President Biden has placed himself in a dilemma. Special Prosecutor Robert Hur has released his report on the president's handling of classified documents on Thursday and concluded that Mr. Biden committed a serious breach of law in removing those documents to his private residences and keeping them there. But the Prosecutor also decided that he wasn't going to recommend charges against the president since the jury would doubtless find Mr. Biden to be a sympathetic, "elderly man with a poor memory."
An angry Mr. Biden then held a press conference Thursday night in which he vigorously denied being non compos mentis. Several of the claims he made in that conference, however, served only to buttress fears in many minds that he has indeed suffered serious cognitive decline.
Nevertheless, that's not the dilemma. The dilemma is this: If we're to accept Hur's description of the president as in failing mental condition to the point where he should not be brought to trial, then how can we think that he should continue to serve as Commander in Chief of the nation's military and chief executive officer of the nation's government?
And, if we accept Mr. Biden's protestations that he's in fine mental fettle, what justification remains for not charging him with a felony?
Either he's mentally incompetent and thus a danger to the country or he's competent and should stand trial. Mr. Biden did himself no favors by going before the press on Thursday night and denying that he's in mental decline.
Moreover, the Special Prosecutor's report has provided the House Republicans with more ammo for an impeachment of the president and has also triggered calls for invoking the 25th amendment which allows for the removal of a president who is deemed unable to perform the duties of his office.
What a mess. How, after this, can the Democrats continue with plans to nominate Mr. Biden to run for a second term? And how will they go about ushering Mr. Biden out of the campaign?
Related to the matter of the president's senility, I wish people would stop referring to Mr. Biden's age (81) as though that were his problem. It's not. There are lots of people older than the president who are still physically and mentally sharp. Mr. Biden's problem, and ours, is not his age but his physical and mental debility.
His party simply cannot allow him to run for another four year term. Indeed, if he were to run, and win, it's almost a certainty that Kamala Harris would soon be ensconced in the Oval Office.