Biden president at 78.

[mikkyr]

I just don’t really understand... 78? He will be 82 at the end of his term. They’ve made such a big deal about Trump being one of very few presidents who failed to secure a 2nd term so will Biden run again at 82? And then we have a 86 year old US president at the end of that term?

Is the consensus that Biden won’t see out this term and hand over to Harris?

I recall my grandparents needing 2 days of recovery after their UK-SA air travel at a younger age and there is no jet lag to factor in.
How is this guy going to cope? And quite honestly why does someone who should be enjoying their retirement have any desire to be president. I get these men live off power but why do voters think this is reasonable.

@DrManhattan

It was / is a marginal win for Biden. Nearly half the country wanted Trump.

He has the most votes ever received by any presidential candidate. By contrast Trump didn't even get as many votes as Clinton did.

Trump got in last time for two reasons, firstly Hilary Clinton, I don’t think that the voters wanted another Clinton in the White House, secondly he was seen as a maverick who would shake up the establishment. He certainly lived up to that expectation.
However, in four years he divided the USA even more. Trump has a hardcore fan base that he played up to, unfortunately he didn’t try to reach out to the non Trump fans, which was his fatal mistake.
He didn’t try to win over his critics, instead he carried on being the maverick that he is.
Sending out brash tweets, being undiplomatic and generally being un- presidential. That and the fact he totally screwed up the Coronavirus pandemic with his irrational behaviour and attitude
Had Trump have stayed off twitter, preached less hatred, being more diplomatic, acted more like a president, he could have won another term.
Biden won because the opposition was Trump.

@MoonJelly. Yes, 2020 looks set to have record-breaking voter turnout-around 161 million is the estimate I’ve seen, as opposed to 138 million in 2016.

I saw 74.4 million as the number who voted for Biden, but ballots are still being counted, of course.

The.voter turnout is still frustrating though as it’s not especially high compared with other countries ( as a percentage of eligible voters. Bloomberg’s current estimate is 68-69%.

@7Days posted:

"We could look on it as the Dream Team leading the US, Experience & Wisdom plus Energy & Grit"

@7Days I agree. I am a bit concerned about his age though, because he is of an age where his health could deteriorate rapidly, so things could get very tricky. However, hopefully he is wise enough to pace himself sensibly, and Kamala has youth and energy on her side, so he can delegate to her, if needs be. Once the Dream Team is established maybe it would not be too much of a problem for Kamala to step up more and more, to the point where she takes the strain.

Kamala's speech was amazing. She is very impressive, on many levels. Biden seems like a decent person, with a measured demeanour - a steady pair of hands, compared to Trump.

@mikkyr

David Attenborough is hardly in charge of the big red nuclear button!

Although thinking about it after I wrote this... he probably should be!!!!

Terrifying that the orange toddler is for another 2 months!

@Cacacoisfarraige

Joe’s strength has been his ability to connect with the other side. Hopefully he can build alliances across the aisles.

This skill has been undervalued in recent years. joe was sidelined as Hillary was given Obama’s blessing to run as he felt she was intellectually great. Joes ‘soft skills’ were underestimated.

Joe went in to deal with stalemate in Congress. He was able to pull things over the line. Kamala would do well to watch and learn from him as these skills are in short supply today.

He can argue he’s not an ‘elite’ person. No silver spoon in his mouth. No Ivy League school. Just hard work. Overcoming a stutter. Overcoming losing his wife and daughter and later his son. I couldn’t have done it. But he’s done it and he’s not bitter. That is character.

He loves his son hunter despite his addictions and flaws. He was also badly injured in the crash that killed his mum and sister.

He’s gotten through all that. Being president - what a doddle after that

I love this, thank you, @Cacacoisfarraige. I've also seen it argued that he came out of retirement out of a sense of duty to his country, as there was no-one else who could get the support of the party at this point in order to overturn Trump and try to heal the massive fissures in US society which have been allowed to worsen during the past 4 years.

There were younger candidates. There was a whole selection round last year and he was the winner.

He was their best chance but no way will he make it through the term and Kamala will step in, they just didn't have enough faith she could run on her own and win.

Biden has said he is a one term president

Read this

www.usnews.com/news/elections/articles/2019-12-11/joe-biden-suggests-he-would-only-serve-one-term-if-elected-president

If he even makes it through one term and funny how suddenly there are vaccines hope announced after he has supposedly won.. flipping awful how peoples lives are being played with for the sake of politics

Good luck to the man if he’s fit and well enough at his age
Would be nice if it stopped potential employers telling me and DH that we are too old to work at 56 and 61 respectively

Pfizer was very clear about what they would announce and the timeline of when it would be announced (as long as the trials went as expected, which they did.)

www.pfizer.com/news/hot-topics/an_open_letter_from_pfizer_chairman_and_ceo_albert_bourla?linkId=102134275

There's no humour in it. The timescale has nothing to do with the election.

You're not being unreasonable, but I would so much rather than have him than Trump, who's 74.

I bet he doesn't run for a second term, and he's got a good VP. It could be a lot, lot worse!

The second youngest President (JFK) only served 2 years of his presidency.

Depends on the person, he's hardly in his rocking chair and his passion is politics and people: he's very philanthropic.

Let's be honest..... he can't be worse than Trump.

It's not the age that bothers me, just majorly pissed he is a sectarian twunt, among other things.

Fitness is completely subjective.

He is in good health and has all his wits about him.

It is the definition of ageism to judge him solely on his age.

flaviaritt erm you brought them up. I'm talking about a race and gender issue. Many people see people who are both female and black as the lowest of the low.

Kamala has youth and energy on her side

Not really, she’s 56. She’s no spring chicken!

I wouldn't want a spring chicken tbh.
The passion of youth is a great thing, but you need to ride out the cycle of passion once or twice before you get a balanced view between passion and pragmatism, imo, for a job as important and all encompassing as this.
I dont think younger people simply have had the time, generally.

Actually, @mikkyr the vast majority of us here in the USA are THRILLED with Joseph R. Biden as President-Elect.
His age doesn’t matter in the scheme of things.
And Kamala Harris made history as the first woman, and the first woman of colour to be elected Vice President of the USA.
It’s an awesome, amazing time for us.
What does matter in the scheme of things is Biden’s decency, his integrity, his intelligence, his fairness, and his willingness to bring all Americans together. He’s not racist, or sexist and he’s most certainly not ageist. He’s empathetic, sympathetic, and has the experience and friendships in Congress to work with both sides of the aisle.
How many times have you heard bells ringing in Paris when a new USA President was called? Or the other worldwide celebrations?
People poured out into the streets of cities across America in sheer relief and celebration that Biden would be president instead of Trump.
So please — stop. A fascist, racist, sexist, horrible, terrible, awful dictator-wannabe has been denied another four years.
You should be celebrating — not questioning Biden’s age or any other of his many other qualifications.
Don’t worry, be happy!

There is a an expression "respect your elders "maybe he will try and do the right thing for his country unlike Blobo moaning how is he gong to pay a nanny when he only earns £150,000 a year

There are plenty of people here who share your joy @DreamTheMoors. Everyone I know feels as if a weight’s been lifted. It reminds me of 2 May 1997.

However, it seems to be normal in the USA. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Pelosi are that much younger. Or Trump and at least he's gone now!

Nancy Pelosi is older than Biden 😂