Dem
51
GOP
49
Joe Biden underwent his second annual physical this week, and yesterday, Physician to the President Kevin C. O'Connor released his findings. It's a pretty thorough 5-page breakdown, and its major conclusions are that the results are basically the same as last year, and that "President Biden remains a healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief."
Among the specifics that might be of interest, O'Connor noted that Biden underwent an "extremely detailed neurologic exam," and passed it with flying colors, showing no signs of stroke, Parkinson's disease, or multiple sclerosis. We will assume the tests administered to Biden were more substantive than the one that Donald Trump bragged about passing, wherein the then-president had to draw a clock and identify which picture is the lion and which one is the camel. Biden's health report also reveals he does not partake of alcohol or tobacco. And yet, nary a word about amphetamines or sniffing glue. Hmmm...
By all indications, O'Connor appears to be a capable and thorough physician and a credit to his profession. That said, we don't think this report means all that much, one way or the other. Unless a president is so impaired that he's ready to resign, then revealing some sort of serious health problem would just create turmoil for the country. It also would presumably be vetoed by that president, who is protected by HIPAA just like anyone else, and can certainly say "No, you can't tell the whole world about my [health problem]." This is presumably why a presidential physician has never come out and said: "You know, I don't think this guy's up to the job anymore." On the other hand, we've had numerous presidential physicians, including now-congressman Ronny Jackson (R-TX), who were later shown to have fudged the truth.
And so, the eye test is probably just as useful as the annual report from the presidential physician. And according to our eye test results, Biden looks to be in pretty good shape, physically and mentally. Sure, he looks worn out sometimes, and sure, he trips over his tongue sometimes. However, the same was true of Barack Obama, and when he took office, Obama was more than 30 years younger than Biden is now. It's a tough job, and if it gets the better of a president on occasion, well, they're only human. (Z)