US President Joe Biden’s greatest threat could be his age

A major moment in the US President’s life could put his job in the White House at risk. See why.

When Joe Biden turns 80 next month, he’ll become the first US President to reach that milestone in the White House.

But instead of throwing a party, Biden’s team is hoping his birthday slips quietly by, knowing that the best present he could receive would be a repeat of last year’s gift: a report from his doctor confirming he is “fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency”.

Since turning 79, the world’s most powerful man has tumbled off his bike, struggled to find his way off stages, mistaken Ukraine for Iran, and publicly sought out a congresswoman eight weeks after her death.

Biden’s supporters say these incidents are overblown. He has had a lifelong struggle with a speech impediment, admitting in 2019 that he was a “gaffe machine”. And while Biden’s doctor said last year that his gait was “perceptibly stiffer and less fluid”, he still exercises at least five days a week – more than most people his age.

Next month, Joe Biden will become the first US President to reach 80 years old. Picture: AFP

Nevertheless, it’s difficult to escape the fact that Biden – the oldest person elected to the presidency – is looking older by the day. That’s why some Democrats are now agitating for him to hand the baton on instead of seeking a second term to serve until he is 86.

From an Australian perspective, it seems unusual that someone of Biden’s age would take on the top job in the first place. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is currently the second longest-serving member of parliament, and even he was born two decades after Biden.

In the United States, however, age is no impediment to high office. In fact, it’s the opposite.

Among Democrat congressional leaders, Nancy Pelosi is 82, Steny Hoyer is 83, Jim Clyburn is 82 and Chuck Schumer is 71. On the Republican side, Mitch McConnell is 80 and Dick Durbin is 77.

As for Donald Trump – who refers to Biden as “Sleepy Joe” – he is contemplating another White House run at the age of 76, meaning he would be 82 if he served a full second term.

It makes the US a veritable gerontocracy – a society governed by old people, in what is increasingly a society of old people. By 2040, about one in four Americans are expected to be aged over 65, compared to about one in eight in 2000.

US President Joe Biden is not alone in older age, with a number Democrats and Republicans either in their 80s or approaching it. Picture: AFP

For US politicians, age is also tied to experience, money and resources, all of which are crucial to running in and winning elections. Under the Constitution, Americans cannot even become members of the House of Representatives before they turn 25, or 30 for the Senate.

There are exceptions – including Biden himself. In 1973, he became the sixth-youngest senator in history after targeting the age of his opponent James Caleb Boggs, who was 63.

Since moving into the Oval Office, Biden has occasionally made light of his age.

“The very first president to attend the White House correspondents’ dinner was Calvin Coolidge in 1924. I had just been elected to the United States Senate,” Biden joked at the association’s dinner earlier this year.

“I remember telling him, ‘Cal, just be yourself. Get up there and speak from the heart. You’re going to be great, kid.’”

US President Joe Biden will turn 80 next month. Picture: AFP

Several weeks later, however, he bristled when asked about a poll which found 64 per cent of Democrats wanted someone else as their presidential candidate in 2024 – including 94 per cent of Democrats under 30.

Biden rarely gives interviews or holds press conferences, and his staff have sought to limit lengthy trips. A CNN analysis this week found he had spent 174 days at home in Delaware since taking office and another 64 days at the Camp David retreat – far more time away from the White House than Trump, who was regularly criticised for leaving Washington DC.

Even with these scheduling accommodations, Biden has sometimes struggled in his public performances, losing his train of thought, struggling to summon words and appearing momentarily confused, with each misstep fuelling viral videos shared by his opponents.

US President Joe Biden sometimes struggles in public performances. Picture: Getty Images

University of Illinois Chicago longevity expert S. Jay Olshansky has cautioned that Biden’s speech impediment should not be mistaken for signs of cognitive decline, suggesting that he has a “nearly perfect health profile for a man his age”.

Prior to the 2019 election, Dr Neal Kassell – who operated on Biden’s brain to correct an aneurysm in 1988 – said he was “every bit as sharp as he was 31 years ago”.

But as Barack Obama’s chief strategist David Axelrod told the New York Times earlier this year: “The presidency is a monstrously taxing job and the stark reality is the president would be closer to 90 than 80 at the end of a second term, and that would be a major issue.”

So, will Biden run again? He has repeatedly said that is his intention.

“But is it a firm decision that I run again? That remains to be seen,” he conceded last month.

Pressure will mount on the President to make up his mind after next month’s midterm elections, with Democrats hoping his future will be clear by early next year.

If he pulls the pin after one term, there isn’t a logical successor.

Vice President Kamala Harris – who Biden has accidentally promoted to “President Harris” on occasion – has struggled in the White House, especially on her mission to fix the southern border crisis.

At 73 and 81 respectively, senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders could try again, along with younger 2020 contenders including Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Beto O’Rourke and Pete Buttigieg, Biden’s popular 40-year-old Secretary of Transportation.

California Governor Gavin Newsom is seen as another likely option if Biden decides to retire, although he – along with other leading Democrats – maintains he is not interested.

The challenge for the Democrats, as it was in 2020, is that polls suggest Biden still looms as their best option if the Republicans nominate Trump once again.

Former president Dwight Eisenhower, who left office shortly after turning 70, declared that “no one should ever sit in this office over 70 years old”.

Is 80 the new 70? We’re about to find out.

Originally published as US President Joe Biden’s greatest threat could be his age