As another presidential election cycle looks set to be dominated by discussions of age and mental fitness, an opinion piece for The Hill published on Sunday suggested that President Joe Biden could be a “superager,” citing doctors who evaluated the president’s medical history.
Biden, 81, is seeking reelection to a second term as president in the 2024 election and is all but entirely assured of receiving the Democratic nomination, with his general election prospects for success being dogged by persistent worries that he is too old to hold office. Former President Donald Trump, who is only roughly four years younger than Biden, is overwhelmingly tipped to secure the GOP nomination, setting up a 2020 rematch in the general election.
At 78 years old when he was inaugurated in January 2021, Biden is the oldest individual to ever hold the office of the presidency and would be 86 by the end of a hypothetical second term. Citing numerous well-documented gaffes during speeches and other such evidence, critics and opponents of the president have said that he is too old and not mentally fit for office. Supporters, in turn, have counterargued that Biden is in strong mental and physical shape for his advanced age, and attributed his gaffes and other speech issues to a life-long struggle with speaking problems.
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Writing for The Hill in an opinion piece published Sunday, titled, “Is Joe Biden a superager?”, medical experts S. Jay Olshansky and Dr. Bradley Willcox, as well as former Texas Lieutenant Governor Ben Barnes, argued that the basic facts of Biden’s age might be “the wrong questions to ask.” Instead, the piece posits that, based on the available information about the president’s health and mental fitness, he might be what is known as a “superager,” a subgroup of the elderly who retain the acuity of people decades younger well into their 80s.
“The geriatricians evaluating Biden’s medical history in 2020 found evidence to suggest he could be a ‘superager’ — a subgroup of people aged 80 years and older that operate physically and cognitively at a level that is common among those much younger,” the piece explained. “There is no clinical evidence for cognitive decline in President Biden — despite armchair gerontologists declaring otherwise. It may be tempting to conclude that such evidence does not exist because an extensive battery of diagnostic assessments of cognitive functioning has not been ordered (to our knowledge) by his personal physician, and if done, something significant might be revealed.”
It continued: “But presidents are evaluated by their physicians just like everyone else — cognitive functioning tests are not done unless the physician suspects a problem or if requested by the patient. Even then, a screening test of cognitive function is done first, followed by other more in-depth diagnostic assessments if the screen shows a worrisome score. Since Biden’s personal physician seems not to have felt cognitive screening testing was medically indicated, this represents evidence that such issues are unlikely to be present consistent with his family history of dementia-free longevity.”
Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment.
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.