The White House and Joe Biden’s allies in Congress know the public will be watching for the president to show his age during his State of the Union speech.
Watched by millions, Thursday night’s speech will be Biden’s biggest platform yet to convince his allies — and the American public — that he’s fit for another term in office. The president has an approval rating hovering around the mid-30s and just came off a news cycle defending his “memory” after special counsel Robert Hur’s damning report; if he wins in November, he would be 86 at the end of a second term.
“The issue is part of the American dialogue right now. So we accept that reality,” White House official Steve Benjamin said, adding that he expects Biden to address the issue by simply reminding everyone that Donald Trump is old too. “But while they’re both older, the president does not have old ideas. His opponent’s ideas are old ideas,” Benjamin said.