Why a President Joe Biden might end up bolder than his 2 younger Democratic predecessors
The president sworn in next January will be the oldest in U.S. history to take the oath of office, whether it's Joe Biden becoming the 46th president at age 78 or President Trump starting a second term, age 74. When Biden was first elected to the Senate in 1972, former President Bill Clinton — born in 1946, the same year as Trump and former President George W. Bush, boomers all — "was a law student running George McGovern's campaign in Texas," David Maraniss notes at The Washington Post. Former President Barack Obama, a de facto Gen Xer born in 1961, was an 11-year-old fifth grader.
Biden, a pre-boomer, "has been around national politics for 48 years, more than either Clinton or Obama had lived when they entered the White House," Maraniss says, but he has "somehow outlasted them into the virtual age," gunning for the top job a generation after Clinton retired. "The situation is striking for more than chronological unlikeliness," he muses:
Expectations are pretty low for a Biden presidency, according to a recent Pew poll, and most of his voters seem motivated mainly by their dislike of Trump.
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The soft burden of low expectations may help Biden as much as it hurts him, but it may also end up being misplaced. Read more at The Washington Post.
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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
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