- Joe Biden, now 81, faces criticism that he is too old to be president again.
- Some Democrats fear he will repeat the mistakes of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and refuse to step down.
- It remains unclear whether it would be better for Democrats to field another candidate.
At 81, President Joe Biden faces criticism from both Republicans and Democrats that he is too old to serve as president again.
Even some of the people expected to be in Biden's corner, from liberal comedian Jon Stewart to progressive journalist Ezra Klein, are worried that the incumbent president will be defeated by Donald Trump in this year's election. He has publicly expressed concerns that he may not be able to maintain the energy needed to confront him. They argue that by staying in the race, Biden risks complete defeat for Democrats, rather than admitting personal shortcomings and voluntarily passing the baton to a younger candidate.
There are many similarities between Biden and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who refused to resign from her lifetime judicial appointment during President Barack Obama's tenure.
Had Ms. Ginsburg, then 81, resigned before Democrats lost the Senate majority in 2014, Mr. Obama would have had the influence to push through the nomination of Merrick Garland, increasing the Democratic presence on the Supreme Court. Critics argue that it would have strengthened the sentiment. .
Instead, Ginsburg, who had long suffered from health problems including multiple bouts of cancer, died in 2020, allowing Trump to nominate a third justice, Amy Coney Barrett. , which solidified the court's conservative majority and led to abortion and vote repeal. Rights all over the country.
The current Supreme Court is made up of six conservative justices and three liberal justices, but Chief Justice John Roberts is often considered a swing vote. Even if Ginsburg were to resign and be replaced by a liberal justice, the balance would still be 5-4, with the democratically appointed person in the minority.
“Honestly, it was very predictable,” Justin Buckler, an associate professor of political science at Case Western Reserve University, told Business Insider. “She was going to die and could have resigned when President Obama could have named a successor. She did not resign, even though the risk of death was high. As a result, President Trump nominated his successor.'' So it was a stupid mistake on her part. Frankly, it was a very stupid mistake. ”
A growing faction of the Democratic Party that previously supported Biden is now worried that she will repeat Ginsburg's mistakes and are urging her to reconsider her campaign for a second term. I'm urging you.
Representatives for Mr. Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
“Biden’s calculus is a little different.”
Ms. Ginsburg's refusal to retire from her lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court differs from Ms. Biden's situation as she moves forward with her re-election campaign. Supreme Court justices are appointed, not elected, and President Obama's confirmation of Garland's nomination was blocked by Senate Republicans following Antonin Scalia's death in 2016.
If Hillary Clinton had won in 2016, Ginsburg would definitely retire and whoever Clinton would have nominated would support her liberal values rather than the conservative justice Trump nominated. I would have been relieved to know that. During her campaign, Clinton said she would fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court with a justice who supports women's rights and LGBTQ+ issues and defend Roe v. Wade, CNBC reported at the time. That's what it means.
“Biden's calculus is a little different because it's not as clear that another Democrat would do better than Biden,” said Christian Gross, a political science and public policy professor at the University of Southern California and the magazine's editor. It is because of this.” “Research and Politics” told BI. “It could be, but it's much more uncertain.”
Finding a successor to Biden will not be easy. Gross and Buchler told BI that Democratic challenger Dean Phillips is not a well-known figure. And other prominent Democrats, from Vice President Kamala Harris to California Governor Gavin Newsom, have other hurdles to overcome. Harris is widely considered “unlikable” (a criticism often leveled against female politicians, The Washington Post noted years ago). At the same time, Newsom is often cast as a wealthy career politician from the coasts who doesn't have much of a connection to the rest of the country.
Even if Biden passes the baton to the next generation and prominent Democrats are ready to take his place — two very big “ifs” — Buchler said the problem that currently exists for Biden is He pointed out that it will still be baked into Biden's campaign. Someone who intervened on his behalf.
“Lyndon Johnson is the only sitting president in modern times to have resigned without running for re-election, but there is no evidence that this helped Hubert Humphrey, who ultimately lost to Richard Nixon,” Buckler said. he said. “So the idea that Joe Biden resigning would help his successor is not supported by historical data.”
Biden's age makes him ineligible for the presidency, including a recent report from special counsel Robert Hur that called Biden a “sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” He is pushing back against claims that he is eligible.
“I know what I'm doing,” Biden said after the report was released, The Hill reported. “I became president and got this country back on its feet.”
“Biden is senile, Trump is insane.”
Some see the criticism of Mr. Biden's age as part of a Republican-led diversionary campaign to distract from Mr. Trump's similar restrictions on campaigning.
Trump is 77 years old and Biden has been criticized for gaffes such as incorrectly referring to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the “President of Mexico,” while Trump is facing Republican challenger Nikki Haley. He has also made similar mistakes, such as confusing Congressman Nancy with Congressman Nancy. Pelosi.
“It's worth noting that Mr. Trump is about the same age as Biden, and the errors in his statements are even more egregious,” Peter Rosi, founding director of the Ethics in Political Communication Project, told BI. “Republicans often complained about Biden's age, and the press repeated that complaint. But Trump is as old as Biden and has made the same mistakes as Biden more often and more outrageously.” ing.”
Loge added: “Both Biden and Trump are being challenged by much younger candidates who are running in part on their youth. Both young candidates have been beaten.” Ta.
Two of Trump's younger Republican challengers, Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy, have dropped out and endorsed the former president. Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is trailing Trump in polls in her home state, according to Politico.
Similarly, Rep. Phillips of Minnesota, the Democratic candidate to replace Mr. Biden, has the support of only 4% of voters, Time reported.
But 76% of voters, including half of Democrats, are concerned about Biden's physical and mental health, according to the latest national poll from NBC News. And it can't all be a political trap.
The same poll found that only 48% of voters considered President Trump's mental and physical health a cause for concern.
Buechler believes that the reason why criticism of the two politicians resonates so widely with voters is simple: “Biden is senile and Trump is insane.”
“To be honest, Mr. Biden has shown significant cognitive decline, and Mr. Trump has also shown some memory impairment, but his cognitive problems are not due to age, but to mental illness.” “It's close to that,” Buchler said. “It's hard to diagnose everything that's wrong with Donald Trump, but he's deeply agitated, he's been exposed to delusions, and he's been exposed to delusions that have nothing to do with his age for a long time, so it's hard to diagnose his behavior. There are other ways to explain it, but in Biden's case it's inexplicable.''The decline is clearly related to age. ”
A winless November
It remains to be seen how important the issue of Biden's age will be to voters as they cast their ballots this November. Opinions about its importance vary widely depending on who you ask. For example, if Mr. Biden had serious health problems, or if Mr. Biden could rally his strength and deliver the powerful and direct speeches he is known for, the amount of narrowing down on this issue would also be reduced. That could change in the months leading up to the election. early in his career.
In any case, Gross said, voters appear ready to blame Biden if the election goes to Trump.
“If Biden loses to Trump, there's going to be a lot of criticism for not backing down, but after the election it's easy to point fingers,” Gross said. “But let's say Biden pulls out and one of these younger, lesser-known people runs and they lose. And you say, 'Well, what would have happened if Biden had run?' You can also. I think people will definitely claim that if he loses, but we'll never know what would have happened otherwise, so I don't know if any of that is accurate. ”
Ginsburg did not publicly say she regretted her choice not to resign, but she repeatedly defended her decision against both conservatives and liberals who suggested she made the wrong decision.
“Tell me who you would rather see on the court this spring than me,” Ginsburg said in 2014, according to Reuters.
In response to a question about what President Obama thought about his future, he added: “I think he would agree that it's a matter of good judgment on my part.”
