Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton commented on President Joe Biden’s advanced age, which has become a controversial issue as the 80-year-old’s reelection bid ramps up.
“His age is an issue, and people have every right to consider it,” she said, speaking at the Financial Times Weekend Festival in Washington, D.C., on Saturday.
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U.S. national editor and columnist at the Financial Times Edward Luce referenced a recent near-fall Biden had while at the G7 summit in Japan. He then prompted Clinton on whether this should be a concern.
“It’s a concern for anyone,” she answered, noting that “we’ve had presidents who had fallen before who were a lot younger, and people didn’t go into heart palpitations.”
While she conceded that age is a fair concern when it comes to Biden, she pointed to a “great saying” the president uses. “Don’t judge my running against the Almighty but against the alternative,” she recalled.
“I am of the camp that I think he’s determined to run; he has a good record that, three years ago, people would not have predicted would have gotten done,” Clinton said.
According to her, “He doesn’t get the credit yet that he deserves for what is happening out in the country in terms of jobs and growth and planning for the future with CHIPS and other stuff.”
“I obviously hope he stays very focused and able to compete in the election because I think he can be reelected, and that’s what we should all hope for,” she added.
Biden, who turned 80 years old in November of last year, recently launched his 2024 reelection bid, despite concerns over his age. By the end of a second term, the president would be 86 years old.
The Republican primary front-runner, former President Donald Trump, is about to turn 77 years old in June.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, made a call for mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old during her campaign launch in February.
“We’ll have term limits for Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old,” she promised supporters at the time.
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Despite Trump’s age, which would subject him to a test by Haley’s standards, he endorsed the idea of competency tests in February.
“ANYBODY running for the Office of President of the United States should agree to take a full & complete Mental Competency Test simultaneously (or before!) with the announcement that he or she is running, & likewise, but to a somewhat lesser extent, agree to a test which would prove that you are physically capable of doing the job,” he wrote on Truth Social.
