In a new presidential election campaign ad, President Joe Biden stares straight into the camera and immediately addresses the elephant in the room: his age.
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"Look I'm not a young guy, that's no secret," the 81-year-old says. "But here's the deal, I understand how to get things done for the American people."
The ad is the first in a six-week, $30 million advertising spree by the Biden campaign ahead of the November election. The President's age has become a major talking point—even more so than that of the Republican frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, who is 77. In 2021, Biden was the oldest President to be sworn in—breaking the record set by Trump before him. . Along with addressing his age, Biden in the rest of the ad touts his record on health, the economy, infrastructure, climate change, and abortion rights.
The President says he led the country through the COVID crisis (the pandemic started under Trump's presidency and the first vaccine was approved for emergency use in December 2020, after Biden's election but before his inauguration).
Biden proclaims that the U.S. has the strongest economy in the world (it has held the top spot from 1960 to 2023, according to Forbes). He points out he signed a law that includes provisions to lower prescription drug prices and capped insulin prices for seniors with diabetes (that was for patients on Medicare, some pharmaceutical companies have also followed suit).
He adds that during his presidency, Congress passed a major infrastructure bill after Trump failed to do so, and also mentions passing the “biggest law in history to combat climate change.”
Finally, Biden accuses Trump of taking away "the freedom of women to choose." It was the U.S. Supreme Court, which includes three conservative justices appointed by Trump, who did that in 2022 by overturning the previous Roe v. Wade ruling. Trump took credit in 2023, saying on his social media platform, Truth Social: “I was able to kill Roe v. Wade.”
Biden in his ad says: “I am determined to make Roe v. Wade the law of the land again.
"Donald Trump believes the job of the President is to take care of Donald Trump. I believe the job of the President is to fight for you, the American people, and that's what I'm doing," Biden continued.
Biden also ends the ad poking fun at his age. In an outtake, he quips with a laugh: “Look, I'm very young, energetic, and handsome. What the hell am I doing this for?”