Opinion – Lúcia Guimarães: Accusation of ageism prevents debate on Biden running for election

by

Should there be an age limit for being elected president? In Brazil and the US, constitutions require a minimum age of 35 years to run for president, but do not impose compulsory electoral retirement. The American one was written in 1789, when life expectancy in the country was 57 years.

How to deal with the electoral ambition of elderly politicians if they have a pulse, a heartbeat, but the acuity of Ronald Goliath’s character in “Praça da Alegria”?

In 1841, President William Harrison got drenched in a storm, caught the flu, and died a month after taking office at age 68. In the following decade, President Zachary Taylor expired at 65, courtesy of acute dysentery, a common ailment in Washington that had open sewers.

Life expectancy in the US today is 77.8 years. Joe Biden turns 80 in November and won’t budge from seeking re-election in 2024. He’s convinced he’s the only one capable of beating Donald Trump, 76.

An incumbent president is the party’s undisputed candidate to run for the second and final term. Biden’s popularity dips in the polls, but his deputy is even more unpopular. Polls do not register any enthusiasm for a slate headed by Kamala Harris in 2024.

If Biden backed out of running for a new term at age 82, there would be a lineup of hopefuls ready to get back in the ring. It’s important to separate the noise of right-wing media propaganda, which doesn’t let go of the bone of sarcasm about the aging president, from the real man working in the Oval Office.

Multiple testimonies record Biden engaged and in control of the Herculean challenges his government faces, perfectly capable of exercising its current mandate. But the presidency ages, and ruling the US is not the same as ruling a European principality.

The whispering campaign is in full swing, as debating age openly leads to accusations of ageism. Biden’s allies provide anonymous quotes to the political press about his signs of fragility.

You don’t have to work in the White House to see the difference between Biden, who ran for vice president of Barack Obama in 2008, and the president in 2022. When he speaks in public, the difficulty in concentrating is evident. It is painful to see him verbally take back roads while the audience respectfully awaits his return to the highway of prepared speech.

Last week, former president Lula, 76, promised not to run in 2026. Despite the unpresidential jokes he made about his appetites, to defend the candidacy for a party that has cut off the oxygen for young leaders, Lula must understand that the promise not to try again at age 80 gives him vigor and more freedom in an eventual term starting in January.

Young Americans accounted for the largest turnout in 2018 and 2020. Biden’s approval rating among 18-24 year olds is currently 22%. It is hard to imagine that these voters will remain mobilized if the choice in 2024 is between Biden and Trump.

What a Biden candidate could accomplish, if the midterms prove disastrous for his party, is to help elect a younger Trump, a more disciplined and educated fascist at Yale and Harvard. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 43, is Republicans’ second favorite.

And his numbers keep going up.

You May Also Like

Recommended for you