When, ahead of the 2007 federal election, John Howard was presented with focus group evidence indicating voters thought he and his government were too old and too tired, participants in the meeting reportedly noticed he had nodded off, although Howard dismissed this as “absolute tripe”. Back then, Australia’s second-longest serving head of government was aged 68. Joe Biden, who faces a similar problem, is 13 years older.
For the beleaguered president, the age issue not only refuses to go away, but continually gets worse. With each passing day, he sets a new record as the oldest-ever resident of the White House. Biden was born four years before George W. Bush, who was elected president almost a quarter of a century ago. Bill Clinton, who was inaugurated in the early 1990s, is also almost four years his junior. Biden cannot even claim to be a Baby Boomer. Born in November 1942, he hails from its forerunner, the Silent Generation. This November, then, he is asking the American electorate to do what it has never done before: elect a presidential candidate who has celebrated his 80th birthday.
Joe Biden’s official account showed US singer Taylor Swift endorsing the Biden/Harris democratic nomination ticket for the 2020 election. Credit:
To infuse his candidacy with the blush of youth, Biden aides are hoping to secure the endorsement of Taylor Swift, who backed him four years ago. There is even talk of him appearing at one of her Eras Tour concerts. Yet choreographing such an event runs the risk of drawing even more attention to his age. Besides, presenting yourself as the Swiftie-in-chief comes with occupational hazards. “Tay Tay” performs many of her songs from a podium in the centre of the arena linked to the main stage by what looks like a giant fashion runway. Aides would end up watching with hearts in mouths in fear that surfing the zeitgeist could result in Biden taking a nose dive.
When Ronald Reagan confronted the age question in 1984, as he, too, sought a second term as president, he cauterised it with humour. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience,” he famously deadpanned during a televised debate with his Democratic opponent Walter Mondale. That kind of comic escapology is not available to Biden. Furthermore, when “The Gipper″ uttered that immortal line, he was a sprightly 73.
Reagan could also point to the country’s resurgence from the long national nightmare of Vietnam, Watergate and the Iranian hostage crisis. His campaign slogan, “Morning in America”, perfectly crystallised the newfound optimism. Now the mood is very different. In contrast to the buoyancy of the mid-eighties, three-quarters of Americans believe the country is heading in the wrong direction.
Unlike Reagan, Biden is not a great communicator. Nor, frankly, has he ever been. That is an important point, for his advancing years have magnified problems evident since he was first elected a senator in 1972. Biden has always struggled to overcome a boyhood stutter, and it is to his enormous credit that he has reached such heights. But word craft eludes him, a problem driven home when he served as vice president to Barack Obama, the most gifted presidential orator since Abraham Lincoln.
During the Obama years, Biden did what he does best, which is to negotiate backroom deals on Capitol Hill – he is far more skilled at the art of the legislative deal than Donald Trump or his former boss. However, West Wing staffers often viewed Biden as a gaffe-prone liability, and even diplomats from friendly nations could be withering. Back then, a joke at the British embassy was that Biden was past his best, and that his best was never that good.
Four years ago, Biden’s age was arguably a plus. Viewed as the elder statesman of the party, younger rivals stepped aside during the Democratic primaries, partly in deference to his seniority. In the general election, Trump found it hard to portray an old man as a dangerous radical. This was especially true after the murder of George Floyd, and the Black Lives Matter protests it sparked. When left-wing firebrands called for the defunding of the police, a heartland vote loser, Biden portrayed himself as a moderating influence, the (very) grown-up in the room.
Joe needs the fear of Donald 2.0 to trump the fear of Biden, 81
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02.02.2024
When, ahead of the 2007 federal election, John Howard was presented with focus group evidence indicating voters thought he and his government were too old and too tired, participants in the meeting reportedly noticed he had nodded off, although Howard dismissed this as “absolute tripe”. Back then, Australia’s second-longest serving head of government was aged 68. Joe Biden, who faces a similar problem, is 13 years older.
For the beleaguered president, the age issue not only refuses to go away, but continually gets worse. With each passing day, he sets a new record as the oldest-ever resident of the White House. Biden was born four years before George W. Bush, who was elected president almost a quarter of a century ago. Bill Clinton, who was inaugurated in the early 1990s, is also almost four years his junior. Biden cannot even claim to be a Baby Boomer. Born in November 1942, he hails from its forerunner, the Silent Generation. This November, then, he is asking the American electorate to do what it has never done before: elect a........
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