Folks, we’ve been here before. When Ronald Reagan bombed in his first debate against Walter Mondale in 1984, it prompted members of the press, some of the GOP stalwart supporters, members of the donor class and even some of Reagan’s Hollywood friends to question whether Reagan (seeking a second term) could handle the rigors of the presidency at the advanced age of 73.
In the next debate two weeks later when Reagan was asked about his age, he responded with a quip that even prompted Mondale to smile. “I will not make age an issue of this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
Biden’s detractors may be growing, but other than saying “Dump Biden,” they are still in the minority and there is no clear choice for who would replace him or how that would even work.
President Joe Biden, eight years older than Reagan was at the time of that 1984 debate, and just two weeks after his “stupid mistake” (his words, not mine) of a performance in his first debate with Donald Trump, faced reporters down Thursday night in a rare press conference. Afterward, a few in the punditry world declared him a genius, some declared him competent while more than half declared him non compos mentis and said he should be sipping his dinner through a straw while a nurse makes sure he shuffles back to bed.
Almost everyone acted as if we’d never seen Biden commit a gaffe before. Many of us conveniently forgot his blunders are nowhere near as bad as what Donald Trump says before he has his daily “hamberder.”
The news conference came at the end of a NATO conference. It was delayed by an hour and came after Biden spent most of the day entertaining and dealing with the leaders of other NATO nations as they discussed serious matters of international concern, including but not limited to the war in Ukraine, Russian and Chinese hegemony and climate problems. It looked like the President, if he had cognitive problems, was set up to fail. He wanted to talk about NATO, and began with a statement about it, but, of course, the first question was about Biden’s age and his fitness for office. While Biden did not have a quip that matched Ronald Reagan’s he did cogently defend his presidency and his candidacy against convicted felon Donald Trump.
“I think I’m the most qualified. I beat him once and I will beat him again.”
Biden said there is still a long way to go in the campaign – which he noted usually doesn’t start in earnest until after Labor Day. “We’ve got more work to do and more to finish. Name me a world leader who wouldn’t want to trade places with us,” Biden said. Then a short time later he referred to his Vice President as........