Aging in public. Biden isn't the first...
On Friday, I published an essay in Slate called “Biden’s Doctor Doesn’t Have the Answers.” (The piece actually started as a draft for an Inside Medicine essay, but I decided to expand it for a wider audience.) The gist is that while I am observing the Biden “should he stay or should he go” drama with interest and concern, the issues that need settling are not medical, despite what many think.
My purpose was not to move the needle in any one direction regarding Biden’s choice. Rather, I wanted to get this issue out of the physician’s realm because the questions needing answers largely concern optics and politics, not medicine.
In the past, I’ve written about the health of aging politicians, at times publicly taking some bold positions. Those were “teachable moments.” Indeed, what can we really learn from the prior public medical travails of Senator John McCain, Senator Bernie Sanders, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Senator Dianne Feinstein, and Senator Mitch McConnell? (I’ll also share some thoughts that were left on the cutting room of my piece about President Biden).
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