Staunch Optimist: Biden Becomes Oldest Sitting President in U.S. History at 81
US President Joe Biden has set a new record and become the oldest sitting president in US history over the 234 years of the presidency. He turned 81 today.
Biden is also the oldest commander-in-chief in US history. If re-elected for a second term, he will be 82 at the start of his second term and 86 at the end of it.
Today, the US president is modestly celebrating his 81st birthday, honouring the White House tradition of pardoning turkeys on Thanksgiving Day.
Unlike other presidents who have celebrated their birthdays with lavish political events, Biden will celebrate the day privately with his family.
The holiday also highlights his biggest responsibility to voters - his advanced age. White House and campaign officials privately acknowledge that this is a problem, and they are working both to eliminate potential mistakes.
Biden himself is ironic about this.
"I've never been more optimistic about the future of our country in the 800 years I've served," he said during a campaign reception in New York in September.
"Call me old, I call it seasoned," he joked. "You say I'm ancient, I say I'm wise."
He has spent almost half a century in public service in Washington, DC. This includes 36 years in the Senate and eight years as Vice President of the United States under Barack Obama from 2009 to 2017.
Biden first ran for the US presidency in 1988. At the time, he was compared to JFK: a young Catholic with Irish roots, playing the usual role of a "regular guy".
Biden served as a senator until 2009, when he became vice president in the Obama administration.
Obama twice chose him as vice president because of Biden's extensive experience in international politics.
Biden's main achievement in domestic politics was his participation in the development of measures to overcome the 2008-2009 crisis in the US economy.
Joe Biden is one of the record holders in terms of the frequency of visits to Ukraine. He has visited Ukraine seven times: in 2009, three times in 2014, also in 2015, 2017, and as president in 2023.
At the time of the Revolution of Dignity on the Maidan and the start of the ATO, Biden was responsible for the Ukrainian direction of US foreign policy in the Barack Obama administration. At the time, he tried to talk to fugitive President Yanukovych and put him on the "right track".
After Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Biden's support grew significantly. The United States began to provide the largest packages of military and financial assistance to Ukraine, calling on global organisations to impose tough sanctions on the Russian economy, politicians and their relatives, to respond harshly to Russian actions and to provide allied military and humanitarian support to Ukraine.
Recently, Joe Biden published an op-ed in the Washington Post that formally focuses on Europe and Ukraine.
"Will we hold Vladimir Putin accountable for his aggression so that the people of Ukraine can live in freedom and Europe can remain an anchor of global peace and security?" - the current US president asks.
He compares the occupation activities of Putin's dictatorship in Ukraine to Hamas' terrorist aggression in Israel.
"Both Putin and Hamas are fighting to wipe a neighbouring democracy off the map. Both Putin and Hamas hope to destroy broader regional stability and integration and take advantage of the ensuing disorder. America cannot and will not allow this to happen. For our own national security interests - and for the good of the world," the text says.
Biden emphasises that the United States is an important nation that unites allies and partners to confront aggressors.
"The world expects us to solve the problems of our time. It is a duty of leadership, and America will lead. Because if we move away from the challenges of our time, the risk of conflict could spread and the cost of resolving them will only increase. We will not allow this to happen," Biden emphasises.