President Joe Biden raised concern among his supporters and derision among his detractors after his latest verbal blunder that saw him repeatedly stumble over the word “kleptocracy” during a speech asking Congress for an additional 33 billion Ukraine aid package.
“We’re going to seize their yachts, their luxury homes, and other ill-begotten gains of Putin’s kleptoc- … yeah … kleptocracy and klep- … the guys who are the kleptocracies,” Biden told reporters with a goofy self-deprecating chuckle.
The word “kleptocracy” was probably an adlib and not included in the official transcript, surely by now Biden’s handlers know that uttering any 4-syllable word is a potential linguistic disaster for the 79-year-old president.
I admire Biden’s triumph over his life-long battle with stuttering, the fact that he manages to deliver speeches in stress-filled situations with only the occasional stutter is a remarkable achievement.
But Biden’s stuttering problem coupled with his declining mental acuity makes it almost impossible for him to speak more than a few minutes without making a spectacle of himself.
So, what’s the answer? Hire a presidential double to deliver all of his speeches? Have White House press secretary Jen Psaki deliver all his remarks? Have all of Biden’s speeches released as press releases?
The only permanent solution is for Congress to pass a law disqualifying any presidential candidate who will be 65 or older on inauguration.