It's a Happy Birthday to the President-elect. 78 not out. He's a stayer through and through, now he must get over the hurdles without falling at the fences and bring a new brand of leadership into the White House.
With the defeat of Covid 19 the immediate priority, let's hope you don't go war-mongering like some of your predecessors did and got away without doing time behind bars.
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Happy Birthday Joe Biden: President-elect turns 78 and faces challenge convincing Americans that age is just a
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Evening Standard logo Happy Birthday Joe Biden: President-elect turns 78 and faces challenge convincing Americans that age is just a number
Joe Biden turned 78 today - exactly two months before he takes the reins in the White House and becomes the oldest US President in history.
He faces the daunting task of healing a politically fractured nation, tackling the worst public health crisis in a century, high unemployment and a reckoning on racial injustice.
As he wrestles with those issues, Mr Biden will be attempting to accomplish another feat: demonstrate to Americans that age is but a number and he is up to the job.
Mr Biden will be sworn in as the oldest president in the nation's history, displacing Ronald Reagan, who left the White House in 1989 when he was 77 years and 349 days old.
The age and health of both Mr Biden and President Donald Trump - less than four years the Democrat’s junior - loomed throughout a race that was decided by a younger and more diverse electorate and at a moment when the nation is facing no shortage of issues of consequence.
Out of the gate, Mr Biden will be keen to demonstrate he's got the vigour to serve.
"It's crucial that he and his staff put himself in the position early in his presidency where he can express what he wants with a crispness that's not always been his strength," said Ross Baker, a political scientist at Rutgers University who has advised legislators from both parties. "He has got to build up credibility with the American people that he's physically and mentally up to the job."
a man wearing a suit and tie talking on a cell phone: Mr Biden kept a fairly low profile during the election campaign as the coronavirus pandemic ragedGetty Images© Provided by Evening Standard
Mr Biden kept a fairly low profile during the election campaign as the coronavirus pandemic raged
Getty Images
Throughout the campaign, Mr Trump, 74, did not miss a chance to highlight Mr Biden's gaffes and argue that the Democrat lacked the mental acuity to lead the nation. Both critics and some Biden backers worried that he was sending the wrong message about his stamina by keeping a relatively light public schedule while Mr Trump barnstormed battleground states.
Mr Biden attributed his light schedule to being cautious during the coronavirus pandemic.
Brian Ott, a Missouri State University communications professor who studies presidential rhetoric, said Mr Biden was hardly impressive as a campaigner, but has proven far more effective with his public remarks since Election Day.
Kamala Harris wearing a suit and tie talking on a cell phone: Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who is 22 years younger than Mr BidenGetty Images© Provided by Evening Standard
Vice President-elect Kamala Harris, who is 22 years younger than Mr Biden
Getty Images
"The rhetoric of governing, unlike the rhetoric of campaigning, is collaborative rather than adversarial," Mr Ott said.
Mr Biden's relatively advanced age also puts a greater premium on the quality of his staff, Mr Baker said. His choice of Senator Kamala Harris, more than 20 years younger than him, as his running mate effectively acknowledged his age issue.
Mr Biden has described himself as a transitional president but has not ruled out running for a second term.
"He's well served in making it known from Day One that she's ready to go," Mr Baker said of the Vice President-elect.
"She's got to be in the images coming out of the White House. They also need to, in terms of their messaging, highlight her inclusion in whatever the important issue or debate is going on in the White House."
Mr Biden, in a September interview with CNN, promised to be "totally transparent" about all facets of his health if elected but he has not said how he will do that.
His physician, Dr. Kevin O'Connor, in a medical report released by the campaign in December, described Mr Biden as "healthy, vigorous ... fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief."
Dr O'Connor reported that Mr Biden works out five days a week. The president-elect told supporters that during the pandemic he has relied on home workouts involving a Peloton bike, treadmill and weights.
In 1988, Biden suffered two life-threatening brain aneurysms, an experience that he wrote in his memoir shaped him into the "kind of man I want to be." Dr O'Connor also noted in his report that Biden has an irregular heartbeat, but it has not required any medication or other treatment. He also had his gall bladder removed in 2003.
A September article by a group of researchers in the Journal on Active Aging concluded that both Mr Biden and Mr Trump are "super-agers" and are likely to outlive their American contemporaries and maintain their health beyond the end of the next presidential term.
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