President Joe Biden celebrated his 81st birthday on Monday by joking repeatedly about his superior age, even because the White Home strongly defended his stamina and batted away polling — and one outstanding Democrat — suggesting that the difficulty may price him votes in subsequent 12 months’s election.
White Home press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre mentioned the president’s age shouldn’t be a major focus.
“Our perspective is, it’s not about age, it’s about the president’s experience,” she mentioned whereas highlighting that Biden had efficiently championed by means of Congress several major pieces of legislation — together with a sweeping public works bundle and initiative on public well being and combating local weather change — and visited energetic conflict zones not managed by the U.S. army in Ukraine and Israel.
“What we say is we have to judge him by what he’s done, not by his numbers,” Jean-Pierre mentioned. “I would put the president’s stamina, the president’s wisdom, ability to get this done on behalf of the American people, against anyone. Anyone, any day of the week.”
Biden, for his half, went for humor.
“By the way, it’s my birthday today,” Biden instructed a crowd on the White Home South Garden as he pardoned Thanksgiving turkeys Liberty and Bell.
“I just want you to know, it’s difficult turning 60,” the president added with a chuckle. “Difficult.”
Noting that the pre-Thanksgiving pardoning ceremony dated again 76 years, Biden additionally mentioned, “I want you to know I wasn’t there — for the first one.”
Age a priority in polls
The oldest president in U.S. historical past, Biden for months has used humor to try to defuse the issue — whilst polls counsel it’s no laughing matter. An August poll from The Related Press-NORC Middle for Public Affairs Analysis discovered that 77% of U.S. adults, together with 69% of Democrats, considered Biden as too outdated to be efficient for 4 extra years.
As he seeks a second time period, Biden might be headed for a rematch with former President Donald Trump, who’s 77 and was the oldest particular person elected to a primary time period till Biden was. Trump has himself made some recent, notable gaffes. But the identical AP-NROC ballot discovered that 51% of adults — and simply 28% of Republicans — mentioned Trump was too outdated for a second time period.
To coincide with Biden’s birthday, Trump launched a brand new letter from his doctor reporting that the previous president’s “overall health is excellent.”
“His physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional,” wrote New Jersey Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald, who mentioned he has been Trump’s physician since 2001 and most not too long ago examined him on Sept. 13.
Aronwald added that Trump’s most up-to-date lab outcomes had been “even more favorable than prior testing on some of the most significant parameters,” citing latest weight reduction that he credited to “improved diet and continued daily physical exercise, while maintaining a rigorous schedule.”
The letter doesn’t point out Trump’s weight, blood strain, or different check outcomes but nonetheless asserts that he “will continue to enjoy a healthy active lifestyle for years to come.”
Doubts from the Obama camp
Trump isn’t the one one highlighting the difficulty.
David Axelrod, who helped Barack Obama win the presidency in 2008 and later served as a prime White Home adviser in an administration that included Biden as vice chairman, was particularly frank not too long ago in feedback to The New York Occasions.
“I think he has a 50-50 shot here, but no better than that, maybe a little worse,” Axelrod told columnist Maureen Dowd of Biden’s 2024 probabilities. “He thinks he can cheat nature here and it’s really risky. They’ve got a real problem if they’re counting on Trump to win it for them. I remember Hillary doing that, too.”
That was a reference to Hillary Clinton, who misplaced her 2016 race with Trump.
Jean-Pierre mentioned Monday that the Bidens would spend the president’s birthday as they historically have, with a household gathering for Thanksgiving on Nantucket, and that they deliberate to have coconut cake, one other custom.
However she additionally tried to bat away Axelrod’s remark whereas saying of unfavorable polling about 2024, “There’s no alarm happening behind the scenes.”
“I’m not going to comment on everyone that has a comment,” she mentioned, including, “It’s not my job to tell people what to think.”
Biden introduced his reelection marketing campaign in April and mentioned then that his age “doesn’t register with me.”
“They’re going to see a race, and they’re going to judge whether or not I have it or don’t have it,” the president mentioned of voters. “I respect them taking a hard look at it. I’d take a hard look at it as well. I took a hard look at it before I decided to run.”
Jean-Pierre reiterated that voters will make up their very own minds, saying, “We’re not going to change the minds of Americans. Americans are going to feel how they feel, and we respect that.”
