So, Joe Biden eh? 

Over in the U.S there is what can be gently described as some disquiet over the current President’s ability. The criticism stems from his age and his apparent cognitive decline. For his supporters this means only one thing, ageism, but as someone who has campaigned against such discrimination, especially in respect of women aged over 45 in public life, this is a little too simplistic.

Ageism, I have found since I launched my Acting Your Age Campaign in 2018, is everywhere. Whilst there are those who argue this is only the case in respect of discrimination towards younger people, please permit me a hollow laugh. We inhabit a culture obsessed with youth, with a media devoted to upholding that — particularly when it comes to women.

Take Newsnight this week. The issue of President Biden’s age was being discussed by a panel. We had the experienced and qualified former diplomat and British Ambassador to the U.S. Sir Kim Darroch, the experienced former MP, Business Secretary, and, um, “memorable” Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng and the experienced and qualified political journalist Nick Watt. Then we had the young person.

Sitting on the sofa, with her watermelon earrings proudly displayed, was 26 year old Climate change activist Mikaela Loach. I don’t know quite why a climate activist was invited on to discuss Joe Biden’s age, except that it might have been to suggest either that he is in fact a fossil or that young people love the planet and old people, like, want it to die.

But whatever the reason for her being there, Mikaela didn’t seem to want to discuss the topic at hand, but instead wanted to talk about foreign policy and scatter buzz phrases like “Genocide Joe”.

When it was gently pointed out to her by Kwasi Kwarteng that discussing Biden’s foreign policy — important though that is — wasn’t in fact why they were there, she pivoted at lightning speed to insulting the former Chancellor. She may have had a point — no argument from anyone looking at their bills with consternation there — but it was irrelevant to the discussion. 

A plaintive glance from Kwarteng to the host Victoria Derbyshire found her in full youth protector mode dialled up to eleven “She’s entitled to her opinion” she moderated, youth-defensively. No criticism of a young person occupying the airwaves should be allowed.

This is not something that is returned in kind, I have to say, when the target is an older woman. In 2013, when Hillary Clinton was hoping to be the Democratic nominee, Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell spoke at the 40th Conservative Political Action Conference. Despite McConnell being 71 at the time, and Clinton being 68, he said of her, “Don’t tell me Democrats are the party of the future when their presidential ticket for 2016 is shaping up to look like a rerun of the Golden Girls”. 

The truth was that by 2015, Clinton’s main challenger for the democratic nomination was the 74 year-old Bernie Sanders, and Trump, then selected as Republican candidate, was 69.

But Bernie and the Donald are men, so no ageist jokes were forthcoming. (At 70, and a year older than Clinton, Trump was actually the oldest President to take his first oath of office.)

But then Biden won it back for the Democrats, smashing that record, and this brings us to today’s claim of ageism being levelled by his supporters.

If Biden were still facing criticisms based on his age alone, as Hillary Clinton did, then I would entirely agree that this is ageist in nature. Yet it’s not his age but his capacity which is being questioned — from his own party and even by his celebrity supporter and donation organiser George Clooney.

If Biden was speaking and acting in a way that offered no cause for concern, then there would be no valid reason for his age to be an issue. 

But after his halting performance in his debate, with Trump and then at the NATO summit press conference when he referred to Vice President Kamala Harris as “Vice President Trump” and President Zelensky as “President Putin” then reasonable questions can be asked of him & of the next four years. 

Claiming that every 81 year old is “too old” to be president is ageist. However, recognising that this 81 year old may struggle in the most stressful, demanding and important  job in the world right now, isn’t ageist at all.

What happens now is anyone’s guess but nothing can happen without Joe Biden’s compliance. Kamala Harris — 60 this year, I’m all in with this now, okay — is an obvious choice but here’s another thought. 

According to the firm Bendixen & Amandi, Hillary Clinton is polling better than both of them. A Clinton-Harris ticket would be the best of all worlds for me, and according to the same polling this has more support than a Biden-Harris pairing.

Clinton hasn’t as yet expressed an interest but as a campaigner against ageism targeting women, and a critic of the devastating impact of a global rise in misogyny and sexism, I’m hoping that she does.