Chris Crucial: Biden goes on an age offensive

PLUS: Katie Britt bombs!

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1. Biden talks about being old: For months, Joe Biden didn’t have a particularly good answer when it came to questions about whether he was too old to be president.

“Watch me,” he would say. The problem was that if you, well, watched him, you would see a man who moved slower (and talked slower) than he had even a few years ago.

The Biden campaign appears to have realized they have a problem. (Better late than never!) And they also seem to have come to terms with the fact that, whether they like it or not, they need to deal head-on with the age issue.

Witness this new ad released by the Biden campaign over the weekend:

The opening line? “Look I’m not a young guy, that’s no secret.”

Yes! Acknowledge the obvious! And then try to turn it to your advantage — or at least neutralize it! Again, Biden, from the ad: “But here’s the deal: I understand how to get things done for the American people.”

The ad follows on Biden’s decision to confront his age during his State of the Union address. In case you forgot, here’s the key bit from the speech:

I know I may not look like it, but I’ve been around awhile. When you get to my age, certain things become clearer than ever before.

I know the American story. Again and again I’ve seen the contest between competing forces in the battle for the soul of our nation. Between those who want to pull America back to the past and those who want to move America into the future.

My lifetime has taught me to embrace freedom and democracy. A future based on core values that have defined America. Honesty, decency, dignity, equality. To respect everyone. To give everyone a fair shot. To give hate no safe harbor.

Now, THAT is a message. Which doesn’t guarantee it will work!

What we know is that the majority of the public believes Biden is too old to do the job. What we don’t know is how persuadable they are. Like, if Biden uses his age — as he is in the ad above — as a way to suggest he’s been around the block and knows right from wrong, does that move people who tell pollsters he is too old?

Candidly, I don’t know. But what I DO know is that if Biden never addresses the age issue on his preferred terms, he has no chance of moving these voters. Simply hoping people will forget how old he is — or stop caring — isn’t a strategy. This latest series of moves by Biden and his team is.

2. A Biden Cabinet departure: Months after White House chief of staff Jeff Zients made clear that he wanted all of President Biden’s Cabinet members to stay in place through the 2024 election, Marcia Fudge, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, announced Monday she was resigning.

“It's time to go home,” Fudge told USA Today. “I do believe strongly that I have done just about everything I could do at HUD for this administration as we go into this crazy, silly season of an election.”

Fudge, a former mayor and member of Congress from Ohio, is only the second Cabinet member to leave the Biden administration. Then Labor Secretary Marty Walsh left in the summer of 2023 to run the players union at the National Hockey League.

That small amount of turnover is a striking contrast to the President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, which had already seen significant departures three years in — as this Axios chart makes clear.

Still, Fudge’s decision to leave does goes against the stated wishes of Zients. As Axios reported last summer:

White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients has been quietly calling members of President Biden’s Cabinet to deliver a subtle message: If you plan to leave, please do so in the next few months…

…Biden's Cabinet will play a key role in his re-election campaign, as he contrasts his accomplishments with what's likely to be a nasty fight among GOP contenders. Republicans will be eager to tweak the White House, so Biden's team wants to avoid any confirmation battles in an election year.

Biden said Monday he would nominate a replacement for Fudge at HUD. Biden’s nominee to replace Walsh at Labor, Julie Su, is still serving in an acting capacity because the Senate has yet to schedule a confirmation vote.

3. Katie Britt bombs big time: In my Friday mailbag post, I mentioned — in passing — the disaster that was Alabama Sen. Katie Britt’s GOP response to the State of the Union speech.

Not only has Britt been mocked on “Saturday Night Live” — by no less than ScarJo! — there are also factual problems with her speech. In particular, a story about a 12 year old girl who was sex trafficked happened during George W. Bush’s presidency, not Joe Biden’s — as Britt insinuated.

I talked about ALL of that — and how Britt almost certainly blew her chance to be Donald Trump’s VP — in my latest video on my YouTube channel. Subscribe!

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“But no, it was probably the worst State of the Union ever made. According to many that’s not according to be although according to me, it was also but I haven’t heard too many of them.” — Donald Trump on Joe Biden’s State of the Union speech

ONE GOOD CHART

One thing Democrats and Republicans agree on? That getting the latest Covid-19 vaccine shot is not as big a priority as it once was. These numbers from Pew are revealing.

SONG OF THE DAY

On this day in 1997, Paul McCartney was officially knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Here’s the best song he ever wrote: “Yesterday.”