'My memory is fine,' said the president, before confusing Egypt's president with the president of Mexico

There are many people in the world who age gracefully and quite enviably. These fortunates among us retain much of their ability and vigor into old age and display nimble minds even as the years accumulate. Unfortunately, 81-year-old U.S. President Joe Biden is not one of them.

Eighty-six per cent of Americans believe Biden is too old to serve another presidential term, according to a poll this week by ABC News and Ipsos. That’s up from 74 per cent who expressed the same sentiment in September.

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Grim news that it is for the president and his re-election campaign, it’s no surprise after a week in which Biden confused prominent politicians, forgot the name of the terrorist organization that’s been tormenting Israel and was called out by a prosecutor as too old and forgetful to be charged with mishandling classified documents. If you were scripting a disastrous week for an aging politician, it would look much like the one through which the White House’s current tenant just stumbled.

Last week was off to a rough start at a campaign rally in Nevada, where Biden attempted to recall a story about French President Emmanuel Macron, only to confuse him with the former French president, François Mitterand.

“Right after I was elected, I went to a G7 meeting in southern England,” Biden told the crowd. “And I sat down and said, ‘America is back!’ and Mitterand from Germany — I mean France — looked at me and said, ‘How long you back for?’”

To his credit, Biden corrected himself on the former president’s nationality. That Mitterand has been dead since 1996 and the president to whom Biden referred was, in fact,........

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