‘Lightbulb…on a dimmer’ New York Times editorials question Biden’s ability to serve
by Miranda Nazzaro - 02/12/24 12:31 PM ET
A series of New York Times editorials over the weekend offered sometimes scathing assessments of President Biden’s ability to hold office due to his age and mental acuity in the days after a special counsel’s report called into question the president’s well-being during an investigation into his handling of classified documents.
At least one of several columns published on the often left-leaning editorial pages of the Times suggested Biden could step aside from the 2024 race at the Democratic National Convention, with Times columnist Ross Douthat offering this stark take on Biden: “The impression the president gives in public is not senility so much as extreme frailty, like a lightbulb that still burns so long as you keep it on a dimmer.”
The New York Times editorial board meanwhile ran a piece on Friday, titled “The Challenges of an Aging President” where it pointed out that Biden’s reelection campaign, at his age, was taking Americans into “unchartered territories.”
That editorial also criticized Biden’s performance at a last-minute press conference Thursday evening, in which he lashed out at the special counsel’s report and at reporters for asking about voters’ concerns with his age. Then, the president made his third gaffe of the week, mixing up the country of Egypt with Mexico.
“Mr. Biden’s performance at his news conference on Thursday night was intended to assure the public that his memory is fine and argue that Mr. Hur was out of line; instead, the president raised more questions about his cognitive sharpness and temperament, as he delivered emotional and snappish retorts in a moment when people were looking for steady, even and capable responses to fair questions about his fitness,” the Times wrote.
“His assurances, in other words, didn’t work. He must do better — the stakes in this presidential election are too high for Mr. Biden to hope that he can skate through a campaign with the help of teleprompters and aides and somehow defeat as manifestly unfit an opponent as Donald Trump, who has a very real chance of retaking the White House,” the editorial continued.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/4462964-new-york-times-editorial-bidens-age/
