CNN’s senior political reporter Nia-Malika Anderson recently penned a riveting Bloomberg opinion piece that has people talking.
In the op-ed titled Biden’s Age Haunts His Appearances — and the Election, the political commentator chided recent gaffes President Joe Biden has made in office and gave a call to action for the best path forward for him to win a second term.
One blunder that recently came to her mind was when the commander-in-chief referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi as the “president of Mexico.”
Before the error, he said his “memory is fine,” despite claims that he was “an elderly man with a poor memory.”
“Americans have observed the following: Biden is 81,” Anderson begins. “He has memory problems. He fractured his foot playing with his dog and has what one Democrat called “an old man walk.” Sometimes he gets names wrong. Sometimes he gets dates wrong. He pauses for uncomfortable stretches, seeming to search for a word or thought that’s not quite there. He has a faraway gaze that makes him look out of it.”
She then backed her stance with data from an NBC News poll, which suggested that 76% of voters believed that Biden did not have the mental and physical capacity to serve as a second-term president. The numbers included 54% of Democrats and 81% of independents.
“These are the voters Biden and his team will need to return to the White House,” she continued. “Rather than level with Americans about Biden’s clear issues, they too often dissemble and get defensive or pivot to Donald Trump’s age. Yet to voters Trump, who despite being just three years younger, appears less frail. Only 48% of voters have the same concerns about Trump’s age and fitness.”
She further outlined why President Biden can no longer tell Americans one thing but show another. He must accept that people are watching him, then use the opportunity to show what he has already been able to accomplish, she wrote. These accomplishments include higher wages and lower unemployment under his administration, the 353,000 jobs he successfully added to the economy, and the burden he lifted by wiping away student loan payments for millions of Americans.
“Yes, Biden gets names wrong,” Anderson continued. “But he has gotten the big issues right. Biden might forget that he met with a certain world leader, but it’s because he has met with hundreds over his 40 years in public service. He might forget a date, but he remembers the people and the values he is fighting for. A Black woman sits on the Supreme Court and in the vice president’s office — in fact, Biden’s team is one of the most diverse the country has ever seen.”
She offers this piece of advice to Democrats – and Americans as a whole – as election season quickly turns from a simmer to a boil.
“Democrats must accept that Biden isn’t getting any younger. Embrace his age, amplify the Dark Brandon theme, tout his successes and his experienced team and stop pretending that it’s a made-up issue. They can’t argue that they are in touch with the concerns of average Americans, while ignoring voters’ concerns over the president’s age. Instead, they must show that they hear them and try to ease their discomfort. They should be constantly hammering Biden’s many successes and Trump’s litany of failures. Ignoring the issue will only allow voters’ doubts to fester and help pave the way for a Trump victory in November.”
