Love You Joe, but You Got To Go
How old is too old to be president?
I was skeptical when Joe Biden first announced he was running for President. In fact, I posted on Facebook in June of 2019 that he was out of touch and was the worst possible candidate the Democrats could nominate. However, I’ve come around. Truth be told, he’s been a refreshing change compared to the nightmare of the Trump administration. He’s consistently taken reasonable actions based on known facts. Maybe not the transformational progressive many wanted, but overall, a pretty solid president.But, Joe Biden, in the unlikely scenario that you’re reading this, I love you man, but please don’t run for re-election.
Too old?I’m going to be blunt here, Joe Biden is too damn old to be president. He’ll be 82 at the end of his first term, in my opinion, that’s pushing the upper limit of an acceptable age for president. It’s not hard to do the math, he’ll be 86 at the end of a possible second term. But so what, am I just being ageist? I don’t think so. There is no doubt that there are 86-year-olds who have the mental wherewithal to be president. But he’ll be 81 during the 2024 election campaign. How certain can we be, based on how he is at 81, that he’ll still be mentally capable at 86?I’m going to get personal for a second. When my Mom turned 79, she lived alone and was fiercely independent. She was paying her bills, taking care of the maintenance of her house, and managing all the day-to-day activities that a person needs to accomplish. But only a couple of months later, I got a frantic phone call from my cousin, who lives closer to my Mom than I do, telling me that she wasn’t taking care of herself anymore. I immediately caught a flight home, and it was clear that within that brief period of time since I had last seen her, dementia had set in. However, despite the distressed state she was in, she had no idea there was any problem, and thought I was making a fuss over nothing. Her condition continued to worsen over the coming months. She went from being fine, to believing she was still living with her (long deceased) parents in her childhood home within about six or seven months.I’d imagine the reason for telling this story is clear. My Mom was younger than Joe Biden is now when that happened. Of course, a president can potentially become incapacitated at any age. However, in your mid-seventies, the chance of being diagnosed with dementia is only about 5%. After age eighty-five it’s up to around 20%. Once a person gets beyond age eighty the prevalence of dementia increases dramatically. You may be thinking, well, that’s why we have a vice president. Keep in mind, individuals often believe there’s nothing wrong with them. Joe Biden is accustomed to people saying he’s senile or that he has Alzheimer’s disease. It’s likely that if he does start to show signs of diminished capacity, he would view it as a political attack.
The 25th AmendmentThe real problem is, if an incapacitated president doesn’t voluntarily step aside, removing them is extremely difficult. Under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, if the majority of the president’s cabinet and the vice president agree, they can temporarily relieve the president of power. Both chambers of Congress must validate that action within 21 days. Failing that, power is automatically restored to the president. In a case where the disability is obvious, that might work. But there could easily be a period of months where there is genuine disagreement within the cabinet over the issue.Even once the president’s symptoms become more obvious, it’s far from certain that two-thirds of both chambers of Congress would vote to confirm the decision to remove the president. We just saw the dysfunction in Congress over electing a speaker of the House. It’s not hard to imagine a group of Biden supporters and a contingent of Republicans, who would rather have an ineffective Joe Biden over a President Kamala Harris, vote against removing the president.Possible ramificationsLet’s just consider a few possible ramifications of having months go by with open speculation, even among Democrats, about the president’s fitness for office. Who knows what Putin would do — attack the Baltic states? Use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine? Would China invade Taiwan? Would the military accept an order for the use of force from a president they believed was mentally incompetent? If they did follow the order, it could lead to an unnecessary international crisis or even war. If they didn’t follow the order, they would risk throwing the government into chaos with no one in charge. Of course, the president’s duties aren’t confined to foreign affairs. Would Congress, or the public, trust Biden to lead in the event of another pandemic or natural disaster? It’s also likely that uncertainty caused by the situation would throw global financial markets into turmoil risking the world’s economy.Keep in mind, when Biden ran in 2020, he encouraged talk of him being a transitional president, making way for a new generation. He never came out and promised not to run for a second term, but there were indications that his age wasn’t a problem because he would only be a one-term president. However, all indications are he plans on running for re-election. Jill Biden even confirmed during an interview last week that they were just working out the timing of his re-election announcement.If Biden was the secretary of state or still in the Senate this wouldn’t really be an issue. Cabinet members are easy to replace, and a single senator is much less crucial to the functioning of the government. In fact, we’re currently going through this exact issue with Senator Diane Feinstein of California. If she was president this would be a huge crisis, but as senator, they can hold her hand for the next two years until she retires. You can’t do that with a president.
ConclusionIf President Biden steps aside in 2024 he’ll go down in history as the president who restored normalcy after the chaos of President Trump. History will view his presidency as the capstone of a long and impactful career. He managed the economy coming out of the pandemic, got us out of Afghanistan, and stood up to Vladimir Putin. It’ll also potentially moderate some of the politics of a divided Congress and open up the possibility of compromise, without the politics of a campaign hanging over everything. Running again has the potential of tainting his legacy from respected party elder to the guy who didn’t know when to retire and had to be forcibly removed during a crisis.Biden is doing everything he can to indicate he is running in 2024, but being the consummate politician that he is, it could very well be a game of testing the waters before diving in. It seems likely if he had made a definite decision to run, he would have announced by now to freeze out the rest of the field. We need the people who are close to him, that have Biden’s trust, to impress upon him it’s time to exit stage left.Or if that doesn’t work, just have him read this article and I’m sure that will clear things up for him.
