JOE Biden's advisers knew in 2020 that his age was an issue for Americans, but they successfully painted him as a competent leader who would restore normalcy to the White House after Donald Trump's chaotic presidency.
Now that Biden is 81, opinion polls show age is even more of a concern for voters ahead of Nov-ember's election.
In office, Biden's gait has stiffened, he is slower on his feet and he regularly makes verbal mix-ups during speeches, at times confusing the names of world leaders.
He has presided over a growing economy and some foreign leaders have said after meeting him that he is sharp and focused in private meetings, but the age issue is still a drag on his poll numbers.
When a special counsel's report last week cleared Biden of mishandling classified information but criticised his memory, Republicans in the House of Representatives were quick to call Biden, a Democrat, "certainly unfit for the Oval Office".
In contrast, some political experts say, the White House did not address the accusations either quickly or directly enough, or mount a coordinated pushback, at least at first.
"What we've seen from this White House is in a lot of ways attempting to do business as usual, to overcome adversity and bad narratives by ignoring them," said Samuel Woolley, director of the University of Texas at
Austin's propaganda research lab.
A new Reuters/Ipsos poll shows that 78 per cent of respondents, including 71 per cent of Dem-ocrats, think Biden is too old to work in government.
While the White House has struggled in its response to those concerns, a wave of online me-mes, some based on manipulated images, present the image of the president as a doddering, frail old man.
Mocking Biden's age, speech patterns and missteps has become a global phenomenon during his three years in office.
Sky News Australia has a series on its four-million subscriber YouTube channel called "Biden vs. teleprompter", and a Hindustan Times video of Biden's verbal stumbles in a 2022 speech has 2.4 million views.
Doctored videos that appear to show Biden getting distracted by an ice cream truck and wandering off, or talking to an invisible crowd are viral hits on Facebook, TikTok and X.
James Clyburn, a prominent Democratic member of Congress, said a "MAGA wall" of Republican social media accounts, conservative media outlets and allies of Trump means Democrats struggle to explain Biden's successes.
The White House and campaign aides say they will handle concerns about Biden's age in 2024 by highlighting his accomplishments in office, including strong jobs growth and ambitious infrastructure spending programmes.
"We're going to continue to focus on what this president has been able to get done," White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday when asked what the White House strategy was to change voters' perception of Biden as too old.
That strategy has not quelled criticism or concerns about the president's age.
"What's crazy is thinking that we are the ones as voters who must silence concerns and criticisms," Jon Stewart, comedian and political commentator, said on Comedy Central's The Daily Show on Monday.
"It is the candidates' job to assuage concerns — not the voters' job not to mention them."
Neurologists warn that a few public moments are not an accurate way to determine any individual's cognitive ability and that any such diagnosis should be made by a doctor.
Many hours after the special counsel's report was released last Thursday, Biden held a late-night, angry, emotional back-and-forth with reporters about his memory, which he said was "fine".
During those remarks he appeared to confuse the presidents of Mexico and Egypt.
The next day, Vice-President Kamala Harris, White House spokesperson Ian Sams and others denounced the report as wrong and politically motivated.
Some in the president's party have lingering misgivings about the wisdom of him running for a second term, and the report may have only exacerbated those worries.
"The most damning thing that can happen to you in politics is if you confirm a suspicion," Democratic strategist James Carville said after the report's release. "This is a problem that cannot get any better."
The writers are from Reuters