The Sleeping Giant

 

I am reminded of Admiral Yamamoto’s words after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, that all the attack had done was to awaken a sleeping giant. Well, old Sleepy Joe is awake! President Biden showed us something, in a blistering State of the Union speech, firing on all cylinders for at least an hour, pressing all the buttons, from Ukraine and Israel to Dobbs and the border. I used to be in radio, so I know about voices, and if I spoke at that level for even half that time, I’d be croaking like a frog. How long is this very commentary, three minutes or so?

Ex-presidential candidate Nikki Haley played the age card without mercy, railing against the alleged diminished capacity of both Biden and his November opponent. In Biden’s case, she was way off the mark. Yes, Biden’s language leaves a syllable or two out of most words, but remember, this is a man who overcame a stutter. Most of us have no idea how difficult that is.

Much younger people misspeak or get things wrong. For example, if I heard it right, a prominent cable network anchor fumed that Alabama Senator Katie Britt, who delivered the Republican response to Biden’s speech, failed to address the IVF issue, which in fact, she had. How many times have we all said something we later learn is wrong and might have to walk back?

Look, I was among those who said Joe Biden should not run for another term, that he should step aside and let the Democrats come up with a younger candidate. That didn’t happen. That said, I still believe there should be an upper age limit for those running for President, strictly because all this discussion about the mental acuity of an older candidate is tasteless, if nothing else, and an age limit might put an end to that.

Some of us who watch both Biden and Trump have been glued to the screen, waiting for something to happen, like L. A. TV viewers following one of those endless freeway car chases, wondering when the wreck will come. I think President Biden’s speech showed us that rather than counting the number of gaffes or moments of garble issuing from an older candidate, it would be much more useful to judge them by what comes out of their mouths when they are lucid, or what passes for it.