62%

Hello, I hope you had a great weekend. 

The political world has been abuzz since the Special Counsel report that declined to prosecute Joe Biden for mishandling classified documents but described him as a “sympathetic, well-intended elderly man with a poor memory” and went into multiple instances of failed recall. 

Joe Biden probably made it worse when he held an impromptu news conference to rail against the report and then confused the President of Egypt with the President of Mexico.  He also confused Miterrand and Macron last week as well as Helmut Kohl and Angela Merkel in separate contexts. 

This is a real issue.  62% of Americans have major concerns and an additional 14% moderate concerns about “Joe Biden not having the necessary mental and physical health” to serve a second term.  When I talk to voters, their most immediate response is simply, “He’s too old.”  Biden ducking a layup like a congenial Super Bowl interview only makes the concerns seem more well-founded. 

NBC News

Being President is an incredibly stressful job.  It ages you.  It has aged Joe.  I saw him in January, and there is a marked difference between Joe now and Joe several years ago. 

The Biden campaign is frustrated because it’s not something they can change – they can’t make their guy younger.  They’re right.  They can’t. 

This is when his team is largely able to control his environment – imagine what it will be like during a presidential campaign in the Fall.  I’ve been a candidate before and I know how grueling it is to run a high-stakes national campaign.  You have to travel, shake hands, smile, give a rousing speech, make small talk, do any number of interviews and press conferences, remember people’s names and where you are, and then behind the scenes you have to call people for endorsements, fundraise, interact with staff, review talking points, and maintain positive energy. 

Does this seem like the sort of thing that an almost-82 year old Joe Biden is going to be able to do this Fall in crunch time against Trump?  You can almost hear his team holding its breath anytime he makes a public appearance nowadays.  I’m not sure that they’ll even want to debate Trump, citing him as too big a threat to democracy to show up on a stage with. 

Joe’s team is trying to protect him, but in the throes of a campaign they’ll have no choice but to put the candidate out there.  Who can say with any confidence that that will go well the fifth time, the tenth time, the hundredth time he gets in front of the cameras? 

I certainly couldn’t. 

Some 81-year olds don’t want to gracefully pass the torch and recede from the stage.  I get that.  But democracy isn’t about one person’s feelings.  It’s about the future the rest of us want and deserve.

Joe Biden is upset that he’s being treated unfairly.  He has it backwards.  He’s the one who’s treating the rest of us unfairly by preventing a real primary and competition as to who is the best candidate to face and defeat Donald Trump in November.  The Democratic Party owes the nation a candidate who fits that bill.  

It’s time to turn the page.  There’s still time. 

To help turn the page go to dean24.com to check out Dean Phillips, the 55-year old Congressman from Minnesota who is running to force a real primary.