Old politicians: retire

There has been a lot of discussion of late, with very good reason, on the matter of the age of the president and other elected members of government. First, there was Sen. Feinstein of California, soon to retire at 89, with some noting an obvious loss of mental acuity.

And, of course, most prominently is our sitting president, Joe Biden. His latest physical, according to whomever the doctor was, seemed to indicate that Biden is in the pink despite numerous health issues, as one would expect for a man 80 years old.

But if we take the doctor at his word and Biden is in good enough shape physically to carry on as president, so be it.

What is very obviously and alarmingly missing from the health report is a cognitive function test. They either did not perform one or have decided to not release its results.

Bidens mental acuity has long been in question for many reasons, too numerous to list here, but anyone with a brain the size of a pea can see that Biden is clearly not up to the most difficult job in the world insofar as his mental condition. He simply is not up to it.

So what is to be done? At this point, who knows? He can be removed from office via the 25th Amendment but that would be a long haul and difficult to accomplish with the sitting government at hand. Others would prefer he stay in office to keep his vice president out of office, fearing she would do a worse job! Hard to imagine that.

He could be impeached and there are grounds to do so, but again, a tough haul, there being little appetite for such doings. Remember the last administration. They twice impeached former President Trump on various bogus charges and failed to convict both times in the Senate. Same thing that happened to Bill Clinton.

The only thing we really have left is the will of the voters. The voters usually get it right, though by no means always. There should be an age limit for the presidency. Those over about 70 should be required to prove they are up to the job, both mentally and physically.

Joe Biden is doing well physically for a man his age, but his mental abilities are sadly lacking for the job the voters appointed him to. If it were not for the teleprompter, he would be, as my dad used to say, "lost in the horse latitudes".

Scott Stoppelman resides in Shelter Bay