Biden celebrates his 81st birthday quietly… Contemplating whether to ‘protect’ or ‘break through’ the risk of aging

[뉴욕=뉴스핌]Correspondent Geun-cheol Kim = President Joe Biden, the oldest sitting president in U.S. history, celebrated his 81st birthday on the 20th (local time).

The White House usually organizes extravagant celebrations for the president’s birthday and uses them politically.

However, President Biden is expected to spend his birthday very simply and quietly. President Biden’s official schedule announced by the White House on this day includes an intelligence briefing at 9 a.m. and a turkey pardon event ahead of Thanksgiving at 11:15 a.m.

The New York Times (NYT) reported that President Biden is expected to celebrate his birthday by spending Thanksgiving vacation with his family in Nantucket, Massachusetts, this weekend.

The reason President Biden celebrates his birthday ‘quietly’ seems to be due to the ‘old age risk’ that is highlighted ahead of next year’s presidential election.

President Biden has already announced that he will run again for next year’s presidential election, and there is no opponent within the Democratic Party to challenge the incumbent president. When President Biden wins his re-election and leaves the White House after completing his term, he will be 87 years old.

The American media and Washington politics believe that the biggest obstacle to President Biden’s re-election bid will be his age.

In a recent opinion poll conducted by NYT in collaboration with Siena University, 71% of Americans responded that Biden is “too old” to become president again. Among President Biden’s supporters, 54% also expressed this position.

Former President Donald Trump, the most likely Republican candidate for next year’s presidential election, is also quite old, turning 77 this year. However, in this survey, only 39% of respondents said Trump was “too old” to become president, showing a significant contrast.

While former President Trump still shows vitality, President Biden’s ‘old age’ handicap was highlighted as he fell during several events or confused people’s names or places with slurred speech during speeches.

The NYT pointed out that the best birthday gift to President Biden this year would be to allay concerns about his age, but the White House cannot make Biden young again.

In relation to this, the newspaper introduced that there were mixed reactions and orders from President Biden’s staff and the Democratic Party camp to resolve the ‘age issue’.

Some in the camp are calling for his exhausting schedule to be reduced and for him to be given more rest. The newspaper introduced that the term ‘bubble wrap’ operation is being used to prevent President Biden’s image of his advanced age from being exposed to the public and to prevent and protect him from falls during events.

On the other hand, there are strong arguments that President Biden’s experience and achievements while in office should be promoted more actively and tackled head-on.

The White House also released a statement related to his birthday, saying, “President Biden’s decades of public service experience and deep ties with congressional leaders have created 14 million prescription drugs while in office, reduced prescription drug costs, invested in America’s infrastructure and technology, and “We passed legislation that led to the strongest economic recovery among developed countries,” he said, emphasizing economy.

He also added that President Biden strengthened America’s leadership by activating alliance relationships during his term.

Cyvon Rosenberg, a Democratic strategist, also told the NYT, “It wasn’t his age that mattered, he was successful because of his age,” and argued that the White House should look forward to and highlight the advantages of President Biden’s age rather than being defensive.

Meanwhile, CNN said that according to its own survey on the 18th and recent opinion polls from five major sources, including CBS News, Fox News, Marquette University Law School, and Quinnipiac University, former President Trump’s approval rating is ahead of President Biden’s by about 2 to 4 percentage points. reported. The broadcast pointed out that an “extremely unusual” situation was being created in which the incumbent president was losing out to his rival.

Some analysts predict that if President Biden enters the presidential election phase in earnest and confronts former President Trump, his support base will rally again and the age issue may not be as prominent as it is now.

Officials from the White House and the Biden camp are also reacting to opinion polls showing that President Biden is behind former President Trump, saying, “The situation will change when the full-scale election campaign begins.”

On the other hand, the NYT pointed out that the White House’s strategy of focusing on promoting such achievements has not yet shown much effect.

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