It seems that JFK’s famous torch won’t be handed over to a new generation any time soon.

What everyone suspected

just now

became official: the old man goes for it.

On Tuesday, President Biden announced in a three-minute video on Twitter that he is seeking re-election.

Get off his lawn, kids.

At 80 years old, Biden is already the oldest president in American history. If he wins a second term, he could get damn close to the oldest head of state

in the world

.

To which I say, so what?

I know what polls show: Biden’s approval ratings are low and most Americans think he’s too old for a second term. Even a large portion of Democrats are not thrilled. As my colleague David Lauter reported, a recent Monmouth University poll found that 44% of Democrats would like Biden to bow and let someone else walk. Only a quarter said they wanted Biden to rejoin, and 30% had no preference.

But after four years of Donald Trump, a mishandled pandemic that killed millions, and an economic slump that just came out, do you really need a presidential candidate to make your leg tingle? Not me. Just give me slow and steady. Oh, and no impeachments or revolts on their resumes either.

It is clear that age has taken its toll on Biden. His voice is weaker, his diction is not as clear as it used to be. Sometimes I hold my breath when he speaks, afraid of a faux pas. But the president showed as recently like February when he cleverly turned the tables

on

MAGA Republican hecklers during his State of the Union speech that he can dish it out and think fast.

And on Tuesday, just after his reelection video came out, he delivered an impassioned speech to union leaders at the North Americas Building Trades Unions conference, underscoring his managerial achievements and commitment to America’s working class.

Under my predecessor, Infrastructure Week was a punchline, he said. Under my tutelage, we made Infrastructure Decade a headline. A lame phrase, perhaps, but at least he’s got it to the point: In November 2021, he signed a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure bill, the lack of which had become a recurring joke during the Trump years.

So Biden enters the race with an incumbent advantage, deep pockets and a solid legislative record. But, but… his age!

In our toxic political environment, partisans, especially on the right, have mastered the art of turning any strength into a weakness.

To criticize, the sunny disposition and hearty laugh of Vice President Kamala Harris, who served as a United States Senator and Attorney General of California, means she’s a lightweight. (A sexist trope among many.)

When he ran for president in 2004, former

Massachusetts

Democratic Senator John Kerry, who earned two Purple Hearts in Vietnam, was branded a coward by Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, a jacked-up Republican opposition group whose name is now synonymous with vicious and bogus political attacks.

Paradoxically, the Republicans have turned every Trump weakness into a strength.

His polls among Republicans even rose after he was indicted in New York on charges of corporate fraud related to hush money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

Jury selection began this week in the federal civil trial regarding advice columnist E. Jean Carroll’s claim that he raped her in the 1990s. He may face criminal charges in connection with his attempt to disrupt Georgia’s election results and his role in the January 6 uprising. God only knows what his approval ratings with MAGA Republicans will be if he ends up in jail. A whopping 75% of Republicans polled by Quinnipiac University in March said criminal charges should not disqualify him from running again.

On Monday, the day Fox News fired Tucker Carlson or, let him go, lol, I tuned into Sean Hannity’s program to see how he would handle the news. The biggest story of the day went virtually unreported on Fox News. In fact, Hannity glossed over Carlson

is shooting

to attack Don Lemon, who was also suspended by CNN on Monday.

We’re not talking about Tucker, Hannity said. I have no details about it. He had a huge audience and he had a huge following. This man [Lemon] didn’t have anyone.

What Hannity really wanted to talk about turned out to be what the president’s son, Hunter Biden, and his work for various global companies. This will be the Republican obsession until November 2024.

If Biden’s advanced age and Hunter’s poor judgment are all the MAGA Republicans have, I’m putting my money on a second Biden term. Especially if Trump, at 76 himself not a spring chicken, is in the race.

@robinkabcarian