The Presidency is not a job for someone over 80, who would be 86 at the end of his next term. There are good reasons why no one over 80 has ever served before, and why before Biden no one over 70 was ever elected to a first term. Only 7(about 15%) of all U.S. Presidents have even lived to that age. Many of those would not have been fit t…
The Presidency is not a job for someone over 80, who would be 86 at the end of his next term. There are good reasons why no one over 80 has ever served before, and why before Biden no one over 70 was ever elected to a first term. Only 7(about 15%) of all U.S. Presidents have even lived to that age. Many of those would not have been fit to serve by that age. Actuarially, I believe there is only about a 50% chance that Biden would survive to age 86, let alone survive in fit condition to run a country. The bad debate performance could have been brushed off if Biden had been even 10 or 12 years younger, but in this case it raises much larger issues of fitness and ability to do the job. Those issues will not go away. Working harder for Joe won't make them go away. They are totally legitimate concerns likely to cost the Democrats the White House, and perhaps some down-ballot races as well, if Biden stays on the ticket. The Democrats need to be preparing a short list of people ready, willing, and able to step in to take his place. In my view, a ticket of Gretchen Whitmer and Raphael Warnock or Whitmer and Hakeem Jeffries would be very hard to beat. (P.S.: I'm 79, and I wouldn't run for city council or library board).
The Presidency is not a job for someone over 80, who would be 86 at the end of his next term. There are good reasons why no one over 80 has ever served before, and why before Biden no one over 70 was ever elected to a first term. Only 7(about 15%) of all U.S. Presidents have even lived to that age. Many of those would not have been fit to serve by that age. Actuarially, I believe there is only about a 50% chance that Biden would survive to age 86, let alone survive in fit condition to run a country. The bad debate performance could have been brushed off if Biden had been even 10 or 12 years younger, but in this case it raises much larger issues of fitness and ability to do the job. Those issues will not go away. Working harder for Joe won't make them go away. They are totally legitimate concerns likely to cost the Democrats the White House, and perhaps some down-ballot races as well, if Biden stays on the ticket. The Democrats need to be preparing a short list of people ready, willing, and able to step in to take his place. In my view, a ticket of Gretchen Whitmer and Raphael Warnock or Whitmer and Hakeem Jeffries would be very hard to beat. (P.S.: I'm 79, and I wouldn't run for city council or library board).