Trump does not question Biden's age. Democrats are too.

Donald Trump does not hesitate to telegraph what he believes to be his best attack on Joe Biden: The Democrats' advanced age.

But the Democrats are starting to talk about it publicly themselves.

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Obviously and indirectly, questions about the age and vigor of the former vice-president are increasingly raised within his own party, fueled by the relatively light campaign schedule of the former vice president. President and his attempts to limit his visibility. If he was elected, Biden would be 78 when he would enter the White House, becoming the oldest president to have held the position.

"It's the 78-year-old elephant in the room," said Miami consultant and investigator Fernand Amandi, who led the consultations for the Obama-Biden campaigns in 2008 and 2012 and is not affiliated with any 2020 campaign .
"There is no doubt that what drove Vice President Biden out of the ranks of leader is his unparalleled experience, unlike his senior counterparts, but I hear gigantic concerns among Democratic insiders in the United States. about the advanced age of Biden, which is the byproduct experience drawn from a public service life? Absolutely yes."

In an area where six of the 23 Democratic presidential candidates are over 65, no Democrat wants to go as far as Trump – who turns 73 on Friday – who often denigrates Biden's energy and stamina.

The door for Democratic talks opened more widely last week in the midst of a flood of criticism of Biden's flip-flop over the Hyde amendment, which essentially banned publicly funded abortions.

Biden's new position has aligned him with other Democrats in the race. But his unstable management of the issue suggested that he was out of touch with party activists and served to point out how long he was in politics – Hyde's amendment had been approved for the first time 43 years ago. years ago when Biden, in the Senate at the time, had voted. .

David Axelrod, former advisor to President Obama, He told POLITICO that Biden's back and forth on Hyde's amendment was a "bad look" in the light of a background story about his age.

"When you're 76 years old and you have a doubt about your age, you do not want to be in a situation where your campaign says you misunderstood the issue," Axelrod said. "[T]its kind of history will pose problems. "

S & he was winning in 2020, Biden would be eight years older than the oldest president to have taken office – Donald Trump, Axelrod said. And he would be two years older than the life expectancy of a man in the United States.

"That's one of the reasons I think they kept him relatively quiet in the country, away from big events and journalists, frankly, because they worry about things like the one we just had. seen, "said Axelrod in a separate interview on CNN.

Pete Buttigieg, who is up in the primary polls, made several subtle passes to Biden and the older candidates in the race. The mayor of South Bend, in Indiana, is one of the youngest hopefuls of the race. He has made generational calls at the heart of his campaign.

"I think our party is certainly ready to bring together the leaders of a new generation," said Buttigieg during an interview in May at the Today Show. "What's exciting is that I think this race will create a fair playing field where people who have spent more time in the public sphere than me and where people like me compete on the basis of our ideas. "

The use of coded generational language Attacking an elderly politician without directly mentioning his age is a tactic that Biden himself successfully employed as a 29-year-old challenger in his first race in the US Senate against incumbent Cale Boggs in 1972. Boggs was 63 years old at the time. # 39; era.

Biden recognizes that there are questions about his age and sought to counter them by indicating his physical appearance and his public performances.

Asked on Tuesday by a reporter about Trump's criticism of his age and vitality, Biden leaned toward his interlocutor.

"Look at me and answer the question," said Biden.

When he was in a hurry to answer himself, he said, "That goes without saying. You know it's a ridiculous assertion on his part. Whatever it is, people have the right to question all our ages. It's a perfectly legitimate thing. All I can say is to watch me. Just look at me. "

The next day, at an event in Clinton, Iowa, spoke spontaneously to an audience for over 40 minutes.

Nevertheless, a Biden Campaign fundraising campaign stated that his age was a concern that the campaign was trying to manage.

"Of course, we are going to qualify these critics as" ageists "and counterattack Trump like crazy because he is and everyone knows that Joe is a thousand times better than Trump," fundraising said. "But yes, Joe is older. It's more difficult. And this is a sprint. It's not a marathon.

The campaign, the source added, "is calming him and we will not exhaust him, because the fact is we do not have to, we're winning in the primary, we beat Trump at general. "

Biden has not helped his cause with his use of obsolete cultural references and his practice of feasting the public with anecdotes about long-deceased senators – such as Jesse Helms of North Carolina, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina and Russell Long from Louisiana, of which he spoke. In May, at a fundraiser in Miami, some donors scratched their heads.

In South Carolina, last month, Biden gave up references to Henry Kissinger, former state security adviser at Nixon-Ford, before declaring that Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister, died in 2013, worried for President Trump. Biden corrected himself and then said that he meant Theresa May.

Sometimes Biden looks too far, as when he was talking about the 1951 Plymouth that he was driving to high school.

"It was old, even for me," Biden joked in Dubuque, Iowa, during his first visit to the state.

The long-term danger for Biden is that polls and focus groups suggest that the age issue is a handicap for some voters.

According to the latest poll by Morning Consult, voters are hesitant about a candidate over 70 years old. They also view Biden's experience as his best asset – 72% say they're more likely to support Biden because of his experience as vice president and senator. .

A Reuters / Ipsos poll released on Monday said Biden, Trump and Sen. Bernie Sanders, 77, may face some resistance because of their age. 48% of Americans say they would be less likely to support a presidential candidate over 25 years old. 70.

Although older than Biden, Sanders did not spark the same amount of talk about his age. He had a more aggressive campaign program than Biden, spoke in a more lively style and was even seen marching with McDonald's workers last week to support higher salaries.

Joe Trippi, a veteran of the Democratic campaign, said Biden in the early months of the campaign had escaped public debate about his age, in part because his main opponent, Sanders, was older than him and also because the race had become a debate between the centrist and the progressives. . But with the rise of Buttigieg, alongside middle-aged candidates such as California Senator Kamala Harris and former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke, the race could turn into a competition between new opponents.

Trippi said Biden should begin to accelerate the pace and become more involved with voters in states like Iowa, where he began Tuesday a five-day, two-day run.

"Anyone who does not put his time on the ground puts his candidacy at risk. In Iowa, people will start to wonder, especially if other candidates and people like Axelrod raise the issue of age, "said Trippi. "It does not get things off, it's only a matter of time before its opponents or experts get in and start to look at issues like the problem." ;age."

But for Biden's progressive critics, like consultant Rebecca Katz, it may be too late for the candidate to change his perceptions.

"People will hear Uncle Joe and end up going to see Grandfather Joe," said Katz, noting that his fellow Democrats who saw Biden speak at election campaign events are convinced that he He's not the same vigorous politician that many remember. "The Joe Biden of 2019 is not the same Joe Biden of 2008 and anyone who has seen it on the trunk or even read the transcripts of one of his recent speeches can see it."

Still, Mike Sly, an undecided voter who saw Biden speak Tuesday in Davenport, Iowa, did not have that experience. As more than a dozen potential caucus members interviewed at the Biden events in Iowa, he said that he did not see age as a problem.

"I'm almost 65, I do not feel like letting myself go," said Sly.

Edward Nydle, a supporter of Sanders, said that he had decided to go see Biden after his son, a supporter of Buttigieg, had seen a Biden deliver a foreign policy speech and asked his father for it. monitor.

"I think anyone who mentions age with him [Biden] or Bernie Sanders is age discrimination. I know people of his age, Bernie's age; I know a 90-year-old woman who has more energy than Donald Trump, "Nydle said.

When he learned that other Democrats had raised questions about the age and vigor of Biden, he said, "I think they were wrong. I saw Bernie cross airports to get planes. I do not mind, but I think they insist too much on that. With age comes wisdom and experience, that's how I see it. "