Joe Biden admitted that he could “drop dead tomorrow” and it was legitimate for voters to be concerned about his health.
The US President is expected to run for the White House again in 2024. As the oldest person ever to hold office, he would be 86 if he completed a second term.
Republican critics have seized on Biden’s verbal blunders to claim that he lacks the mental capacity to serve another term in office.
Speaking to US broadcaster MSNBC, Biden was pressed on his own mortality by Jonathan Capeheart, the interviewer.
He said: “I could get a disease, I could drop dead tomorrow. I think it’s a legitimate thing to be concerned about, anyone’s age, including mine. I think that’s totally legitimate.
“But the best way to make a judgment is to, you know, watch me. You know, am I slowing up? Do I not have the same pace? Or, you know, and that old joke, you know – everybody talks about the new, you know, 70s, 50s, you know all that stuff...”
If voters have doubts about his physical and mental competence, they should support another candidate, Biden added.
“Right now, knock on wood, I do not want to jinx myself, I am in good health,” he said.
“All of my… everything physically about me is still functioning well, so you know, and mentally too.”
He added that it was his intention to run again, but no formal decision had been taken.
Biden appeared to duck questions over whether Jill, the first lady, wanted him to run again.
Under constant media glare, even the smallest incident has triggered speculation over whether the US President will seek a second term.
Physical stumbles, such as when he fell off his bike over the summer, have been perceived as an indication that the President is on the wane.
Similar concerns have emerged following verbal gaffes. The most recent was when he called on Jackie Walorski, a Republican congresswoman, to speak at a conference on food insecurity weeks after she had been killed in a car crash.
Officials have also been concerned by Biden’s tendency to veer off script, as he did in March when he appeared to call for Vladimir Putin’s removal from office.
Nevertheless, White House officials have repeatedly played down concerns about his health.
In June, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, dismissed as hearsay a New York Times report that said some Democrats had doubts over his ability to run in 2024.
President Joe Biden boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base. Photo / AP
She said: “I can’t even keep up with him... Just look at the work he does, and look how he’s delivering for the American public.”
Biden’s recent recovery in the polls appears to have stalled, alarming Democrats who fear that the party could lose control of one or both houses of Congress at next month’s mid-term elections.
Some Democrats have broken ranks in recent months calling for Biden to retire at the next presidential election.
They included Tim Ryan, an Ohio congressman, who in September said it was time for a new generation to take over, and Dean Phillips, a Minnesota congressman who in July said that he would prefer a younger, “more dynamic” candidate at the top of the ticket.
