President Biden acknowledged that he may not have been able to complete a second term if he had been reelected, the 82-year-old commander in chief said in an interview published Wednesday.
That contradicts his claims on the campaign trail and by Democrats, who repeatedly insisted he was in great shape and fit to serve another four years.
“So far, so good, but who knows what I’m going to be when I’m 86 years old?” Mr. Biden said in an interview with USA Today.
The president said he was confident he could have beaten Donald Trump had he stayed in the race, but serve four more years?
“I don’t know,” Mr. Biden responded. “When Trump was running again for reelection I really thought I had the best chance of beating him, but I also wasn’t looking to be president when I was 85 years old, 86 years old. And so I did talk about passing the baton.
“But I don’t know. Who the hell knows?”
Concerns about Mr. Biden’s age and cognitive ability erupted following his incoherent debate performance against Mr. Trump in June. The president lost his train of thought, struggled to finish sentences and stared vacantly at the camera. He was ultimately pressured to drop out of the race and be replaced on the Democratic ticket by Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost to Mr. Trump.
Prior to the debate, many Democrats denied that Mr. Biden had a cognitive problem or shielded the president so that the issue wasn’t laid bare to the American people.
While on the campaign trail and in the White House, Mr. Biden argued that his advanced age was an asset because it gave him experience with world leaders.
“And I think the only advantage of being an old guy is that I’ve known every major world leader for a long time,” he said in the USA Today interview.
“And so I had a perspective on each of them and their interests. And so I think it helped me navigate some of the fundamental changes taking place whether it’s in Europe, in Latin America, in the Middle East, in the Far East. And, anyway, that’s what I hope anyway, that I’m viewed in that context.”
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.