When, before the 2007 federal election, John Howard was presented with focus group evidence suggesting that voters thought he and his government were too old and tired, meeting participants noted that he nodded off, although Howard dismissed this as “absolute tripe”. At the time, Australia's second-longest serving prime minister was 68 years old. Joe Biden, who faces a similar problem, is 13 years older.
For the embattled president, the issue of age not only refuses to go away, but it keeps getting worse. With each passing day, he sets a new record as the oldest resident of the White House ever. Biden was born four years before George W. Bush, who was elected president nearly a quarter-century ago. Bill Clinton, who was inaugurated in the early 1990s, is about four years younger than him. Biden can't even claim to be a baby boomer. Born in November 1942, he descends from an ancestor, the Silent Generation. So this November, he is asking American voters to do what they have never done before: elect a presidential candidate celebrating his eightieth birthday.
Joe Biden's official account showed American singer Taylor Swift's endorsement of the Biden/Harris Democratic nomination ticket for the 2020 elections. credit:
In order to bring a youthful flush to his candidacy, Biden's aides hope to gain the endorsement of Taylor Swift, who supported him four years ago. There is even talk of him appearing at one of her Eras Tour concerts. However, designing such an event runs the risk of drawing more attention to its age. Moreover, presenting yourself as the CEO of Swiftie comes with professional risks. Tay Tay performs many of her songs from a platform in the middle of the square, to which the main stage is connected, resembling a giant fashion runway. Aides will end up watching with their hearts in their mouths for fear that surfing the zeitgeist will lead Biden to nose-dive.
When Ronald Reagan faced the age issue in 1984, while also seeking a second term as president, he resorted to humor. “I will not take advantage, for political purposes, of my opponent's youth and inexperience,” he said in a televised debate with his Democratic rival, Walter Mondale. This kind of comic escape is not available to Biden. Moreover, when “The Boss” said that immortal sentence, he was 73 years old.
Reagan could also signal the country's return to life after the long national nightmare of Vietnam, Watergate, and the Iranian hostage crisis. His campaign slogan, “Morning in America,” perfectly crystallized the new optimism. Now the mood is very different. In contrast to the prosperity the country experienced in the mid-1980s, three-quarters of Americans believe the country is headed in the wrong direction.
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Unlike Reagan, Biden is not a great communicator. Frankly, it wasn't like that before. This is an important point, because his advanced years have magnified the problems evident since he was first elected to the Senate in 1972. Biden has always struggled to overcome his childhood stutter, and he takes great credit for reaching these heights. But the craft of words eludes him, a problem that arose 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 was negotiating deals behind the scenes on Capitol Hill — far more adept at the art of the legislative deal than Donald Trump or his former boss. Yet West Wing staff often viewed Biden as a liability prone to missteps, and even diplomats from friendly nations could wither. At the time, one of the jokes 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 a plus. Considered the party's elder statesman, younger rivals stood aside during the Democratic primaries, partly out of respect for his seniority. In the general election, Trump found it difficult to portray an old man as a dangerous extremist. This was especially true after the killing of George Floyd, and the protests sparked by the Black Lives Matter movement. When left-wing rioters called for defunding the police, a vote loser in the heartland, Biden portrayed himself as a moderate influencer, the (very) adult in the room.
