Editorial: Assure nation Biden is sound enough to serve

Concerns about President Joe Biden’s disturbing performance in Thursday’s debate extend well beyond whether he is fit to carry the Democratic banner in the November election. That’s just politics.

The larger worry is whether Biden has the mental soundness to finish out the final seven months of this term. That’s a matter of national security and the general well-being of the nation.

It wasn’t just Americans watching the debate. The telecast also streamed into Moscow, Beijing, Tehran and all of the other homes of those who wish the United States harm.

What they saw was opportunity.

A weak, vulnerable president is an invitation to aggression, to strike a key United States ally, or even the U.S. itself.

Biden’s excruciating performance certainly heightened the concerns about his physical and mental health. Biden, who often took on a vacant stare, his mouth agape and his voice painfully weak, seemed not fully aware of his surroundings.

He lost track of which questions he was answering, freezing and losing his train of thought. The worst of many bad moments came when the president was asked a question on the national debt. Biden responded:

“We would be able to wipe out his debt, clear up all those things we need to do in child care, elder care, making sure we continue to strengthen our healthcare system, making sure we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with dealing with everything ... If we finally beat Medicare.”

At another point, he made the preposterous claim that no soldiers had died on his watch, oblivious to the 13 Marines killed during the botched withdrawal from Afghanistan he orchestrated in 2021.

After the debate, he was led haltingly from the stage by his wife, Jill Biden.

Even if the disorientation Biden displayed Thursday was the product of a single bad night, or exacerbated by a cold, as the White House claims, the perception now prevails that the president is seriously diminished. And that raises questions that must be answered.

Is he able to take command and effectively respond to a national emergency? Can he make critical decisions on troop deployment or the use of the military’s most potent weapons?

Should the country be hit by a new pandemic of the magnitude of COVID-19, is President Biden up to the task of mobilizing the nation’s resources to protect its citizens? Can he muster the leadership to prevent a national panic should the economy take a sharp downturn?

Americans need answers to these questions, not political spin. Biden should submit to an evaluation of his mental health, and the results should be shared with the president’s cabinet.

The 25th Amendment allows for the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to set aside a president who is incapable of carrying out the duties of the office. We would hope Biden has not reached that point and can serve competently for the remainder of this term.

But if his decline has seriously affected his ability to fulfill his obligations, action must be taken. The nation can’t take the risk of riding out seven months with an incapacitated president and hoping for the best.