Senator Joe Biden served 270 years. He’s now 20 years older than Valerie. Biden also likes “Jimmy” Madison, the fourth US president.
All jokes aside, 80-year-old Biden will tell you he is near the end of his career. He’s done this forever. Over those years, he’s gained “hell of a lot of wisdom,” justifying a second term.
As Biden, the oldest US president, campaigns for reelection, he is increasingly pondering openly about his late age, cracking self-deprecating jokes and presenting his decades in public life as a positive to convince voters his age is an advantage rather than a weakness.
He’s claiming it.
In January, Biden spoke at Ebenezer Sunday service, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was co-pastor. You’re 136. I look like it but haven’t.”
The octogenarian president’s age statements can be serious, integrated into bigger remarks, and utilized to emphasize a point.
Last month, Biden told the Irish parliament, “And I’m at the end of my career, not the beginning,” adding that he has never been more hopeful.
“The only thing I bring to this career after my age—as you can see how old I am—is a little bit of wisdom,” Biden told the applauding throng. I have more experience than any American president. It doesn’t improve me, but it limits my excuses.”
Biden typically speaks off-the-cuff, wanting to make the audience laugh by poking fun at himself, when surrounded by supporters, whether Democratic politicians or union members. Biden joked about his age during the April 29 White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
In April, Biden addressed the International Union of Operating Engineers’ machine operators and engineers in Accokeek, Md., “You guys were founded 122 years ago – that’s not when I got endorsed.” At a Black History Month reception, Biden mentioned “my career of 280 years here” and said, “I wasn’t there… no matter what the press says,” at an Air Force event.
Whether purposeful or genuine, it recalls Ronald Reagan’s 1984 campaign approach of deflecting concerns about his age, then 73. Reagan promised not to “exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience” in a debate against 56-year-old Walter Mondale.
Biden “does exactly what he should.” “He’s embracing it, he’s having fun with it, he’s doing exactly what Ronald Reagan did—injecting humor and self-deprecation into it,” said Michael LaRosa, a former press secretary for first lady Jill Biden who worked on the president’s 2020 campaign. “Everyone gets the joke by saying the quiet part out loud. He’s honest about his age. That’s a candidate’s most crucial trait.”
A general election rival nearly as elderly as the president might likewise neutralize the age issue. According to certain surveys, Trump, the top Republican contender, is 76 years old, yet people seem less concerned about his age and sharpness than Biden. Trump claims the issue is Biden’s mental sharpness, not age.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, failing to get headway in the still-forming GOP primary field, has repeatedly focused on Biden’s age, even suggesting he may not live to the end of his second term at 86.
After his February physical exam
The public doubts Biden’s abilities. According to AP VoteCast, a comprehensive poll of the 2022 electorate, 57% of voters in last year’s midterm elections did not think Biden “has the mental capability to serve effectively as president.” 41% said Biden did.
9 in 10 Republicans and 2 in 10 Democrats said Biden is mentally unfit to be president. 27 percent of Democrats under 45 said Biden was mentally unable, compared to 13 percent of older Democrats.
In an April survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, 78% of Democrats approved of Biden’s job performance, but only 47% wanted him to run again. The president’s age was cited by survey respondents.
Biden’s staff has downplayed such worries. His reelection campaign will likely emphasize his successes and Biden’s with-age-comes-experience argument to address age issues.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., said President Biden’s decades of expertise support his reelection. “I think if he can balance the occasional self-deprecating joke with showing the kind of agility, engagement, casual approach to this issue that he did at the correspondents’ dinner, in the State of the Union, and in meetings with small groups of senators in public and private, I think that’s an asset.”
In a recent MSNBC interview this week, Biden again rejected age concerns, saying, “I have acquired a hell of a lot of wisdom and know more than the vast majority of people.”
Biden’s aides also emphasize that his age did not hamper his 2020 candidacy. In that year’s Democratic presidential race, Julian Castro and former Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan made veiled comments to Biden’s age and mental capacity, but other contenders ignored them. Sanders is older than Biden.
After announcing his reelection, Biden said he took a “hard look” at his age, which voters may consider.
I can’t predict my age. Last month, he remarked, “It doesn’t register with me.” The only thing I can say is that people will witness a race and evaluate whether I have it or not.