President Biden’s upcoming birthday receives little fanfare from the White House amid concerns about his age and fitness to hold office.
On November 2nd, Biden will turn 80, making him the first president in his 80s. Mr. Biden set the record for the oldest sitting U.S. president, beating out President Ronald Reagan, who was 77 years old at the end of his second term.
According to Politico, the White House is fully aware of concerns over his age and, ahead of Biden’s birthday, is “preparing for the inevitable news cycle.”
Staffers told news outlets they planned to downplay the event and focus on work.
“As President Biden said, anyone with questions about his age should look to him. Politico quoted White House spokesman Andrew Bates as saying.” I have not commented on whether or not I have been invited to
The theory that Mr. Biden is too old to be president has persisted throughout his presidency.
In the summer of 2021, there were many gaffes during interviews, with Biden groping questions about his administration’s handling of the Afghan withdrawal and mixing up details about his own son.
“But I am just as concerned about early-onset dementia given his history and age as the doctors watching him,” said an NHS consultant and expert in evidence-based medicine. One Dr. Aseem Malhotra said at the time. “I worry that there are people at Joe Biden’s age who are showing problems with recall and memory.”
The question was raised again in September 2022 after Biden asked about the whereabouts of lawmakers who died at the event.
Billionaire Elon Musk said in October that Mr Biden was too old to be president, telling reporters, “It will be very difficult to keep in touch, so we will move away from the average age of the population.” We need to make sure it’s not too much,” he said.
“We’ve never had an 80-year-old president, but if there’s a lesson to be learned from modern history, age doesn’t matter so much to voters as long as the president looks healthy and doing a good job. ’” President historian Michael Beschloss told Politico. “History suggests that the onus is on candidates to show that age doesn’t matter if a president plans to run for re-election at an age voters have never seen before.”
Politico also looked at other senior politicians, such as:
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (California Democrat), 82
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (DN.Y.), 71
- Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), 89
- Former President Donald Trump, 76
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