Let’s Get Physical

I watched the interview of President Biden last evening.  George Stephanopoulos was very careful to always remain respectful in his presentation. However, the questions posed to the President regarding his cognitive ability, the possibility of having an examination by a physician, etc., pummeled the President as an opponent in a boxing match who had been weakened.

Under the circumstances, Mr. Stephanopoulos did a thorough job of questioning; posing (ultimately) the same line of thought seventy-five different ways.  But the result was still subjective for the audience and as evidenced from the President’s responses, did not get it done.

The decline of cognitive abilities is tricky to detect.  Everyone, particularly if under extreme stress, has experienced moments of forgetfulness, misplacing things, losing train of thought.  What we are witnessing, however, combined with the President’s advanced age, suggests something more serious.

In looking up information about cognitive decline, I found some very useful delineations regarding the levels of decline:

Stages of cognitive decline

Specialists generally recognize four stages of cognition as people age:

• No cognitive impairment (NCI): You don’t experience any differences in your thinking ability or in the complex skills that make up cognition.
• Subjective cognitive decline (SCD): You notice that some of your thinking abilities have begun to decline but not enough to interfere with how you function day to day.
• Mild cognitive impairment (MCI): You experience a decline in your ability to reason, remember, use language, make judgments, and perceive the world around you accurately.
• Dementia: You have trouble with activities of daily living. These include driving, paying bills, taking care of your living space, and caring for your body and your health. (healthline, 2024)

Several things jump out at me about this:  The President of the United States does not perform activities of daily living.  He does not drive, pay bills, take care of his living space.  These functions are all done for him – as they should be.  But if those are the litmus by which someone would identify that they themselves are exhibiting decline, he has nothing to compare.

Worse yet – the seventy-five questions posed to President Biden were all reasonable questions for him to ask under these circumstances.  What was unreasonable was the expectation of an affirmative response: “Yes, I have noticed a decline in my ability…..”  It’s tantamount to asking someone if they are in shock.  If someone were clinically in shock they would be unable to answer.

We the people are not going to get an affirmative response from the President regarding this question, particularly if he is suffering from cognitive decline. 

The other issue that cannot be overlooked here is that the word “age” is being overused.  This may have nothing to do with his advanced years.  In fact, hypothyroidism or a B12 deficiency may cause a change in one’s thinking abilities.(Healthline, 2024) 

“…there is “absolutely no requirement” for presidents to have annual health exams or release the results to the public, said Jacob Appel, a physician and professor at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York who has researched the medical histories of U.S. presidents.” (apnews.com, 2024)

As mentioned in prior writings, I am not a fan of party politics.  This is a prominent reason as to why.  The very individuals in the Presidents own party and particularly his Vice President; someone who was hand-picked for the #2 seat, cannot be expected to question or unseat the President without fear of committing career suicide.  And we all know – the needs of the many outweighing the needs of the few (or the one) only really existed in Star Trek.

As We the People find ourselves staring down the barrel of this potential crisis, a regulation stipulating a yearly thorough medical examination for both physical and mental cognitive ability needs to be introduced so that a more clear-cut solution to this issue can be achieved.  Many jobs across the United States require this.  The position of President of the United States should not hold less of an expectation.

References: 

APnews.com, retrieved from the world wide web on July 6, 2024 from https://apnews.com/article/archive-fact-checking-5693890001

Healthline, retrieved from the world wide web on July 6, 2024 from https://www.healthline.com/health/cognitive-decline