On this (UK) side of the pond the phrase “strong and stable” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strong_and_stable) will bring back memories of the 2017 general election when Teresa May suffered due to her awkward in manner.
Mrs May, which this organ bestowed on her style “Madame Mayhem” due to the state of the Tory party at the time was a competent leader faced with an impossible task whose problem was that of social awkwardness. She unlike her successor Boris Johnson was a very poor performer on stage. It will be an interesting historical note that these two prime ministers were essentially the opposite of each other. Mrs May’s failings (oratory, presentation skills and charisma) were the things that Mr Johnson excelled in but Mr Johnson’s failings (competence, attention to detail and the enthusiasm for hard work [in all three, noticeably lacking!]) were qualities Mrs May had in abundance.
For those readers on the other side of the pond their focus will now be upon the fallout of the first US presidential debate. For once, the BBC’s reporting of it is fair and balanced: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c88800k2njkt
Now there has been much speculation about President Biden’s “cognitive issues”. The examples have been many, the recent G7 meeting where the Italian prime minister was seen guiding Mr Biden back to the group.
Let us be frank: President’s Biden’s behaviour at the G7 raised the question about whether or not Mr Biden has dementia. Certainly, such behaviour is to be seen in people suffering from dementia. However; it must be stated that President Biden’s performance in the debate indicated that dementia, if present is in fact minor and in it’s EARLY stages. This because Mr Biden’s obvious difficulties in “falling over his words”, mumbling, misplacing words (e.g.; “trillions” when he meant “billions” but correcting himself) and past examples such as mixing up the wrong statesman and the wrong country are not necessarily symptoms of actual dementia but are generally symptoms of cognitive decline due to ageing. It is a FACT that many people in their eighties exhibit these symptoms and do have lapses and failings of memory and do use the wrong words and do have difficulty pronouncing words and phrases which in the past they had no problems with.
After listening to the 1 hour, 38 minutes CNN broadcast presidential debate (https://www.youtube.com/live/qqG96G8YdcE?si=1Rq4nsGCy3Or01kc) one of the thing’s I am clear about is that President Biden is either not suffering from dementia, or if he is, it is in it’s early stages. The other thing I am clear about is that his performance in the debate showed him to be frail, slow and stumbling but – for the most part – “on the ball”. He succeeded in answering the questions and making the points he did. It was painfully obvious that his presentation was slow and stumbling but the content was – mostly – clear and cogent!
There is much discussion amongst Americans as to why the Democrats agreed to this debate; many being of the opinion that there was no electoral need to. There was: For business leaders and overseas viewers. People needed to know how able President Biden was to carry out the duties of his office. The answer is: For the most part, yes. This is borne out by the FACT that the US $ has not crashed on the foreign exchange markets (https://www.google.com/finance/quote/USD-GBP).
What however is clear to all is that President Biden should NOT be seeking a second term. If he is able, he should carry on until 20th January 2025 and hand over to his successor. Whoever that might be.