MSNBC political analyst Cornell Belcher claimed over the weekend that President Joe Biden’s age was not only not a concern, but a benefit.
Belcher attempted to take a page from the playbook of former President Ronald Reagan — who also faced criticism about his age when he ran for president — and equate Biden’s age with experience and accomplishments that the other candidates could not match.
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MSNBC’s @cornellbelcher: “Biden’s even better positioned than Obama … He [has] a story to tell about his old age; you know what his age & wisdom has been able to do? It’s been able to pass transformative pieces of legislation no president has ever been able to do before” pic.twitter.com/EYu8zxC46e
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 23, 2023
Belcher began by addressing recent polls that show Biden struggling, and in some cases failing, to come out ahead of Republican candidates like former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley — and he said that Biden was in much the same predicament as former President Barack Obama had been at the same point in his presidency.
“If you look at where Biden is right now, it’s not that dramatically different from where the president campaign who I worked on at this time going into 2011, right?” he said. “Obama was running behind Mitt Romney and basically tied or running behind the whole cast of characters who were running at that time.”
Belcher went on to say that he wasn’t overly concerned with poll numbers because those were likely to change over time. His concern, he explained, was “the story” that each candidate brought to the table.
“Biden’s even better positioned than Obama,” he said. “He [has] a story to tell about his old age; you know what his age & wisdom has been able to do? It’s been able to move transformative pieces of legislation no president has ever been able to do before.”
President Biden has indeed suffered in recent polls, most of which have indicated that a majority of Americans believe he either does not possess the mental faculties or is simply too old to serve a second term in the White House.
Reagan once played off the same criticism during a debate, telling the moderator, “I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue on this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”
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