Joe Biden received 73 minutes of free advertising time Tuesday night for what was being billed informally as the launch of his expected reelection bid, better known as the State of the Union address.
He made a good case for the positives that have occurred during his first two years in office, such as the continued economic rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic, the nation’s record-low unemployment rates, a massive infusion of infrastructure spending, a bogged-down Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a return to decency and decorum in the presidency.
His critics will respond, “Yes, but at what price?” Inflation has been at record levels, eroding whatever wage gains have been realized. The rise in interest rates is still predicted to bring a recession. The federal debt is at $31 trillion and counting, having taken a huge bump as Congress and Biden overdid it with coronavirus relief funding. And while the president demagogues on Social Security and Medicare, nothing is being done to slow the march of these two entitlement programs toward insolvency.
One senses, however, that the length of Biden’s time as president will not be determined by an assessment of either his accomplishments or his failures. It will be based on an assessment of his mental and physical acuity, and a growing belief, even among his own party, that one term is enough for someone of his age.
The president will never be able to shake the perception that he is in decline. What 80-year-old person isn’t?
If Biden were to get reelected, he would be 86 before he finished a second term. No president before him has ever served into his 80s. Even his own party is ready to try someone younger.
According to a poll released on the eve of his State of the Union address, just 37% of Democrats say they want Biden to seek a second term. Those are the kind of pitiful numbers one would expect from the opposition party, not your own.
So far, Biden has not gotten the message. He thinks he can turn this perception around, but that is unlikely. When he ran for office the first time, many who voted for him worried that he was way past his prime, but they got behind him because he was the best option for rooting Donald Trump out of the White House. They may not do that again, particularly if Trump isn’t the GOP nominee. If the Republicans nominate someone more palatable to party moderates and independents, Biden will be toast. There just won’t be the same motivation to turn out for him as there was in 2020.
Biden can accept this reality and retire with dignity at the end of this term, or he can run again and be retired ingloriously by the force of the electorate. It would be less painful for him and better for his party if he were to end his half-century of government service voluntarily.
The original version of this editorial referred to the wrong country invaded by Russia.
