Joe: Some musings about age from a centrist who is a few years older than Biden and about six years older than early "boomers" like you, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton and, lest we forget, Donald J Trump.

When I look at Biden walk, I think many of us in that "zone" move awkwardly and hesitantly, me, with spinal stenosis, included. No big deal. When I see the eye "slits" I wonder why a handsome man turned himself into Helen Gurley Brown to cover time's wrinkles and bags under the eyes. Trump was also a good looking man in his younger days, but his face reflects his years. A worn narcissist vs. the Sphinx. None of us still has a voice like a bugle, but I have noticed that Biden now seems limited to two tones, a whisper and a shout. As the debate approaches, film clips of the last time around are going to make it awfully clear that the Biden of 2024 seems more than four years older than the Biden of 2020.

Moving from appearance to the mind, I cut Biden a little slack. I am certainly old enough to remember how the Intelligentsia mocked Ike, then merely 70ish, as a fossilized puppet with bad syntax. We now know better; and Ike didn't have to deal with a stutter. But Biden displays episodes of confusion at an unprecedented level, and everybody knows the path forward is slippery and steep.

Which brings me to the un-mentioned Kamala Harris. Does anybody seriously think that Biden, if re-elected, will still be in office on January 20, 2029? Does anybody think Ms. Harris is a budding Truman or LBJ? Progressives may think she'd carry on or even improve on his policies, but many of those policies are not popular with centrist Democrats, much less Republicans. To cite a line from an Oscar winner almost as old as us, fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.