Biden’s three losing issues.  Age, age and age.

In a previous commentary, I promised to cover the growing concern among Democrats over President Biden’s age and mental acuity.  Most folks are probably aware that age is an issue.  After all, more than 80 percent of voters believe Biden is too old to serve as President for four years.

As expected, most of that is coming from Republicans and those on the right.  But Democrats and those on the left are joining the chorus in no uncertain terms.  If you do not know that there is a massive effort by those on the left to have Biden withdraw from the presidential race, you have not been paying attention.  Allow me to enlighten you.

It may have begun when David Ignatius, the liberal columnist for the Washington Post, broke ranks with the Democrat establishment in a September 2023 opinion piece.  He called on Biden and Vice President Harris not to run for reelection because of Biden’s age and growing vitality issues and Harris’ unpopularity.

Since that time, there have been a bevy of hardcore Democrats and leftwing icons calling on Biden to withdraw from the race.

1. Ezra Klein, an uber leftwing editorialist for the New York Times, suggested that Biden withdraw and allow the delegates to the National Democratic Convention to choose a younger candidate with a better chance of beating Trump.  He wrote, “We had to wait till this year – till now, really – to see Biden even begin to show what he’d be like on the campaign trail.  And what I think we’re seeing is that he’s not up for this.”  In his podcast, Klein said, “I think Biden, as painful as this is, should find a way to step down as a hero.” 
2. Following Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report, describing Biden as “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” New York Times Ross Douthat wrote, “Joe Biden should not be running for reelection.  That much was obvious well before the special prosecutor’s comments on the president’s memory lapses …”.  He added, “The impression the president gives in public is not senility so much as extreme frailty, like a light bulb that still burns so long as you keep it on dimmer.” 
3. Democrat strategist James Carville said in a CNN interview, “You can’t look at this (Biden’s age) and not say that you’re concerned.  For me to come on television and say I don’t find this alarming and troubling at all, it would be stupid of me.”  Carville had also said that Biden’s skipping a Super Bowl interview was a “sign that he has a problem.”  Keeping Biden away from unscripted moments shows that the White House does not “need to be told that the President has an age problem,” according to Carville.
4. Former President Obama advisor David Axelrod has expressed his concern over the age issue as a liability in the campaign in several media appearances.  In a posting on social media, he went so far as to say that Biden “should consider whether to stay in the race.”  Axelrod subsequently said he was not calling for Biden to suspend his campaign – but merely something worthy of discussion. 
5. A New York Times editorial addressed Biden’s age problem by noting that “he has less substantive, unscripted interaction with the public and press than any other President in recent memory.”
6. Democrat Congressman Bennie Thompson – who chaired the January 6^th Select Committee – said “Those of us who helped Joe Biden get elected President are not real comfortable with what we are seeing.”
7. Democrat Congressman and former member of the House leadership team Steny Hoyer expressed reservations about Biden’s re-electability when conceded, “We all have our concerns.  We want to make sure it’s a victory campaign.”

• FiveThirtyEight founder Nate Silver said that he personally “crossed the Rubicon in November, concluding that Biden should stand down if he wasn’t going to be able to run a normal reelection campaign.”  Silver added that if Biden was not able to sit for the Super Bowl interview, “It is awfully audacious to ask Americans to make him President for another four years.”
• New York Times Publisher A.G. Sulzberger said that his newspaper has raised the Biden age issue so many times that the “White House has been extremely upset about it.”
• Writing for an Axios editorial, Hana Nichole, reported on the concern expressed by major donors over Biden’s use of “cheat sheets” when addressing them informally “to help explain his own policy positions on questions he knows are coming.”
• Appearing on CNN’s “Smerconish,” sportscaster Bob Costa – a harsh critic of Trump — said that “it is very unlikely that he (Biden) can complete a second term” and that “Biden is incapable of uttering two consecutive sentences” when compared to the rhetorical skills of California Governor Gavin Newsom.  Costa said, “His (Biden’s) own staff knows he has to be bubble wrapped,” and added that “Biden is not a compelling figure anymore.” Costa said that If Biden’s “hubris” will not allow him to depart the campaign on his own, “then he has to be shown the door.”
• Writing in Newsweek, journalist Dan Perry called on Biden to step down and endorse Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer.  He wrote, “Fairly or not, many voters believe Biden, already the oldest president, is too old. Maybe the televised glimpses of him sounding confused, seeming frail and looking tired are not representative. Maybe hostile media (and the mob on social media) are overly focused on it. But this is the time we live in.”

These are some of the most prominent of voices who have expressed serious doubts about Biden’s age and mental acuity – and the need for Biden to end his bid for a second term.  Many others are expressing similar fears and offering similar advice.  They fear that Biden will not beat Trump – and if he does, he will not be capable of completing a second term.  And those are only the tip of the iceberg.  Many others have the same fears and concerns but do not express their opinion publicly in the belief that if the “age problem” is not discussed in public, no one will notice it.

But the age problem will not go away.  Biden will not get any younger.  His signs of aging will inevitably worsen.  The fact that Biden is being kept “bubble wrapped” – to use Bob Costa’s term – is more than enough evidence that the age problem is extremely serious when considering giving Biden the most powerful and most demanding job in the world for the next four-plus years.

Trying to use Trump’s age and mental acuity as a comparison is doomed to failure.  The public has already considered that argument – and find it wanting.  The most recent Quinnipiac University poll shows that 67 percent of voters believe Biden is too old to continue to be President.  Only 41 percent of respondents say the same about Trump.  This is a case in which perception IS reality.

Age – more than any political issue – may be the deciding factor that prevents Biden from being reelected to a second term – or even continuing to run.

So, there ‘tis.