James Morrow: Cynical US media has had it with ‘Sleepy Joe’

It doesn’t require a medical degree to realise that Joe Biden is a man in decline.

The US President recently turned 80, but anyone who watches him for 10 seconds knows he is not a vigorous 80.

Biden’s appearances are rare and limited, he shuffles awkwardly when he walks, often mumbles and goes off track during public remarks, and requires directions even to get to or from a podium.

The other day he tried to spell out the word “eight” to emphasise a point, and only got as far as E-I-G-H … before trailing off.

“Not a joke,” as Biden is fond of saying. And yet he – or his handlers, more likely – have declared that yes, the President will seek another term.

Or will he?

Certainly it is a lot harder to tap someone on the shoulder in the American system and there is no possibility of a partyroom spill.

But pressure is building on the Joe Biden camp to get the President to step back, open the field to other Democrats, and retire to one of his many properties to live out his days eating ice cream.

It doesn’t require a medical degree to realise that Joe Biden is a man in decline.

What started out as quiet whispers among Democrats in Washington is turning into increasingly open mutiny in some quarters, where they are terrified of the idea of Biden having to go run an actual campaign with gruelling schedules and spontaneous encounters with voters and the press.

Especially against someone like Donald Trump (though the far more youthful Florida governor Ron DeSantis also worries them).

The same media outlets that have shamelessly covered for Biden for years (while dissecting every misstep of Donald Trump as a sign of incipient Alzheimer’s) are finally starting to let the mask slip, turning Biden’s fitness for office into a more than acceptable topic for discussion.

The latest warning for the Biden campaign came in the form of a Washington Post poll of US adults.

Only 32 per cent of those who responded thought Biden had the “mental sharpness” required to be president, while just 33 per cent thought he was “in good enough physical health” to serve effectively.

But what really has Democrats worried is the fact that Trump is now gaining on Biden, where conventional wisdom had previously held that Biden would win a rematch.

In a Trump v Biden contest, the Post found that 45 per cent of voters would definitely or probably vote for the Republican. Just 38 per cent said the same about Biden. So-called “establishment” media organs such as the New York Times and Washington Post tend to be reliable cheerleaders from the Democrats (particularly when Trump is the alternative) and even in 2023 their authority tends to drive the agenda in newsrooms across the US.

US President Joe Biden appears to fall asleep during the COP26 summit.

But even they have had enough, as suggested by the Washington Post’s editorial entitled, “Biden no longer does press conferences. That’s no longer acceptable.”

As in the old Soviet Union, reading the New York Times in 2023 requires canny analysis to fill in the blanks of what is not being said.

But there can be no doubt about the message the Post’s editorial board was trying to send.

The possibility of letting Trump return is bad enough, goes their thinking, but blocking access is unforgivable.

At the New York Times, White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote of the poll: “Even if it is an outlier, other recent surveys have indicated that the race is effectively tied, with either Biden or Trump holding narrow leads within the margin of error.”

Baker continued, “Taken together (the polls) suggest that the President opens the 2024 campaign facing enormous challenges with no guarantee of victory over Trump.”

President Lyndon Johnson ended his campaign for a second term just months from polling day.

All of this is coming out amid a growing body of evidence that suggests Biden’s son Hunter was (among other things) on the take from foreign and unfriendly governments, has likely committed a number of tax violations, and used his influence to set up meetings between overseas agents and his dad.

Likely replacements include California governor Gavin Newsom and wildcard Robert F Kennedy Jr, the latter regularly polling at around 20 per cent with Democrats, despite having done little in the way of formal campaigning.

And there is an historic precedent for a late withdrawal like this happening.

In 1968, just months from polling day, President Lyndon Johnson ended his campaign for a second term.

Historians relate that Johnson, when he made his announcement, wasn’t even sure if he was going to say the words as he prepared for the broadcast to begin.

One suspects that, sadly, Biden won’t know what words he’s going to say if he announces a withdrawal – but for very different reasons.