BYRON YORK: No country for an old president.
At the moment, Biden is confronting three crises — the wreck he has made of Afghanistan, the wave of Delta variant Covid infections, and the hurricane slamming Louisiana — that would tax any president. But this particular president will turn 79 years old in a few months — the oldest chief executive in American history. On his good days, he appears significantly less vigorous than he did earlier in his career, and being President of the United States appears to sap every bit of energy he has left.
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As the situation in Afghanistan deteriorated, the British press featured much discussion of Biden’s appearance. “Dazed and visibly exhausted , Biden is hoisted by his own petard,” said one columnist in The Telegraph. “Visibly exhausted after just seven months in office,” said one in The Sun. There were reports that some British officials privately referred to Biden as “gaga” and “doolally,” and that Prime Minister Boris Johnson himself had called Biden “Sleepy Joe,” the nickname given Biden by then-President Donald Trump during the 2020 campaign.
Evidently, the crises that Joe’s administration manufactured — immigration, inflation in general, and rising gas prices specifically — have been switched to autopilot to run themselves.