There is no getting around it. Biden is showing signs of cognitive decline.
From the launch of his campaign, Biden has been protected from too much public exposure by staff. The Pandemic provided a good excuse for his hunkering down in his residential bunker during the campaign – speaking to the nation from carefully crafted scripts and softball one-on-one interviews with friendly news media.
Since taking office, Biden continues to be limited in public exposure. He rarely appears in any unscripted or uncontrolled situations. That is because on those rare occasions when Biden is unleashed, his gaffe numbers tend to go up. On several occasions, “The White House” had to correct the President’s public statements on serious matters. You will recall how he said Putin could not remain in office and that he would put boots on the ground if China invaded Taiwan.
As the saying goes, Biden is starting to show his age. If there was any doubt of Biden’s diminished ability to talk off-the-cuff, we had the perfect example recently. It was a small thing, but very telling.
We have known for some time that Biden must deal with notes that he pulls from his inside coat pocket – occasionally fumbling despite the benefit of notes. But we rarely get to see exactly what is on those slips of paper – that is until Biden held one of them backward, with the instructions facing the cameras.
The image at the top of the commentary shows those instructions for “OFFSHORE WIND DROP-BY SEQUENCE OF EVENTS.” The first instruction is to “… enter the room.” You mean the President of the United States has to be prompted to enter the room and “say help to the participants?”
Then comes “YOU take YOUR chair.” Does he really have to be reminded to sit down and take HIS chair? Without that explicit instruction would Biden walk in and stand around staring into space – not knowing into which chair to park his butt?
According to the cheat sheet, the press enters, he gives remarks, and the press leaves.
The next instruction to Biden is “YOU then ask Liz Shuler, President, AFL-CIO a question. Note: Liz is joining virtually.” It seems they are worried that Biden may not notice she is not in the room. The question is not on the instructions. Do they really trust Biden – who must be instructed to enter a room — to come up with a question on his own?
Finally, Biden is instructed … “YOU thank participants.” And … “YOU depart.”
I noticed that the instruction has “YOU” in all caps. Is that so Biden knows for whom the instructions are written?
The late-night comedians must be having a field day with this. Oh! They do not poke fun at Biden. And maybe that is a good thing, but there is something about this that is not funny. It is not comforting to know that the President of the United States needs written instructions of the type you would give a ten-year-old participating in a school assembly.
Let’s all hope and pray that Biden can hold it together for another couple years – with a little help from his friends.
So, there ‘tis.
FOOTNOTE: This cartoon seems more apt than ever.
