(Washington) Never before has an American president in office had blown 80 candles: Joe Biden celebrates a birthday on Sunday that is far from being only symbolic, especially with his intention, displayed, to represent himself in 2024.
The White House has so far not unveiled any specific celebration plans, and is instead preparing for the wedding on Saturday of a granddaughter of Joe Biden.
The person concerned, he takes the party to laugh. “I can’t even tell how old I’m going to be,” he joked on MSNBC. “I can’t get the words out of my mouth.”
To the now insistent questions about his age and the lack of enthusiasm of the Americans for a new candidacy, he inevitably answers: “Watch me” at work.
However, for who looks at him, two observations coincide: Joe Biden undeniably accuses his 80 years, and he cashes with an indisputable resistance an exhausting load.
Apt
A year ago, an extensive medical check-up had found only a few mild ailments, concluding that he was “fit” to fulfill his function.
This lanky man doesn’t smoke, drink, play sports, and hasn’t had any major health concerns since undergoing brain surgery in 1988.
A study published in 2020 by the University of Illinois even ranks him among the “champions of aging”, those people who, for socio-economic, lifestyle and heredity reasons, age better than average. . Researchers even gave it a theoretical life expectancy of nearly 97 years.
The fact remains that now, Joe Biden is his age: his hair is rarer, his walk stiffer.
He goes to blow every weekend or so in his family home; and in some international family photos, with other much younger leaders such as French President Emmanuel Macron or Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the American president looks like a patriarch.
The statistics are implacable: with the number of years increases the risk of cognitive decline, disease, or sequelae after an accident, even benign.
The moments of confusion and speech problems of this former stutterer are all listed. The Republicans make their honey of it, with video montages and murderous tweets.
Where is Jackie?
A few weeks ago, the White House failed to explain why, during a speech, the president addressed a late parliamentarian as if she were present in the room, asking, “Where’s Jackie?” »
But even beyond Joe Biden’s personal ambition, a powerful political dynamic is pushing for a new candidacy.
This is indeed the custom that an American president represents after a first term. Like Ronald Reagan, re-elected in 1984 at the age of 73, despite already debates about his age.
The candidacy of an incumbent president “saves a costly and contentious primary”, analyzes Rachel Bitecofer, Democratic strategist, and allows for a more effective campaign.
However, in the polls, a clear majority of Americans reject the idea of a new candidacy.
A “Don’t run Joe” campaign was launched by an association representing the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, RootsAction, with this argument: “A president is not the king of his party and he has no automatic right to nomination”.
And the question also arises of the ability of a president born during the Second World War to mobilize young voters in 2024, even if he has taken initiatives that are favorable to them, on cannabis or the financing of studies.
But who else to wear the colors of the Democratic Party in 2024?
Vice President Kamala Harris is unpopular, other prominent Democrats such as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg are deemed too inexperienced.
“If there is a candidate competing with that of a president in office, it is generally a hothead, a very strong personality […]. The most obvious would be Bernie Sanders,” says Robert Rowland, professor of political communication at the University of Kansas.
Except that the socialist senator from Vermont is himself “older than Biden”, at 81 years old.