There’s an old adage in sports that “Father Time is undefeated.”
For those unfamiliar with the sports ball, the phrase essentially indicates the inevitable aging and atrophy of the physical skills of professional athletes as they age.
But just as time and age often catch up with a professional athlete in their late thirties, so do ordinary Americans as their age begins to shift from seventies to eighties.
In other words: time and age will undoubtedly catch up (or have caught up) with the 80s. Joe Biden – and he is questioned about it by people who know only too well this same passage of time.
According The messengerPresident Biden is struggling to garner unified support from seniors in his hometown of Scranton, Pa., due to a litany of factors, including his age.
The Messenger spoke to several older residents of the Democratic majority city and found that support was anything but unanimous for the incumbent president.
Ike Mielo, 82, voted for Biden in 2020.
Talking to the Herald, he explained, “You start losing your mind after a certain age. I see myself, you know. I think we need a younger guy.
Eighty-six-year-old Barbara Petroski, another 2020 Biden voter, went so far as to refer to the president’s current personality as a “front.”
“He’s got a good front and all, but I think he’s got the ability left,” Petroski said. “And four more years? I just don’t think he’s going to have brain power.
She told The Messenger that she would not vote for Biden in 2024. Instead, she would like the former vice president Mike Pence show up at the White House.
Of note, Petroski also said the only way she would vote for Biden would be to run against former President Donald Trump, if he was the 2024 GOP nominee, even though she thinks the two men are too old. (Trump is 76.)
“There comes a time when you have to step down. And it’s hard to concede that too, you know,” she said.
Fred Miller, a retired Republican in his 60s, said one of the main reasons he would vote against Biden is that he has no faith in Vice President Kamala Harris.
“I don’t want to choose [a newspaper] wake up in the morning and see President Biden died overnight and now Kamala Harris is our president,” Miller said.
Clearly, there are also plenty of voters in Scranton who will praise Biden and support him no matter what.
But it could be a worrying sign for the president’s re-election bid.
If Biden is unable to garner wholesale support from his hometown, how will he be able to garner wholesale support elsewhere?
This article originally appeared on The Western newspaper.