As you know, it won’t be long before presidential candidates for 2024 are being named and campaigns are being run. One big question about that election, besides whether or not Donald Trump will throw his hat in the ring again, is whether Biden will do the same.
On the one hand, we all kind of expect him to, as he’s only been president for one term so far and could technically run for re-election. On the other hand, we continually see more and more from his own party line up against him, including none other than the very boisterous and obnoxious Alexandria Ocasio Cortez of New York. And where she goes and what she thinks, the liberal end of the party is usually not far behind.
Naturally, this has caused many on both sides of the aisle to question not only whether or not Biden will run again, but if he should, for the sake of the party and the nation.
For former Barack Obama adviser David Axelrod, a man who’s likely worked with Biden himself a number of times over the years, the question is a complicated one. As far as this devout Democrat believes, the main concern will be his age.
As Axelrod told The New York Times in a recent interview, “The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term and that would be a major issue.”
And to be sure, it would be – and not only in terms of making history. Sure, Biden would be and, in fact, already is, the oldest sitting president the United States has ever had. Naturally, this raises questions about just how capable he is and will be in the coming years as he ages.
Added to this, as Axelrod admits, Biden isn’t one of those people who looks or acts years younger than he is. As he told The Times, “He looks his age and isn’t as agile in front of the camera as he once was.”
The former adviser also admits that this does Biden no favors when combating the narrative that Biden is losing his mind, has dementia, or is no longer competent to do the job he’s been tasked with.
Of course, Axelrod is of the mind that that narrative “isn’t rooted in reality.” In fact, he even thinks that Biden has done a rather stupendous job as president and, due to his age, doesn’t get enough credit for what he has done.
During the interview, he actually boasted of Biden having “steer(ed) the country through the worst of the pandemic, passing historic legislation, pulling the NATO alliance together against Russian aggression and restoring decency and decorum to the White House.”
Now, we all know this to be a solid load of BS. I mean, “restoring decency and decorum?” He’s talking about the same man who, just last week, just a short time after a number of mass shootings and mere days after a Supreme Court Justice was threatened with death outside of his home, told America he was going to “pop” one of his political opponents.
As for the other supposed credits, every legislation is historic, NATO was already against Russia, and it was Trump who did all the leg work to get us out of COVID. Biden just continued on the path his predecessor laid out for him.
Besides, I don’t know many people who believe this whole narrative about Biden being incompetent is based on lies. Anyone and their mother can listen to him speak for all of a few seconds usually and understand that this man is not altogether there anymore. He’s making up words, confusing names, and half of the time doesn’t even remember where he is or what he’s supposed to be doing or talking about.
Then, of course, there are all the horrible policy decisions he’s made of late.
As even a prominent member of the Democratic National Committee, Steve Simeonidis, says, “To say our country was on the right track would flagrantly depart from reality.” And as a result, he is among the many who have come to believe that Biden should not seek re-election in 2024 for the sake of our nation, if nothing else.
