Joe Biden’s Age Demands Health Transparency – Due to President Joe Biden’s age, many are demanding that he be transparent about his health.
Joe Biden: The Age Issue
The 80-year-old chief executive has seemed frail and confused at times. If he wins a second term, he will be older than former President Ronald Reagan was when he announced in 1994 that he suffered from Alzheimer’s.
Joe Biden surpassed Reagan as the oldest-ever serving president on November 22.
The president received a clean bill of health from White House physician Kevin C. O’Connor in February.
The doctor dismissed claims by Biden’s political opponents that he suffers from any dementia or pre-dementia.
O’Connor wrote in his report that Biden had “no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis.”
Reagan faced serious questions about his age when he ran for re-election in 1984 at 73. That’s a full seven years younger than Biden is. He was almost 78 years old when he left office in 1989.
Joe Biden Speaks Up
The president addressed his age headlong when questioned about it by a Los Angeles Times reporter.
“(The American electorate is) going to see a race, and they’re going to judge whether or not I have it or don’t have it. I respect them taking a hard look at it. I take a hard look at it as well – I took a hard look at it before I decided to run, and I feel good, I feel excited about the prospects,” Biden said. “I think I still would be running if (Trump) wasn’t. I do know him well … Look, there’s just – there’s more to finish the job. We have an opportunity to put ourselves in a position where we are economically and politically secure for a long time… So, I think we have to finish the job and nail it down,”
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has repeatedly attacked Biden’s age, and Trump’s for that matter. She mused this past week that we would be saying “President Harris” by the end of a Biden second term.
“America is not past our prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs,” Haley said in February, saying that politicians over the age of 75 needed “mandatory mental competency tests.”
The White House Fires Back
The White House, however, has vigorously defended Joe Biden despite his advanced age.
“If you watch him, you’ll see that he has a grueling schedule that he keeps up with, that sometimes some of us are not able to keep up with,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. ““It is surprising that we get this question when you look at this record of this president and what he has been able to do and deliver for the American people.”
Former White House physician-turned-congressman Rep. Ronny Jackson claims that Joe Biden has deteriorated since he was vice president.
“The American people … deserve full transparency on the mental capabilities of their highest elected leader,” Jackson wrote on his Twitter account in July 2021.
Jackson later told Fox News that same month: “I’ve been saying that it’s only going to get worse … “And guess what? We’re watching that happen right before our eyes right now.”
Biden suffered from two aneuryisms in 1988 that required surgery.
More Challenges to Come?
Dr. David Scheiner, a doctor who cared for former President Barack Obama, told The Washington Examiner this could impact him further as he ages.
“When you do work on the brain, there’s always a little damage done,” Scheiner said. “It worries me that he is aging. If I look at him, he’s not a young 80.”
Scheiner continued, noting how the president walks: “The gait is not an insignificant factor,” claiming this provides “a peek into the whole physical, mental capability of a person.”
Dr. Marc Siegel, a professor at the NYU Langone Health, agreed with Scheiner’s concern in a New York Post column questioning Biden’s fitness for another term. He noted that O’Connor has not ordered testing of the president’s neurological and cognitive functions.
“What is missing is any MRI report and full cognitive testing. Many of us have repeatedly requested this,” Siegel wrote. “O’Connor has mentioned Biden’s stiff-legged gait in two successive physicals and says it is getting worse — but hasn’t addressed directly a possible link between a worsening gait and a neurodegenerative process involving the frontal lobe of the brain or spinal cord or the possible buildup of fluid (normal pressure hydrocephalus), which could cause both a gait and a cognitive problem.
He continued: “But Biden did have two brain aneurysms repaired surgically in 1988, which increases the risk of long-term cognitive problems.”