Those who aspire to justice look to the 2024 elections with fear. The standard-bearer of the Democratic Party, President Biden, will be 81 years old when nominated for a second term.
Biden believes he can handle the rigors of the endless campaign while doing his job as president, but he will face second-guessing on every decision he makes. Every Biden slip, both figuratively and literally, will expose him to scrutiny from those who want to see him fail.
Being 86 myself and in good health, I have a sense of what lies ahead.
Doctors and experts will analyze his medical record. His atrial fibrillation will be called life-threatening. The taunts of 2020 — like “Sleepy Joe” and “Get out of the basement” — will be child’s play compared to “he probably won’t last a year,” which was used against Franklin D. Roosevelt when he ran for re-election.
I recently read an FDR biography written by Jonathan Darman titled “Becoming FDR: The Personal Crisis that Made a President.” I couldn’t put it down.
The book covers FDR’s years of struggle to regain the full use of his body, particularly his legs, so that he could reignite his political career. In the process, according to Darman, he developed a deep-seated understanding and feeling for those who needed medical care.
In addition, after the 1929 Great Depression left millions without jobs and funds for the necessities of life, FDR saw their suffering and hopelessness. Responding to their pain through his own, FDR began to see that only concerted national action could address the country’s suffering. When he became president, he had the depth of understanding to create the New Deal programs.
Understanding FDR better, I now look at Biden differently. Thinking of how FDR lived with polio, I’m drawn to how Biden persevered after his personal tragedies.
Soon after he was elected to the Senate at age 29, Biden suffered the death of his wife Neilia and baby girl Naomi, who were killed in a motor vehicle accident that also severely injured his two boys, Hunter and Beau. Heartbroken and in shock, he wanted to give up his Senate seat to stay home and take care of his sons.
Instead, family members cared for his children during the day while he took his Senate seat and came home by train to Delaware every night. He remained a senator for 36 years until he became Barack Obama’s vice president.
If FDR, crippled with incurable polio, could become the nominee of the Democratic Party in 1932 and a president re-elected for three additional terms, I thought, Biden could be re-elected in 2024. Yes, he will have to overcome his age vulnerability, but he’s capable.
In his first term, he’s shown himself to be an activist president. In foreign policy, he has traveled the world and visited Kyiv during wartime. In the United States, his administration has achieved what skeptics thought was unthinkable by passing critical legislation to counter the coronavirus, keep the economy humming, and put unemployment at its lowest rate in years.
For all that, his poll numbers have remained low. But the same is true for other politicians who’ve gone on to win re-election.
Yes, Biden stumbles and stutters. But his last medical report was good, with his examining physician certifying that he was fully capable of doing the job as president. Even his A. Fib. was of the lesser type, the doctor said, and caused him no discernible problems as president.
FDR was in a much more life-threatening position, as his disease was a known killer and many who were afflicted had what came to be known as post-polio syndrome. Compared to FDR’s risks, Biden’s age-related health issues appear minor.
Biden’s age is still an issue that he and his supporters must face. But his health, history, family tragedies and resolve should give him the strength to continue his mission to invigorate and update FDR’s style of dynamic national programs.
A president on a mission to update the New Deal to meet the needs of the working class, people of color, and the middle class will need that vigor to win — and complete — a successful second term.