National Review Online
Monday, June 05, 2023
It was
a scary moment when President Biden tripped after handing out
diplomas at the U.S. Air Force Academy commencement ceremony and struggled to
get up without assistance. Fortunately, by all indications, Biden was fine
afterward and did not suffer any serious injuries. But the incident should
renew concerns about his advanced age as he seeks reelection.
It is
fair to point out that Biden didn’t collapse because of deteriorating health,
but because he tripped over a sandbag that had been left onstage. In theory, it
was the type of fall that could have happened to anybody. But, as commentator
Guy Benson noted on Fox, “Not everybody is
president, and not everybody is 80.” As anybody who is older or has an elderly
relative can testify to, even a minor fall at that age carries a significant
long-term risk. And health risks can have significant consequences when the
person in question has a job as demanding as the presidency. Biden was lucky
this time, as he has been with a few prior stumbles, but it may not always be
the case.
Biden
was already the oldest person to serve in office when he began his presidency,
and he’s launching a reelection bid in which he will turn 82 shortly after
Election Day 2024. Were he to serve out a full second term, he would be 86
during his final months in office. From an actuarial perspective, the life
expectancy of somebody who has reached Biden’s age is 89 years old, meaning
that the odds are in favor of his surviving a second term. However, the issue
of concern is not merely one of whether he can literally make it past the
finish line. Winston Churchill lived to be 90, but a severe stroke at 79 while
he was prime minister left the British government effectively without a leader
for months. Ronald Reagan lived to be 93 but began suffering the visible
effects of Alzheimer’s in his early 80s.
The 25th
Amendment provides an option to remove a president if he is found by the vice
president and a majority of the cabinet to be “unable to discharge the powers
and duties of his office.” In practice, it is difficult to imagine this being
invoked unless Biden is fully incapacitated. But the worrisome thought is that
there are a lot of intermediate steps, short of death or unconsciousness,
by which an elderly person can decline.
Democrats,
understandably, feel stuck with Biden. Vice President Kamala Harris is deeply
unpopular, and they are reluctant to risk a bitter Democratic primary when the
prospects of Donald Trump or Florida governor Ron DeSantis loom as the most
likely alternatives. But by failing to take action against the very real
ticking time bomb while there is still a chance, they are doing a great
disservice to the nation. So, for that matter, are Republicans if they
renominate Trump, who would enter a second term a few months older than Biden
was when entering this one. And so are media outlets that fretted constantly
over the fitness of John McCain and Bob Dole in their early 70s yet are
comparatively muted about Biden’s visible decline.
A Biden
second term would represent a risk that American voters should not be asked to
take.
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