Concerns about the 79-year-old President have been continuously mounting since he took office in January 2021. The President has become known for his public gaffes including falling off of his bike and having to use ‘cheat sheets’ for speeches and press conferences.
Now it is feared once again that the President’s age is impacting his ability to carry out his role.
Following his visit to Spain and Germany at the end of June to attend the NATO and G7 summits, Joe Biden was due to also visit Saudi Arabia.
However, White House officials delayed the visit after considering that such prolonged travel plans would be “crazy” for a 79-year-old, reports claim.
The initial plan would have seen the President travelling for 10 days which will have been seen as unreasonably demanding.
Despite aides stating that the delay was called for “diplomatic” reasons, the New York Times reported that White House staff are trying to manage the President’s workload.
Though White House officials are taking such precautions, including giving the President cheat sheets to remind him of what to say and the order of certain events, Mr Biden has said is currently considering running in 2024.
If the President’s health remains intact it would mean that Joe Biden would be 86 by the conclusion of his second term.
The New York Times Chief White House correspondent Peter Baker wrote in the article: “The reality is that managing the schedule of the oldest President in American history presents distinct challenges.”
He added: “And as Mr Biden insists he plans to run for a second term, his age has increasingly become an uncomfortable issue for him, his team and his party.”
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Supporters of the President state that his recent bike ride in Delaware is a sign of his physical fitness alongside his daily personal training sessions.
However, critics have used the same bike ride where the President fell off his bike as evidence of his frailty.
Despite some support from Mr Biden’s fans, it has been reported that the Democrats and officials in the White House are tiring of the bad press surrounding the President’s gaffes.
Reportedly, the Democrats are concerned that the ageing President is not a good option for voters for the 2024 election and concerns are being raised that his age could lead to them losing the election.
Mr Baker wrote that Biden’s age is now “a sensitive topic in the West Wing”.
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He continued: “More than a dozen current and former senior officials and advisors uniformly reported that Mr. Biden remained intellectually engaged, asking smart questions at meetings, grilling aides on points of dispute, calling them late at night, picking out that weak point on Page 14 of a memo and rewriting speeches like his abortion statement on Friday right up until the last minute.”
However, it was also reported that aides in the White House “quietly watch out for him” and that his energy level is “not what it was”.
Mr Baker added: “He often shuffles when he walks, and aides worry he will trip on a wire.
“He stumbles over words during public events, and they hold their breath to see if he makes it to the end without a gaffe.
“Although White House officials insist they make no special accommodations the way Reagan’s team did, privately they try to guard Mr Biden’s weekends in Delaware as much as possible.
“He is generally a five- or five-and-a-half-day-a-week president, although there are times when he is called at any hour regardless of the day.”
