Column By Mike Bibb
Is President Joe Biden too old to do the job? Guess it depends upon who you talk to, which news channel you watch, or what political party suits your interests.
Joe is 81. So are a lot of people. However, there is only one 81-year-old person who is President of the United States.
That narrows the focus of the discussion: Does Joe have the cognitive capacity and mental acuity to accomplish tasks of the office competently?
Or, is he merely a top-tier impersonator, performing scripts he’s handed by a select committee of behind-the-scenes ghostwriters and handlers?
Joe’s public performances would tend to make one wonder. Even with help from teleprompter-assisted speeches and cue cards, he struggles with the message, often going off-topic, incoherently mumbling and whispering, or freezing up – leaving his press staff to later explain what he meant to say.
I’m not alone in recognizing some of the common slips of a muddled mind. Forgetfulness, confusion, wobbly shuffling of feet, and lack of awareness are harbingers of a deteriorating situation.
Joe seems to suffer from all four, despite his doctor recently pronouncing him “Fit for duty.”
Physically, maybe. Mentally, not so sure. Joe wasn’t given any kind of cognitive evaluation.
A recent Siena College poll released by the New York Times indicated that 73% of the people believed Joe is “too old to be an effective president.” The results also included a 61% sampling of folks who voted for him in 2020.
According to the Times, “The survey pointed to a fundamental shift in how voters who backed Mr. Biden four years ago have come to see him. A striking 61% said they thought he was ‘just too old’ to be an effective president.” – New York Times, March 3, 2024.
The Times article is a good indication a predominantly Left-leaning media is beginning to ponder Joe’s thought processes. His previous adoration is showing signs of voters’ remorse.
Except dopy daytime TV talk shows and late evening comedy hosts, an increasing percentage of rationally thinking individuals – and a few news reporters – realize President Joe’s pretentious job performance is not exactly as described.
Making me question what took the press so long to figure it out. It’s not a purposely well-kept national secret. All a person has to do is turn on the evening news to see Joe’s confused looks, stammering talks, and turning to shake an imaginary person’s hand.
That is when he’s not tripping up the stairs of Air Force One, falling over on his bike, slipping down, losing his way off the speaker’s stage, or wandering in the Rose Garden.
World leaders are watching and probably thinking “Whoa! What the heck is going on with this guy? He’s the leader of the Free World and trustee of the Nuclear Football? Yikes!”
Democrat Party officials recognize this. How could they not? Joe’s been hanging around Washington for half a century, and nearly every move he’s made has been recorded and reported upon.
Special Counsel Robert Hur politely described Joe as being “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” Insinuating, a trial jury would probably concur, sensing Joe’s mind is no longer capable of working properly. As a result, why bother to prosecute?
The fact stability and functionality of his brain are now an issue of interest is a diversion from reality. Joe has never been overly endowed with an excess of gray matter, although he frequently boasted of it.
Nor was he particularly successful in finding work in the private sector. Graduating ninth from the bottom of his law class at Syracuse University in New York; plagiarizing college reports; and later doing the same during previous runs for the White House was merely a prelude to his conduct as Senator, Vice President, and President.
In addition to borrowing other’s ideas without approval, Joe also tends to stretch the truth beyond plausibility; his gross mismanagement during the COVID virus; claiming “The border is closed” while millions of illegals continue to traipse across or are flown into the country at taxpayer expense; claiming “Bidenomics is working” as prices of everything continues to rise; apparent involvement with his brother and son in some kind of suspicious foreign money-making schemes; unlawfully removing and storing government classified documents, and his obvious Department of Justice influence in politically prosecuting Donald Trump are just a few of the problematical things Joe was doing long before he was considered too old, or an elderly man with a poor memory.
He’s simply Joe being Joe. Nothing particularly revealing about this. Only now, he may realize his future could dramatically change if he loses the election. Just like he and supportive Democrats have done to Trump — what goes around could easily come around for him.
Not sure having a poor memory will be much of a defense, particularly after his doctor determined Joe is fit for presidential duty.
However, he can no longer hope Trump’s name will be withdrawn from the ballot by a court challenge from the state of Colorado.
In a rare 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court – including liberal members – unanimously decided Trump cannot be removed because of his alleged violation of the 14th Amendment, a post-Civil War era Constitutional provision.
Colorado (Illinois and Maine also believed Trump should be banned from the ballot) had argued Trump acted like an “insurrectionist” during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol disturbance. The 14th Amendment deals with insurrection during, and shortly after the Civil War. Not relevant to activities 150 years later.
Plus, Trump has never been indicted, tried, and convicted of insurrection. No president has. (See my Gila Herald editorial “What’s An Insurrection?”, Jan. 3, 2024.)
Additionally, the Court found improper a single state could alter a national election by keeping a candidate off the ballot, thus denying that state’s electorate the opportunity to vote for the candidate of their choice.
Nevertheless, accepting Joe’s apparent mental decline, coupled with the Dem’s lack of additional presidential candidates, almost guarantees he will be their Top Gun in November.
Notwithstanding, some unknown dude named Jason Palmer in American Samoa, beat Joe in Super Tuesday’s primaries.
An anomaly, unless something even more dumbfounding happens. Which, in Joe’s case, is entirely possible.
