According to New York Times, it doesn’t really matter if President Joe Biden is a few sandwiches shy of a picnic because the United States government can function without a healthy, mentally stable president.
If that’s the case, why even have a president at all?
The Times’s columnist David Leonhardt downplayed Democrats’ concern over Biden’s health on Wednesday as he announced a bid for reelection. He wrote in a letter, “Strange as it may sound, the American government can function without a healthy president.”
Strange, indeed.
Leonhardt went on to compare 80-year-old Biden to former President Franklin D. Roosevelt during World War II, who did have health issues but was still about 20 years younger than Biden at the time.
“In each case, White House aides, Cabinet secretaries and military leaders performed well despite the lack of a fully engaged leader,” the columnist argued.
Funny he should argue this considering the left used “mental instability” as a leading reason why former President Donald Trump should have been removed from office.
The time to discuss trump's mental health is long overdue. We are all passengers in a car with a drunk driver, and we are all at RISK. https://t.co/x5Quwg2YNA
— BrooklynDad_Defiant!☮️ (@mmpadellan) March 21, 2017
Not the Bee used the non-satirical opportunity report, “The New York Times, the ‘truth to power’ people, the nation’s Paper of Record, is really suggesting that it doesn’t matter whether or not we elect a literal corpse for the Democrats.”
The NYT writer also argued that Biden has always been “gaffe-prone,” and that it is not something new due to declining health.
“He has also long been known for saying things that he probably shouldn’t,” Leonhardt said. “’Biden living up to his gaffe-prone reputation,’ read a Times headline in 2008, when he was only 65. That same year, Slate magazine wrote, ‘He misspeaks so often, it’s hardly news — and hardly damaging.’”
Therefore, he argued, “aging does seem to have exacerbated these issues.”
“Of course, there would be a simple way for Biden to address the concerns: He could spend more time speaking in public now and demonstrate his vigor. Instead, he and his aides have chosen the opposite approach,” the columnist wrote.
Lastly, Leonhardt tried to blame Biden’s severe lack of media appearances on his staff.
“Biden’s strategy of minimizing unscripted public appearances suggests that his staff believes the risk often isn’t worth the reward,” he said.
