Opinion

It’s more a case of God Help America than God Bless it - Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly

Mary Kelly is an Irish News columnist and former producer of current affairs output on Radio Ulster and BBC NI political programme Hearts and Minds

President Joe Biden delivers remarks on funding for Ukraine from the Roosevelt Room of the White House (Evan Vucci/AP)
It’s time someone spoke up to sayd “Thank you for all you’ve done Mr President, it’s now time to hand over to the next generation”

There surely comes a time in everyone’s working life when you feel like you’ve had enough of the daily grind and enthusiasm becomes harder to muster, or to feign.

I reached that conclusion aged 62, when the idea of another late shift on a wet Sunday evening, trying to fill Good Morning Ulster, or the 5.30am early start, became too much. I gave up waiting for redundancy and just jumped ship. I haven’t had a moment of regret since, though I do sometimes miss the camaraderie at the office.

There is indeed life outside work and time to enjoy simple pleasures. Will somebody please tell that to Joe Biden? His time is definitely up now and there is still a chance for him to leave with dignity, surely?

Until now, the media has been largely looking away politely at his physical stumbles and his odd rambling misspeaks. But he’s 81 now and his obvious frailty has become the story.

There was a time when we used to laugh at the gerontocracy that once ruled the Soviet Union, with elderly presidents like Chernenko propped up beside a desk to receive handshakes from visiting dignitaries.

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Now it’s the United States, a country of more than 330 million, whose next presidential contest has come down to a choice between two elderly men, both manifestly unfit for the stresses of this high office.



We’re past the stage where Biden could quip, “We’re both old, but Trump is also crazy.” It’s no longer funny.

Is it vanity or self-delusion that leads Biden to think that because he defeated Trump in 2020, he’s the only one who can do it again? And what has happened to the Democratic party that they’ve allowed this to happen?

Biden has improved the economy and stabilised politics in his country after the Trump years, but his mission has been accomplished and now it’s time someone spoke up to say “Thank you for all you’ve done Mr President, it’s now time to hand over to the next generation.”

Donald Trump is 77 (AP)
Donald Trump is 77 but expected to be the Republican party's nomination again for president (Matt Rourke/AP)

In his report into President Biden’s storage of classified documents, Special Counsel Robert Hur said he had twice failed to recall the dates he’d served as vice-president and could not remember when his son, Beau, died.

Mr Hur may well have betrayed his own Republican bias when he spoke publicly about Biden’s “significant limitations” in memory, and patronisingly referred to him as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory”. But the President has increasingly caused concern in a series of gaffes, mixing up Mitterand for Macron and recalling speaking to one-time German Chancellor Helmut Kohl four years after he’d died, when Angela Merkel was actually head of state at the time.

French President Emmanuel Macron described Badinter as a ‘figure of the century’ who ‘never ceased to plead for the ideas of the Enlightenment’ (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber, Pool)
Joe Biden recently confused French President Emmanuel Macron with Francois Mitterand (Markus Schreiber/AP)

Most recently, while angrily insisting that his memory was good, he referred to the Egyptian leader as the president of Mexico.

Meanwhile, 77-year-old Donald Trump might be hoping the electorate has collective amnesia over the 91 criminal indictments he is currently facing. He’s also had his own gaffes, repeatedly confusing his rival republican Nikki Haley with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and describing Hungarian dictator Victor Orban as the President of Turkey.

There’s no doubt that the world would be a safer place under Joe Biden than the deranged narcissist Donald Trump. But the Democrats are going to have an uphill battle to convince the voters

And that’s not to mention his serial crazy tales including his memory of “sparring with Cassius Clay”, his belief that he can end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours and his latest suggestion that he would encourage Russia to attack Nato allies who don’t pay enough towards the military alliance.

Vice President Kamala Harris called the report into Joe Biden’s mishandling of documents ‘politically motivated’ and ‘gratuitous’ (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Vice President Kamala Harris (Alex Brandon/AP)

It may be already too late to find another Democrat to mount a challenge. Vice-president Kamala Harris is a no hoper too and there’s no other obvious contender.

There’s no doubt that the world would be a safer place under Joe Biden than the deranged narcissist Donald Trump. But the Democrats are going to have an uphill battle to convince the voters. It’s more a case of God Help America than God Bless it.