Let’s start with a few historical facts. They are unmistakable and uncontroversial; they clearly describe the Democratic predicament.
First, Ronald Reagan’s age was a severe problem when he campaigned for president in 1980.
He was older than Joe Biden was the same day he started his administration; he departed the White House after reelection with unmistakable symptoms of failing ability.
A Historical Overview
Secondly, every liberal vice president has ended up as the party’s presidential hopeful since Alben Barkley failed to obtain the Democratic candidacy for president in 1952.
Once they announced, none of them have ever lost a battle for the candidacy.
Democrats’ views on 2024 may be stated as follows: Will he? Should he do it? Who else could it be if not him?
Renowned Brain Surgeon Ben Carson Analyzes Biden’s Mental Capacity https://t.co/PSBNgKM4By via @dailycaller
— FrankC (@Frankpsu1984) June 9, 2022
All of these ideas are predicated on the assumption that Vice President Kamala Harris is too politically wounded to be the Democrat Party’s nominee for president.
Let’s Get Back to the Two Details
Biden’s age is a significantly more severe issue than Reagan’s age.
Reagan was — or at least looked to be — in good physical shape when he first campaigned for president.
However, his mental skills were tested during the race; journalists noted his blurring of fiction and reality, as well as his inability to recall his own plans at times.
Those suspicions became louder by the time he sought reelection, notably after his first debate, in which he stuttered through a number of responses.
Even conservative sites like the Wall Street Newspaper editorial page questioned his acumen after his discussion with Walter Mondale.
TODAY:
Biden's Mental Fitness – a @MegynKellyShow Special
with:
– @SenRandPaul
– @RichLowry
– @RyanGrim
– @DrDaleBredesenLIVE on @SIRIUSXM ch. 111 at NoonET, and all platforms after. Subscribe:https://t.co/YJPxz5Gu8dhttps://t.co/F96HgI7HIW
— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) June 9, 2022
With his famous statement that he’d never criticize Walter Mondale for his “youth and inexperience,” he evaded those concerns in his second debate.
Although it was met with laughter, there were still enough worries during his reelection campaign that his advisers began to quietly consider the necessity to use the 25th Amendment’s provisions if he became disabled.
Slowing of motion, infrequent uncertainty over words, along with Fox News and other combatants’ perseverance to portray every verbal slip as firm proof of dementia or cognitive impairment — sometimes with inventive video editing — are all indications of the era for Biden.
Looming over it all is the first number of his age, which, if he runs once more at nearly 82, will be the first number of his age. At the age of 80 or older, no person has ever run for president.
There are several examples of people who were totally capable long into old age, even extremely old age.
As he approached his centenary, Pablo Casals was still composing and conducting. Roger Angell was still writing fine prose poems about baseball, and John Paul Stevens was still delivering incisive Supreme Court judgments at the age of 90.
