Social media was briefly abuzz last month about Presidentish Joe Biden's boat-anchor shoes, the ones meant to help keep him from falling. But the shoes aren't what really weigh him down — it's voter expectations that he won't survive a second term.
Before we get to that, a little more on the shoes because I honestly can't get enough of that story.
After Biden was first spotted sporting his snowboard-sized kicks, the RNC tweeted, "Biden's handlers are forcing him to wear a new pair of 'lifestyle sneakers' because he trips so much," which of course, lefties denied. "Inside Edition" protested that Biden's Hoka Transport shoes are just "lifestyle sneakers" while also admitting that the "wide sole" is "no doubt great for stability."
I don't have a photo I can post of the Transports, but not only are the soles wide enough to save both Jack and Rose from drowning in the freezing North Atlantic, they don't even have regular laces. Biden's Transports are laced with those pull strings that my kids' shoes had before they learned to tie their own.
Is that common on shoes for grownups? I have no idea.
But the fact remains that in his Hokas, Biden is basically a living, breathing Weeble. You couldn't knock him over with a baseball bat — not that I'm advocating anyone conduct any experiments or anything like that.
The shoes are just the latest, ah, step taken to hide Biden's increasing senescence. He isn't allowed to walk up and down the big boy stairs on Air Force One any longer, and he maintains a work schedule best described as "retirement community."
For what it's worth, I'm not mocking Biden's age. With my sometimes complete lack of grace, I'll probably end up wearing something like Hoka Transports a lot younger than Biden did. What I am mocking, however, is the idea that Biden has the physical and mental stamina to serve four more years — and an overwhelming majority of Americans share that assessment.
UK polling and research firm J.L. Partners asked 1,005 likely voters, "Are you confident the candidates [Biden and Donald Trump] will be alive at the end of four years in office?"
Only 38% said they were confident that Biden would make it all the way to Jan. 20, 2029, at which point, he'd be 86 years old. 33% said they were not confident Biden could survive a second term and another 36% said they believed that Kamala Harris would be POTUS before then.
Trump, four years younger than Biden, inspired much more confidence. 54% said they were confident Trump would make it through 2025-2029 and just 21% said they weren't.
COVID-19 gave Biden a justification for his 2020 "basement campaign," but that excuse won't hold water in 2024. Even worse, as I've noted before, the Biden we saw in 2020 was visibly slower and weaker than the vice president we were so happy to see leave Washington in 2017 — and 2024 Biden is no 2020 Biden.
"A vote for Biden is actually a vote for Harris" needs to be hammered home again and again.
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