Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Born on November 20, 1942, as Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., US President Joe Biden is now 79-year-old. Despite health and age-related problems, however, he may run again for a second term in 2024 when he will be 81.
On Wednesday, he said he had the “intention to run again for the second term in office. But…”
Speaking after midterm elections to the bicameral US Parliament—the House of Representatives (Lower House), and the Senate (Upper House), in which his Democratic Party recorded good performance, he said “that’s been our intention regardless of what the outcome of this election was.”
But, he said, he will decide early next year for his second term in office.
“Our intention is to run again,” he said, referring to his wife, Jill.
On Thursday, the Republicans also improved their position and seemed to inch closer to a majority in the House of Representatives while the fate of the Senate hung in the balance, early results of the mid-term polls showed.
President Biden’s Republican rival Donald Trump, 76, appeared ready to throw his hat in the 2024 election ring.
While Trump, a maverick businessman-turned-politician, is yet to show any age-related problems, President Biden’s public behavior shows that age is fast catching up with him.
While in speeches, Biden either forgot the name of his deputy, Vice President Kamala Harris or even addressed her as “President.” His videos went viral, showing him wandering or faltering clueless on stage before or after a speech. Many of his images showed him looking laconically into the air, or pausing midway in a speech as if trying to remember what he wanted to say.
In the Biden era, America scored many self-goals, and he put his White House aides in embarrassing situations. Even the State Department spoke in voices different from the White House’s.
After nearly eight decades of steadfast friendship, even the US allies in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) no longer toed the Washington line. Major European nations like France and Germany have taken independent decisions vis-à-vis the American strategy on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The accumulated ‘failures’ of the Biden presidency might be the reason the Republicans are inching back to power and Trump is ready to wear his hat, announcing “Make America Great Again!”