Joe Biden is old, and it matters. But better a older Biden than a younger Trump.
Should Biden quit? Democrats worry about Joe Biden’s age. A lot. They have reason to worry. Mr. Biden has been a better president than most Democrats expected. He was supposed to be a respite from Trump and a civilized caretaker. He has been both. But he has been much more. He has also been Roosevelt Lite, or at least LBJ Lite. He has been pro-labor, pro-environment and a canny and progressive legislator.
And when he risked his presidency by running on the theme of saving democracy in the 2020 midterms and risked his presidency, again, by backing Ukraine, he showed what he is made of. Indeed, Mr. Biden risked his life by going to Ukraine. He showed the kind of physical courage that macho presidential acts often ape, but with great falseness.
Mr. Biden should make Democrats proud.
Except that Democrats are seldom proud, or satisfied, or confident.
And Mr. Biden is very old. He is 80. Older than any president has been. Older than Reagan or Eisenhower when they left office. Indeed, Biden would, when leaving office, be one year younger than Konrad Adenauer of West Germany when he left office. That would make Biden the second oldest serving leader in the history of the modern Western world.
But forget history. It’s math and biology. Few of us live to be 86, which is what Biden would be in 2028. Even fewer of us live to be that age and still have physical and mental health and strength. This is not the age of miracles and wonders but of wheelchairs and disease.
Many wish Mr. Biden would retire “for good this time,” in the phrase of Tom Brady, and quit while he is ahead.
The rub is his vice president Kamala Harris.
Democrats worry about her even more than about the president’s age. They think she is a lightweight who would lose to almost any Republican. Some commentators allege that, if she inherited the presidency, Ms. Harris would be incompetent and damage the presidency.
Really? Could she do more damage than Donald Trump? Or Richard Nixon? Would she be worse than Warren Harding or James Buchanan?
When Jimmy Carter was president, and for years after, we were told he was incompetent. That is not the view of history after a few short decades. I would take Carter now, wouldn’t you? Ditto, Jerry Ford, who we were told was a bumbler and not too bright. He was anything but a bumbler and I would take him in a heartbeat.
I don’t think we know the vice president.
Mr. Biden has turned out to be the most dignified president since Ike and the best Democratic president since Harry Truman. And who saw that coming? Not me. I thought of Mr. Biden as somewhere between Foghorn Leghorn and Alben W. Barkley -— a good old boy and court jester.
I was wrong. Everyone was wrong.
Ms. Harris could also prove everyone wrong. She could show the country that she can learn and she could surround herself with the best and brightest. Mr. Biden could give his veep some serious responsibilities.
Indeed, he could distribute power among the entire Cabinet. A president in his 80s needs a reinvented presidency. That might be a good thing.
Pope Francis, at 86, is an example who might give the Democrats hope. The Pope has said he will quit if he can’t do the job. But also that he does not want to quit. And, finally that, in order not to quit, he has to find other, more inventive ways to execute his office and duties.
Mr. Biden should say something similar: I know I am 80 and I know that I need to train my veep and find other ways to do this job.
Mr. Biden has a record to run on. The Republicans do not. They have only obstruction and comedic and pathetic theatrics. They also have the worry that Donald Trump will be nominated by splitting the vote again. And lead them to defeat and humiliation again.
The Republicans have a bench — a former vice president and at least three governors or former governors who could do the job of president. Mike Pence’s CNN town hall showed us the antiTrump: Decent, sane, and devoted to making the system work and the people one.
But none of those Republicans can be nominated, Mr. Pence least of all. No one who is not crazy and not engaged in useless culture wars and demagogic fake populism can win the GOP nomination. (If you want to prevent train derailments and chemical poisoning of communities you need more government, not less.)
Mr. Biden may be old, but he is not crazy. That’s another plus. He should face the age issue head on and talk to the citizenry about it.