"There is a lot of longevity": in the United States, the advanced age of politicians is debated

Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: KYLE MAZZA / NURPHOTO / NURPHOTO VIA AFP 18:28 pm, September 15, 2023

It is not his first attempt. Last Sunday, US President Joe Biden held a press conference in Hanoi, Vietnam, in the wake of his participation in the G20, organized in India. And in front of an audience of journalists, the leader of the world's leading power once again aroused astonishment. Especially after the 80-year-old president answered a journalist who asked him about climate change.

Joe Biden then embarked on a risky comparison with a slow-motion speech rate. "You know, there's a movie about John Wayne. He is an Indian scout. And they're trying to bring back... I believe it is the Apaches, one of the great American tribes on the reservation. Well, there are a lot of dog-headed lying pony soldiers on global warming," he told a bewildered audience.

Joe Biden will turn 85 in 2028

An episode far from being unprecedented since the inauguration of the former vice president of Barack Obama and which revives the eternal debate around the state of health of the American president. "I don't know exactly what his health status is beyond the public bulletins that are not particularly worrying. What I do know is that the debate in the United States, including in Joe Biden's party, is about his age. That's the question," Philippe Etienne, former France ambassador to the United States, told Europe 1.

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A theme that has become central in discussions across the Atlantic as the presidential election approaches and Joe Biden intends to run again. If re-elected, the current tenant of the White House would complete his second term in 2028, at the age of 85.

A "relatively current phenomenon"

But these debates go far beyond the case of Joe Biden. In general, the American public is questioning the advanced age of many American officials, and not the least. Donald Trump, who is running again for the presidency of the United States, despite the legal turmoil in which he is bogged down, celebrated his 77th birthday last June. Until January, Democrat Nancy Pelosi (83), was the 52nd speaker of the House of Representatives, before giving way to Republican Kevin McCarthy. This fierce opponent of Donald Trump has not completely finished with political life since she continues to sit in Congress as a representative of California. In total, 21 out of every 100 senators in the United States are over the age of 78.

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"There are young people, but there is also a lot of longevity. These personalities, when asked about it, talk about their 'experience'. And it is a debate that agitates the electorate with regard to the polls, "summarizes Philippe Étienne. The former ambassador sees it as a "relatively current phenomenon", on the scale of the American political scene, but recalls this "precedent" with Ronald Reagan, aged 78, at the end of his second term in 1988.

"You have to know how to leave"

A president who, precisely, "had made his experience an asset," says Philippe Étienne. An argument brushed aside by several officials. "We have to limit terms in Congress and we have to do mental skills tests for anyone over 75. We have to stop electing people because we like them and they have been there for a long time. You have to know how to leave," Nikki Haley, Republican presidential candidate, said last August.