Only way Democrats can deal with Biden’s aging: Hide the candidate until November

I have worked for politicians around the world in their early 30s, and for others in their 80s. In my experience, voters don’t care about age per se.

They do care about the ability of a leader to do his job.

It is therefore important for a presidential candidate to show that he can do the job. A classic inoculation strategy for an elder leader would be to show up in public and act like a much younger person. Surround him with young people and get him making claims and talking about the future.

It is far too late for such a strategy to work for President Biden. As an incumbent president with a recent history of several senior moments, public opinion about him is already well-defined. The recent report from Robert Hur, which essentially concluded that he is not mentally sharp enough to stand trial for mishandling classified documents, only makes matters worse.

If voters have to choose between believing what they see in Biden with their own eyes, and what they are being told by his allies to believe, one can guess which they will choose.

Consider how Biden angrily rebutted Hur’s description of himself as absent-minded, only to confirm it himself minutes later by confusing the president from Mexico with the one from Egypt. Democratic pundits who decry the prosecutor as partisan don’t do the president any favors, because they themselves are, obviously, partisan.

Biden says that he has achieved so much during his first term and that this proves the age issue is irrelevant. I personally agree that he has achieved a lot under difficult circumstances. But I’m afraid that this argument will not work. Voters don’t perceive Biden’s administration as particularly effective. This is why, on just about every major issue, voters trust Trump more than Biden. And whatever poll you consult, an overwhelming majority thinks that the country is headed in the wrong direction.

The only way Democrats can deal with this is to severely limit Biden’s public exposure.

Have him do only short speeches, stick to the script, conduct few planned events, limit reporters’ access. Keep press conferences to a minimum, so as to limit the number of gaffes and mental glitches.

Four years ago, Joe Biden performed best in the polls when he was in his basement in Delaware during the months of the COVID pandemic lockdown. Swing voters who wanted to get rid of Donald Trump were thus given the freedom to create in their own minds whatever image of Biden they wanted.

This time around, however, Biden is no longer the challenger. He no longer has the benefit of the doubt on his side. Swing voters need reassurance.

This is why I would schedule just a few carefully designed high-profile events. Swing voters who are scared of Trump are looking for permission, for an excuse to vote for Biden despite his problems. The purpose of these events is to give them that permission. These events have to be well-orchestrated, scripted and rehearsed. The president needs to be well-rested and prepared for them.

A first opportunity for this is the upcoming State of the Union Speech, for which Biden should practice repeatedly. The last such opportunity will probably be his address at the Democratic convention at the end of summer.

I remember when the ailing president of Russia, Boris Yeltsin, ran for reelection in the 1990s. When planning was underway to celebrate Yeltsin’s reelection, his handlers first planned for a triumphal event. As the day came nearer, however, they realized that the president’s health would not allow for such a grand and long ceremony.

The duration of the event was therefore cut short, and the event itself moved inside the Kremlin. But as the date came nearer, doubts among Yeltsin’s team persisted.

In the end, Yeltsin spoke for all of 45 seconds at this own inauguration.

Aging is the elephant in the room in 2024. It is the main obstacle standing in the way of Biden beating Trump. You can’t effectively deal with it by pretending it isn’t there.

Louis Perron is a political consultant who has run and won election campaigns around the globe. His is the author of “Beat the Incumbent: Proven Strategies and Tactics to Win Elections.”