You may or may not have noticed that you haven’t seen our president in person, live, on camera lately. The Republican National Committee notices that President Biden hasn’t held a public event since a nine-minute appearance on December 22. (You can examine Biden’s public schedule here.)
Yes, everyone’s schedule slows down a bit around the holidays, but Biden hasn’t made any public comments, taken any questions, or otherwise interacted with anyone in public in 13 days. That period includes a four-day stay at Camp David and a six-day Christmas vacation in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
If 81-year-old Joe Biden could be doing more public events, he would be doing more public events. The fact that Biden is not doing anything more than the absolute minimum is further evidence that he is now like your octogenarian grandfather — he has his good days and bad days, but he tires easily. Travel, in particular, wears him out. He doesn’t remember things as well as he used to, his stories ramble, and he only has a certain number of good hours in each day. Maybe you trust your grandfather with the television remote control, but you wouldn’t trust him with the nuclear football.
There is no reason to think that as summer and autumn roll around, Joe Biden will be barnstorming the country in his reelection campaign. He’s just not up to it. This is the most predictable problem any president has ever confronted.