President Biden desperately needs a strong performance Thursday when he delivers the State of the Union address to reassure a skeptical public that he is up to the job as concerns about his age and memory intensify.
Worries about Mr. Biden’s mental acuity have overshadowed his reelection campaign. A new national poll revealed that more than 6 in 10 adults don’t have confidence in Mr. Biden’s mental capability to serve as president.
When voters tune in Thursday night to watch Mr. Biden address a joint session of Congress, they will look to see whether the 81-year-old president is slipping as much as they will listen for a laundry list of accomplishments and policy proposals.
That ramps up the pressure on the oldest president in U.S. history. He will have his largest platform to reach voters this year, at least until the Democratic National Convention in August.
“I think he is under quite a bit of pressure just to show a lot of energy and come across as coherent. I think that’s his biggest goal,” said Robert Rowland, who teaches presidential rhetoric at the University of Kansas. “The walk in, the energy level of the speech is just as important as what Biden says.”
The White House has been on the defensive since a special counsel’s report last month on Mr. Biden’s mishandling of classified documents mentioned a series of mental miscues and concerns about his memory. Special counsel Robert Hur described the president as a “well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.” He wrote that Mr. Biden couldn’t recall when he was vice president or when his son Beau died.
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Verbal stumbles have also increased scrutiny on Mr. Biden’s mental acuity as he prepares for a tough reelection campaign against former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential front-runner.
On Friday, Mr. Biden twice mistakenly announced that he had authorized U.S. airdrops of aid into Ukraine when he meant to say the Gaza Strip.
In February, Mr. Biden told donors at a fundraiser that he had discussed the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol with German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, who died in 2017. A day later, he recounted the same conversation about the 2021 incident with former French President Francois Mitterand, who died in 1996.
During an angry press conference in which he disputed Mr. Hur’s claims about his memory, Mr. Biden referred to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as the “president of Mexico,” doing little to extinguish concerns about his mental acuity.
“With growing concerns about Biden’s cognitive state headed into his reelection campaign, there is more pressure to avoid them than ever before,” said Jimmy Keady, a Republican Party strategist. “Democrat and Republican leaders — and their voters — will be watching closely to see if his performance can rebuild confidence with his base and bolster his chances in November.”
Even Mr. Biden’s fellow Democrats are uneasy about the upcoming address. They say the president must show he is competent, fit and ready to take on Mr. Trump.
“There is a lot of pressure,” said David Dix, a Democratic Party strategist. “There is no space for any kind of hiccups or mistakes in a speech this big with so many eyes looking at this speech.”
Losing his place on the teleprompter or mixing up world leaders could create a viral moment that might doom his reelection chances. A solid, energetic performance could boost his sagging poll numbers and improve his reelection outlook.
Last year, Republicans tried to throw Mr. Biden off his game by booing and heckling him during the State of the Union speech. When they booed Mr. Biden for saying Republicans wanted to cut Social Security and Medicare, Mr. Biden made an off-the-cuff remark that their response was a firm commitment to protect the two entitlements.
“We got unanimity,” Mr. Biden quipped.
Mr. Rowland said the exchange helped the president address concerns about his cognitive abilities.
“Last year, he was pretty clever and quick-witted in his response. That’s just as important as his gait coming in or his energy level,” he said.
Mr. Biden is lagging behind Mr. Trump in seven battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, North Carolina, Nevada and Wisconsin, according to a Morning Consult/Bloomberg poll released last week. The poll found that 48% of voters in those states planned to cast ballots for Mr. Trump, while 43% intended to vote for Mr. Biden. It also revealed that 8 in 10 voters in those states said Mr. Biden was “too old to be president.”
An Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs poll this week revealed that 6 in 10 U.S. adults, including 30% of Democrats, say they are “not very” or “not at all” confident in Mr. Biden’s mental capability. That was up from 14% in January 2022.
White House officials have rejected calls for a cognitive test, which medical professionals recommend beginning at age 65. The White House said Mr. Biden’s doctors insist he doesn’t need a cognitive test.
“The president, who is also the commander in chief, passes a cognitive test every day. Every day as he moves from one topic to another topic — trying — understanding the granular level of these topics,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.
Mr. Biden will certainly be well-rested for his prime-time address. He spent a three-day weekend at Camp David and has just one public event on his schedule before the big speech.
• Jeff Mordock can be reached at jmordock@washingtontimes.com.
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