Slowness, forgetfulness and gaffes: Biden shows signs of aging in some private appearances

Some people who have met with Biden say the 81-year-old president is sometimes in poor form. The White House says Biden has a sharp mind and his critics are playing partisan politics. At present, the top leaders of the world’s ten most populous countries are all over 70, and although many European leaders are younger, this means that more than half of the world’s population is led by people over 70. The Wall Street Journal combined data to analyze why older politicians are more likely to be in power in recent years and what this means for policy making and political participation. According to five people familiar with the matter, when U.S. President Joe Biden met with congressional leaders in the West Wing of the White House in January to discuss a deal to fund Ukraine, he sometimes spoke too softly for some participants to hear clearly. To emphasize the key points, Biden once read from his notes, paused for a long time, and closed his eyes several times, and did not open them for a long time. Some people in the room wondered if he was distracted. In a one-on-one conversation in the Oval Office in February, Biden told House Speaker Mike Johnson that a recent policy adjustment by his administration that jeopardized major energy projects was just a study, according to six people who heard the speaker’s account at the time. Johnson was concerned that Biden’s memory of the details of his policy was fuzzy.