Be Aware, But No Need To Panic

The age issue likely isn't going to knock Biden out

When FBI Director James Comey put his thumb on the scale, helping Donald Trump win a shocking victory, Election Day 2016 was just nine days away. This year, the big Justice Department surprise, calling the country’s attention to President Biden’s age, has come with nine months of campaigning to go. With this in mind, I think Biden supporters should be aware, but not panic.  

The surprise everyone is talking about came as special prosecutor Robert Hur reported Biden would not be charged for inadvertently possessing a small number of classified documents. (This is far different from Trump’s taking and mishandling thousands of such  documents and repeatedly denying it, for which he has been criminally charged.) Not-so-hidden in Hur’s announcement was his personal belief that Biden suffered from “diminished capacities” including loss of memory.

Like everyone his age, Biden can be forgetful and he surely doesn’t have the acuity he once possessed. But the same is especially true of his challenger Donald Trump who will be aged 78 to Biden’s 81 come November. When interviewed by Robert Mueller in 2018, a significantly younger Trump said he had forgotten something 36 times. So much for his claim of possessing “the world’s greatest memory.”

Despite their opponent’s equal loss of youthful capacities, Biden supporters are succumbing to their fears that due to the age issue their man, already behind in the polls, had lost the election to Trump.  A preconceived belief can lead to a self-fulfilling outcome. All the angst ignores a host of factors that could work in Biden’s favor. The first is the fact that Biden’s campaign could turn the tables on Trump, advertising his incoherence at his rallies and, should he and Trump debate, Biden might emulate Ronald Reagan circa 1984. When asked about the issue of age, Reagan said he wouldn’t hold Fritz Mondale's youth and inexperience against him.

The Biden team can also take some comfort in the fact that positive economic trends are finally being noticed by voters. Indeed, recent surveys show that Americans are becoming more optimistic about the economy. And as any presidential historian or political expert will tell you, a first-term president sitting on a good economy is almost certain to become a second-term president. Granted we are in a different moment than really ever, but this trend certainly cannot hurt.

Biden will also benefit from the fact that he’s a successful been-there-done-that kind of politician who is hard to hate. Trump, who made “Crooked”  part of Hillary Clinton’s name,  hasn’t been able to find a derisive nickname that sticks to Biden. And though his rallygoers will muster some boos when Biden is namechecked, they really get raucous when Trump targets Clinton or Barack Obama. Anger at an opponent drives voters more than affection for their guy and lacking someone to hate with a white-hot passion, Trump voters may be less motivated to vote in November.

The Biden folks should also keep in mind the voter backlash against cultural anger that is seeping into daily conversations, and leading to a general feeling of anger. I have long held that Americas “anger engine” has been on red-line for so long, it is bound to break. In some cases it already is. Just look at the outrage and conspiracy theories surrounding Taylor Swift. Many Americans have heard these, and shake their heads at the lunacy. Not to mention the spate of mass shootings, and you start to get a recipe for a desperation to return to a sense of normalcy. Of course, so we even remember what normal is after eight years of Trump in our lives? It will be important for President Biden to both project this calm, and remind people of what they truly miss.

The final advantage Biden has over Trump is the so-called “democracy issue.” Trump threatens our democracy with his authoritarian attitude, which culminated in his refusal to accept the 2020 election result and the January 6 attack on the Capitol by followers whom he turned into a mob with an inflammatory speech. Biden put the democracy issue at the heart of his 2020 campaign and it worked. It should work again this year.

So, let’s sum up. On one side of the ledger is the matter of Biden’s age, which Trump and his backers will exploit. On the other side, the Biden campaign can follow a sound strategy to confront that critique and stress the economy, calm, his basic likeability, and the fact that he believes in democracy and the rule of law..

Note to the Biden team: ditch the Chicken Little act and start inspiring our better angels.