(My new American Thinker post)
Back in 1984, President Reagan got the age question and turned it around masterfully by bringing up Walter Mondale's youth and inexperience. I was watching and he got reelected that night. Just for the record, Mr. Reagan turned 78 two weeks after completing two terms. Mr. Biden will be 81 this year!
President Reagan had another huge advantage, i.e. a successful presidency based on a good economy and a sense that he commanded respect around the world.
It didn’t hurt that the VP was a man named Bush rather than a woman named Harris.
Over at the New York Times, Bret Stephens tried to explain why Americans are down on Biden. This is what he wrote:
NYT columnist Bret Stephens first noted the increased price of eggs and white bread. He added that the price of gasoline was "up 63 percent since January 2021, the month Biden became president."
"The news isn’t all that good. Americans are unsettled by things that are not always visible in headlines or statistics but are easy enough to see," Stephens wrote.
He also added that the White House was obviously not touting those numbers. "The inflation ordinary people experience in everyday life is not the one the government prefers to highlight," he wrote.
Stephens also pointed to "the collapse of public order," the border crisis, concerns about his age and "a humiliating Afghanistan withdrawal."
It's the economy, stupid, plus Afghanistan and the border too. So much seems to be out of tune, as my high school music teacher used to say. Or to use a baseball analogy, your fastball ain't fast anymore.
I would add something else to Mr. Stephens' point. President Trump's presidency looks more and more successful every day by comparison. Who wouldn't love to have those gasoline prices back? What mom wouldn't love to go grocery store shopping and pay Trump prices when putting items in the cart? People were better off under Trump's policies and I have not mentioned China running around the world or Iran making noises or Mexico turning more violent by the week.
Yes, President Biden looks old and it’s scary every time he goes off script. He might get away with it if results were different, but they are not.
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