How old is too old to be president?
I was skeptical when Joe Biden first announced he was running for President. In fact, I posted on Facebook in June of 2019 that he was out of touch and was the worst possible candidate the Democrats could nominate. However, I’ve come around. Truth be told, he’s been a refreshing change compared to the nightmare of the Trump administration. He’s consistently taken reasonable actions based on known facts. Maybe not the transformational progressive many wanted, but overall, a pretty solid president.
But, Joe Biden, in the unlikely scenario that you’re reading this, I love you man, but please don’t run for re-election.
Too old?
I’m going to be blunt here, Joe Biden is too damn old to be president. He’ll be 82 at the end of his first term, in my opinion, that’s pushing the upper limit of an acceptable age for president. It’s not hard to do the math, he’ll be 86 at the end of a possible second term. But so what, am I just being ageist? I don’t think so. There is no doubt that there are 86-year-olds who have the mental wherewithal to be president. But he’ll be 81 during the 2024 election campaign. How certain can we be, based on how he is at 81, that he’ll still be mentally capable at 86?
I’m going to get personal for a second. When my Mom turned 79, she lived alone and was fiercely independent. She was paying her bills, taking care of the maintenance of her house, and managing all the day-to-day activities that a person needs to accomplish. But only a couple of months later, I got a frantic phone call from my cousin, who lives closer to my Mom than I do, telling me that she wasn’t taking care of herself anymore. I immediately caught a flight home, and it was clear that within that brief period of time since I had last seen her, dementia had set in. However, despite the distressed state she was in, she had no idea there was any problem, and thought I was making a fuss over nothing. Her condition continued to worsen over the coming months. She went from being fine, to believing she was still living with her (long deceased) parents in her childhood home within about six or seven months.
I’d imagine the reason for telling this story is clear. My Mom was younger than Joe Biden is now when that happened. Of course, a president can potentially become incapacitated at any age. However, in your mid-seventies, the chance of being diagnosed with dementia is only about 5%. After age eighty-five it’s up to around 20%. Once a person gets beyond age eighty the prevalence of dementia increases dramatically. You may be thinking, well, that’s why we have a vice president. Keep in mind, individuals often believe there’s nothing wrong with them. Joe Biden is accustomed to people saying he’s senile or that he has Alzheimer’s disease. It’s likely that if he does start to show signs of diminished capacity, he would view it as a political attack.
The 25th Amendment
The real problem is, if an incapacitated president doesn’t voluntarily step aside, removing them is extremely difficult. Under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, if the majority of the president’s cabinet and the vice president agree, they can temporarily relieve the president of power. Both chambers of Congress must validate that action within 21 days. Failing that, power is automatically restored to the president. In a case where the disability is obvious, that might work. But there could easily be a period of months where there is genuine disagreement within the cabinet over the issue.
Even once the president’s symptoms become more obvious, it’s far from certain that two-thirds of both chambers of Congress would vote to confirm the decision to remove the president. We just saw the dysfunction in Congress over electing a speaker of the House. It’s not hard to imagine a group of Biden supporters and a contingent of Republicans, who would rather have an ineffective Joe Biden over a President Kamala Harris, vote against removing the president.
Possible ramifications
Let’s just consider a few possible ramifications of having months go by with open speculation, even among Democrats, about the president’s fitness for office. Who knows what Putin would do — attack the Baltic states? Use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine? Would China invade Taiwan? Would the military accept an order for the use of force from a president they believed was mentally incompetent? If they did follow the order, it could lead to an unnecessary international crisis or even war. If they didn’t follow the order, they would risk throwing the government into chaos with no one in charge. Of course, the president’s duties aren’t confined to foreign affairs. Would Congress, or the public, trust Biden to lead in the event of another pandemic or natural disaster? It’s also likely that uncertainty caused by the situation would throw global financial markets into turmoil risking the world’s economy.
Keep in mind, when Biden ran in 2020, he encouraged talk of him being a transitional president, making way for a new generation. He never came out and promised not to run for a second term, but there were indications that his age wasn’t a problem because he would only be a one-term president. However, all indications are he plans on running for re-election. Jill Biden even confirmed during an interview last week that they were just working out the timing of his re-election announcement.
If Biden was the secretary of state or still in the Senate this wouldn’t really be an issue. Cabinet members are easy to replace, and a single senator is much less crucial to the functioning of the government. In fact, we’re currently going through this exact issue with Senator Diane Feinstein of California. If she was president this would be a huge crisis, but as senator, they can hold her hand for the next two years until she retires. You can’t do that with a president.
Conclusion
If President Biden steps aside in 2024 he’ll go down in history as the president who restored normalcy after the chaos of President Trump. History will view his presidency as the capstone of a long and impactful career. He managed the economy coming out of the pandemic, got us out of Afghanistan, and stood up to Vladimir Putin. It’ll also potentially moderate some of the politics of a divided Congress and open up the possibility of compromise, without the politics of a campaign hanging over everything. Running again has the potential of tainting his legacy from respected party elder to the guy who didn’t know when to retire and had to be forcibly removed during a crisis.
Biden is doing everything he can to indicate he is running in 2024, but being the consummate politician that he is, it could very well be a game of testing the waters before diving in. It seems likely if he had made a definite decision to run, he would have announced by now to freeze out the rest of the field. We need the people who are close to him, that have Biden’s trust, to impress upon him it’s time to exit stage left.
Or if that doesn’t work, just have him read this article and I’m sure that will clear things up for him.
Comments
Post a Comment