Democrats ignore the problem of Biden’s age at their peril 

Democrats have spent the past four years pushing back against Republican claims. Joe Biden is too old to be an effective president. Right-wing media continued to perpetuate these suspicions. Record good news continues for the US economy And Biden got excited. One of the most legislatively significant presidential first terms since Franklin Roosevelt About 90 years ago.

But even if these policies succeed, they won’t stop the age problem from haunting Biden, and the situation will only become more dangerous.

Last week, special counsel Robert Hur criticized the president for having a spotty memory in a report on Biden’s handling of classified documents. Even venerable leftist Jon Stewart couldn’t help but mock Biden and Donald Trump’s age and memory problems with “.“Daily Show” corner on monday.

It should come as no surprise that Republicans think Biden is too old to serve. Here’s why this is a real crisis for the Biden campaign: increasing number Half of Democrats are secretly worried that Republicans are right.

If Biden is unable to change the skeptical mood among his base, it could have dire consequences for his campaign in November.

“The White House cannot run away from this issue because this is a legitimate concern,” Democratic strategist and commentator Michael Starr Hopkins told me. “Democrats cannot immediately dismiss these concerns, no matter how ridiculous they may seem.”

Republicans are certainly not wasting any time capitalizing on Biden’s recent age-related missteps. House Republicans are now seeking an extension of the hearing on Biden’s mental competency, despite flatly acknowledging that the hearing was primarily aimed at: harm Biden’s re-election chances. Republicans are also likely to push for Biden to testify as a way to prove his mental health, but the president’s advisers are likely to dismiss it as a distraction from political theater.

Unfortunately for weary Democrats, Biden cannot afford to ignore questions about his age and mental health.

While Republicans are no doubt exaggerating Biden’s gaffes to get headlines on Fox News, a majority of voters also cite Biden’s age as a persistent and growing concern. According to an NBC News poll released last weekMore than 60% of voters have “great concerns” about Biden’s physical and mental health. That’s nearly double the 34% of voters who have similar concerns about Trump.

Even more worrying is the percentage of Democrats who are unsure whether Biden can still keep up with the president’s demanding pace. Nearly half of the respondents to the NBC News poll are Democrats, and those voters have openly criticized Biden’s age. This number is surprisingly consistent over time. Back in September 2013, a CNN/SSRS poll found that 56 percent of Democrats had serious concerns about Biden’s age.

This has created a deep divide within the party, with Democratic elected leaders dismissing these concerns as simply fabricated Republican propaganda. These concerns may be overblown, but they are not just caused by the ever-running Republican smear machine. Even many longtime Democrats find themselves asking themselves whether older candidates like Biden and Trump are the best representatives for a country in the midst of turmoil. big generation power shift

“I hesitate to think about Trump and Biden shaping America’s future when they’re in their late 70s and early 80s,” Cameron Allen, a millennial and lifelong Democratic voter from Kentucky, told me. told. “Ignoring the issue of age is a bad play. There’s actually an argument that everyone’s cognitive abilities will decline once they reach that age.”

The issue of Biden’s age is not limited to his base. Despite a virtual ban on internal discussions about Biden’s age, Senate Democrats are now whispering deep concerns that the president could tip the scales on this year’s vote. . Those complaints run up against yet another uncomfortable problem: the perception that the media is treating Biden’s age as an equal concern to Trump’s. loudly and repeatedly support fascism In the middle of the campaign.

Concerns about Biden’s age and mental health may be insulting and unfair, but they are also political realities that Democrats can no longer avoid facing. Ignoring the concerns of the vast majority of American voters is a dangerous political path to take. Biden became president in large part because of his ability to connect with voters on an equal footing. His candor was exactly what the American people needed after four years of President Trump’s brash and unrepentant bravado. It’s time to apply these valuable lessons to age issues.

By continuing to silence high-level conversations about how to address these concerns, Democratic leaders have made it clear that the all-important 2024 presidential election will be dominated by President Donald Trump’s blatant threat to peace, rather than Trump’s blatant threat to peace. It risks turning it into a referendum on his age. at home and abroad. If Democrats want to solve the age problem, Biden will once again need to align himself directly with the American people.

Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies.