Newsletter: Biden is 81. That’s not news, so why the panic now?

Good morning. I’m Paul Thornton, and it is Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024. Let’s look back at the week in Opinion.

Joe Biden was born in 1942. That makes him older than every American president since Bill Clinton. Not as in the oldest person while in the White House — Biden is actually older than Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump are today. Ronald Reagan was 79 when he left office in 1989; Biden was 78 when he started in 2021, and he’ll be 86 at the end of his presidency if he wins reelection in November.

Note what I didn’t say there: anything about Biden’s accomplishments or his fitness, based on his record and temperament, to continue serving if reelected. Judging by recent panic over a fact we’ve known about Biden (his age) for a long time, any mention of this president’s 81 years is taken as self-evident criticism.

I’m a little more bullish than most about living in a gerontocracy, especially in this era of diminishing attention spans. It makes sense to view the accumulation of experience and wisdom that often comes with time as desirable attributes in a president, someone whose ability to cut through noise and ignore distractions must be unmatched. Environmental activist Bill McKibben actually says that on one issue in particular, climate change, age may be Biden’s “superpower.”

What we’re really doing is using age as a proxy for cognitive function, and based on that metric I’d say Biden obviously outperforms his most likely Republican opponent. Still, most of the recent unease over age has to do with the 81-year-old incumbent, not his 77-year-old challenger (who often acts seven decades younger). This lopsided panic, writes columnist Jackie Calmes, is largely the mainstream media’s doing:

“One factor that’s missing from the media explanations for why Trump fares better than Biden on assessments of age and mental stability: the media’s own role. Might the polls be less bad for Biden if the coverage were different?

“It was a Trump sycophant, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who back in 2016, when he was still second-guessing his support for Trump, warned that he, voters and the media would someday have ‘to justify how they fell into this trap.’

“The unprincipled Rubio certainly has much to account for. So, too, does conservative media. As for mainstream media, it’s not too late in the election year to avoid the trap of bothsides-ing.”

Why do we talk about older people so negatively? UC San Francisco sociologist Stacey Torres says the way we talk about older people betrays our attitudes about them: “Culture change is hard and progresses at a glacial pace. But as our older adult population swells, the rest of us must catch up with choosing age-inclusive language. Content producers can take the lead in mitigating ageist portrayals, but everyone should scrutinize the language we use.”

Biking in L.A. is fun. Now let’s make it safe by passing Measure HLA. On the days I work from The Times’ newsroom, I ride my electric bike 23 miles to El Segundo. When people ask about my commute, I often tell them how much fun it is, which doesn’t answer what they’re really asking: Is it safe? Unfortunately, L.A.’s streets and roads are deadlier than they’ve been in decades, with at least 330 people dying in city traffic in 2023. Measure HLA, which would force the city to implement its own street-safety plan, can help change that.

Renting in L.A. could go from bad to worse. Economist George Zuo explains why: “The last of Los Angeles’ pandemic-era renter protections expired Feb. 1. For the first time since April 2020, owners of rent-stabilized apartments — 70% of rental units in the city — are allowed to increase rents. And the last chunk of any unpaid back rent is due. Don’t expect a soft landing.”

Stop pressuring Girl Scouts to be “cookie bosses.” Editorial writer Karin Klein has fond memories of selling cookies in her Girl Scout days, when she’d ask her neighbors to buy a box or two. Today, parents are often asked to sell hundreds of boxes, and the girls are expected to learn entrepreneurial skills from their ordeal. “It’s like they’re prepping their resumes for Harvard Business School applications,” Klein writes.

If the economy is so great, why are evictions soaring? Columnist LZ Granderson sums up our bizarre economic reality: “We’re living through an age of contradictions. The United States is the strongest economy in the world, and Americans’ credit card debt has never been higher. The unemployment rate has been less than 5% for President Biden’s entire first term, and voters disapprove of his handling of the economy. Wall Street predicted that last year’s gross domestic product would grow by less than 2%, and instead it was 2.5% — yet the economy feels weak to a lot of people.”

More from this week in opinion

From our columnists

• Robin Abcarian: Happy Valentine’s Day from the most contented single woman you’ll ever know
• LZ Granderson: Remember “Nipplegate”? 20 years later, we all owe Janet Jackson an apology
• Jackie Calmes: Will that gratuitous special counsel report light a fire under Biden the Elderly?

From the op-ed desk

• Why that ambulance racing through L.A. traffic may not be going to a life-or-death emergency
• When my son stopped piano, I took over his lessons. Here’s how that went
• Many Americans believe migrants bring fentanyl across the border. That’s wrong and dangerous

From the editorial board

• How Los Angeles can help prevent people from falling into homelessness
• No more last chances. Shut down L.A. County’s juvenile hall shell game now
• Providing criminal defense is not a crime. So why do some demonize lawyers for it?

Letters to the editor

• Trump has made the Supreme Court too afraid to uphold the Constitution
• Trump, who stiffed his own workers, is threatening “delinquent” NATO states?
• How everyone can help capture more stormwater in L.A.