Biden's Age Becomes Political Lightning Rod: Is He Fit for a Second Term?
While criticism of US President Joe Biden is increasing regarding his age and mental strength, the master of the White House tried to turn the tables on his critics, by explaining the “advantage” of his advanced age.
Over recent months, Biden's (81-year-old) slips of the tongue have become the focus of global media attention, and a source of criticism even from within his own Democratic Party, ahead of the presidential elections scheduled for the end of this year.
On more than one occasion, Biden mixed up the names of current and departed leaders, and his memory failed him when he attempted to improvise on several files.
But in his annual State of the Union address on Thursday evening, Biden responded to critics of his candidacy for a second term despite his advanced age, claiming that his 81 years “made him see things clearer than ever before.”
The president told both chambers of Congress: “I know it may not seem so, but I was born a long time ago. At my age, some things become clearer than ever before.”
Biden's criticism reached the point of calling for his impeachment, especially after a government report described him as "an elderly man with a weak memory."
Weeks ago, Special Counsel Robert Hoare issued a report on the handling of secret documents, and said that he chose not to file criminal charges against Biden after a 15-month investigation into his handling of the documents, considering that “it will be difficult to convict the president because he is an elderly man with good intentions and a weak memory.”
The Hoare report stated that the US President “was unable to mention to investigators the date of the death of his son, Beau Biden.”
Biden's most notable recent slip was to describe Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi as "the president of Mexico."
Biden also confused the matter between a European leader and her deceased predecessor, as he said during an election event that he met with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017, instead of Angela Merkel.
Before that, he said that he spoke to the late French President François Mitterrand, instead of the current President, Emmanuel Macron, and on another occasion, he confused Ukraine with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
