How old is too old?

Joe Biden's disastrous performance in the first head-to-head live TV debate of the US presidential race has left Democrat officials and media commentators reeling.

In what The Hill trenchantly, if unkindly, described as "a 90-minute senior moment" the 81 year-old sitting president and Democrat candidate appeared confused and rambling in his responses. Even Donald Trump looked surprised, commenting on one Biden answer "I really don't know what he said at the end of that sentence. And I don't think he knows what he said either." It was excruciating and deeply saddening to watch. A kind and decent man Biden may well be but to see him go into meltdown at such a critical moment was little short of tragic - for America and the world.

Senecence isn't necessarily a problem for a head of state (think of the late Queen at 96) but senility - or the appearance of it - certainly is. Within the last hour Biden has said that he will not give way. Frankly, it shouldn't be up to him. Those around him, including his wife, Jill, his Vice-president, Kamala Harris, and Speaker Emerita, Nancy Pelosi, must all spell it out for him: retire now on health grounds or face a humiliating de-selection process. He must be made to understand that he's doing his country a grave disservice in effectively clearing the path for a second Trump presidency. The honourable thing to do in these circumstances would be to make a dignified exit and allow another Democratic candidate to be chosen.

Failing this, the Democratic Party itself must grasp the nettle. Admittedly, Biden has cleared the Democratic primaries to become their official candidate but the party, which holds its National Convention in Chicago between 19-22 August, could overturn this. But from what I've been able to glean thus far, the replacement process is murky at best. In the UK if the monarch is incapacitated, for whatever reason, the heir to the throne becomes regent. And besides, our constitutional monarch is a figurehead whereas the US president holds executive power - and, worryingly, has access to the nuclear button.

In the US, referring to its revered written Constitution has suggested that the 14th, 20th and 25th Amendments all potentially offer solutions to the conundrum but no-one seems clear if these actually stack up or how and, indeed, whether they can be employed in these unprecedented circumstances. The focus of Conventional arguments to date has been on Trump's position vis-a-vis the presidential race following his felony conviction but the spotlight is now very clearly on Biden.

This gives Trump, almost literally, a get-out-of-gaol-free card and presents him with a golden opportunity to play the comeback kid. To be fair to him, his conduct during last night's ill-fated debate was more becoming than almost anything we've seen from him in his career hitherto, but he was starting from a limbo-dancingly low bar. He was either taken aback by his opponent's spectacular collapse or very well-coached after his New York court conviction - possibly a combination of both. He certainly came across as the more presidential of the two men - robust, determined, confident - and all the more dangerous for that. 

He can now present himself as the saviour of his country - cometh the hour, cometh the man - riding to the rescue of America and the free world at a moment of crisis for the US Presidency. He cannot be allowed to succeed in this. He stated unequivocally last night that he would resolve the Russia-Ukraine conflict even before his Inauguration, in other words as president elect, and I think it's clear Ukraine would not come out of that well. Zelensky would almost certainly be obliged to concede his territorial losses to Putin and hope to rebuild what remains of his beleaguered country in a much-weakened position. And then there's the issue of Gaza and the West Bank...

The stakes could hardly be higher but one candidate's incapacity should not be allowed to settle the outcome. This is the moment for bold, decisive action on the part of the Democratic Party. Yes, it will be a painful and embarrassing process and the man chosen (it will almost certainly be a man and not the unpopular and uncharismatic 'Veep') risks being looked upon as the assassin but 'now is the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party' is so much more than a banal typing exercise. It's not too hyperbolic to suggest that the very future of the world hangs in the balance.

Lincoln, thou should'st be living at this hour!

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