What do you expect to see on the president's agenda?
Given that the president is the leader of one of the largest and most powerful nations in the free world, you might expect extensive meetings and events, perhaps with an early start and a late finish.
If these are your (admittedly reasonable) expectations, prepare for notable disappointment as you read about what is said to be President Joe Biden's daily schedule.
After obtaining this information from unnamed “White House insiders,” the Daily Mail covers what is alleged to be Biden’s day in excruciating detail that, when compared to his predecessors’ schedules, does not make him look all that impressive.
For example, the Commander-in-Chief appears to wake up at 7 a.m. after a full eight hours of sleep, with the help of a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine, while Donald Trump usually only gets about five hours, and George Bush often He's usually awake by 5:15 a.m.
Biden then goes to the gym for physical therapy and “mobility training,” designed to alleviate stiffness in his joints and his tendency to not trip over anything (which doesn't seem to do much, based on recent evidence).
At 10 a.m. he finally arrived at the Oval Office, a full hour after Barack Obama's usual start time and four hours after Donald Trump's day began. Although Trump usually does not actually arrive at the Oval Office until around 11 a.m., he spent those five hours reading news reports, watching the news, talking with friends and advisers, and tweeting.
As for any of Biden's public events, they are often kept between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., when Biden is “at his peak.”
“They are,” Chris Whipple, author of “The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden’s White House,” tells the Daily Mail [his staff] Basically you just need to control the terms of engagement here. Biden needs to make sure he gets some rest before heading out. Taking care of and feeding the boss is really important. It's the staff's job to rein him in and make sure he's at his best.
Apparently, despite tightly controlling the president's schedule to minimize missteps caused by his advanced age, Biden is frequently late for scheduled events, sometimes by as much as an hour or more.
After a carefully controlled day, Biden puts a “cap” on it by 5 p.m., meaning there are no public events scheduled after that time, except in rare cases like his disastrous press conference on February 8.
Again, compare that to previous presidents, who, although they often went to dinner around 6:30 or 7 p.m. as Biden does, still made public appearances after sunset, if necessary.
The article is also keen to discuss other concessions to Omar Biden.
There are the note cards he once inadvertently showed cameras during a public speech in 2022, the sneakers he wears with his suits on and off planes to mitigate stumbles and missteps, and his marked decline in public appearances, holding only 33 press conferences. Compared to 66 for Obama and 52 for Trump at the same point.
As much as the Biden administration is trying to use his age as an asset, insisting on numerous occasions that he is “sharp, engaged, and pushing us for information,” as press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre once claimed.
When compared to what we have seen from Biden in his public appearances, knowing that they have been carefully scheduled and organized, this schedule does little to inspire confidence in the minds of the average American.
The White House, based on this timeline, looks more like a nursing home than the residence of the most powerful man on the planet, no matter how much the administration tries to support Biden.
The Biden campaign needs to let the man retire, instead of performing this charade that Sleepy Joe is mentally and physically fit for one of the most demanding jobs in the world.
This article originally appeared in The Western Journal.
