Joe Biden: Never Up to the Task

Joe Biden is a tired, pallid septuagenarian whose job asks too much of him. Call it a cruel observation, if you will, but the president does not have the stuff the nation needs, especially now. Yesterday’s press conference on the deadly attacks in Kabul was many things — stilted, mechanical, obfuscatory — but more than anything else, it highlighted Joe Biden’s frailty.

In front of a press who questioned him as if they were visiting him during lunch hour at Shady Rest, President Biden appeared confused and exhausted — eventually resorting to resting his head on the binder in front of him. It was pitiful and makes the press’s job nigh impossible; how can one hold the “Leader of the Free World” to account when he can’t even hold himself up? Asking tough, insightful questions of him makes the journalist appear cruel. The public and those in harm’s way deserve leadership from Biden, whether he’s capable of it or not.

About the Author

Luther Ray Abel

Luther Ray Abel is an Associate Editor for National Review. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Luther is a proud native of Sheboygan, Wis.

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Joe Biden is a tired, pallid septuagenarian whose job asks too much of him. Call it a cruel observation, if you will, but the president does not have the stuff the nation needs, especially now. Yesterday’s press conference on the deadly attacks in Kabul was many things — stilted, mechanical, obfuscatory — but more than anything else, it highlighted Joe Biden’s frailty.

In front of a press who questioned him as if they were visiting him during lunch hour at Shady Rest, President Biden appeared confused and exhausted — eventually resorting to resting his head on the binder in front of him. It was pitiful and makes the press’s job nigh impossible; how can one hold the “Leader of the Free World” to account when he can’t even hold himself up? Asking tough, insightful questions of him makes the journalist appear cruel. The public and those in harm’s way deserve leadership from Biden, whether he’s capable of it or not.