President.
It happened before, of course, but only in the movies. Who remembers Peter Sellers in “Being There?”
Being There… an excellent movie, I thought at the time. But I tried to rewatch it a year or so ago and while the ideas still stand up, it seemed so dated I couldn’t finish it.
But you make an excellent point. We have to all work as hard as we can, in whatever way we can, to elect the ticket we have.