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Agence France-Presse

Joe Biden, the oldest person ever to win the US presidency, will celebrate his 78th birthday on Friday.
If he were to run and be re-elected in 2024, he would be 86 at the end of a second term in 2029.
With two months to go before he even gets the keys to the Oval Office, Washington insiders are already asking: will he be a one-term president?
Throughout his campaign against Donald Trump, Biden – a “lion of American history”, according to his former boss, Barack Obama – has remained purposefully vague about his future plans.
When asked by ABC News in August if the idea of serving for eight years was on his internal radar, Biden replied: “Absolutely”.

But before that, in April, at a fundraising event, he told donors that he saw himself as a “transition candidate” – a phrase that raised eyebrows and fuelled speculation.
Was he trying to say he was the best placed to shut the book on Trumpism, because of his decades of political experience and his empathetic nature, but would then pass the torch to a new generation of Democrats in 2024?
It goes without saying that many of the party’s new, bright faces were not even alive when Biden was first elected to the US Senate in 1972.
Joe Biden: biography, net worth, family tragedy and path to presidency
Or was he simply talking about transition in a broader sense, without meaning to offer any outlook on the future?
A few days after securing the presidency over Trump, Biden’s sister Valerie – who has played a key role in his political career but generally remains out of the public eye – expressed confidence he would seek re-election.
So, what did he mean by “transition candidate” then?
She told Axios on HBO that he was “transitional in that he’s bringing in all these young people and bringing (us) back again (so) we’re not a divided country”.


Above all, one thing is clear – Biden is trying to maintain a maximum of political capital going forward.
No one can run for the White House and explicitly say it’s for one term, after all. That would weaken his position and open the door – too quickly and too widely – to an all-out succession battle within the party.
For presidential historian Julian Zelizer, a professor at Princeton University, there is “no value” in Biden making his plans clear too early.
“In this age of polarisation, you need to use every bit of muscle – including the threat of re-election – to move bills,” Zelizer said.
Donald Trump: biography, facts, net worth, health and presidency
In American history, the number of presidents who did not run for a second term is relatively low.
James Polk, who served from 1845 to 1849, campaigned on the fact that he would not run again – and he kept his promise. But politics in the mid-19th century little resemble the circus in present-day Washington.
The only example in modern US history is Lyndon B. Johnson, who was catapulted into the White House in 1963 when John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Johnson easily won his own term in the 1964 election against Republican Barry Goldwater, but in March 1968, with America weary of the Vietnam war and progressive Democrats challenging him, he said he would not run again.
For many observers, Johnson bowed out because he was facing certain defeat.
“The second term gives a president the sense of legitimacy,” Zelizer said. “It’s also a time to pursue difficult policy initiatives without electoral pressures.”
Biden of course knows he’s in a tricky spot.
Here are the world’s oldest leaders
In the fall of 2018, before he had even announced his third presidential run, he acknowledged to an audience at a Michigan speaking engagement that his age was a “totally legitimate thing to raise”.
“I think it’s totally appropriate for people to look at me and say if I were to run for office again, ‘Well, God darn, you’re old’,” he said.
“Well, chronologically, I am old,” he added, making it clear he believed that age was just a number and he is still full of energy and intellectually quick.


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Joe Biden

Joe Biden turns 78. Is he a one-term president?

Come January 20, 2021, Joe Biden would be America’s oldest president, ever. Photo: AP

President-elect Joe Biden rides a bike at Cape Henlopen State Park on Saturday, Nov. 14, 2020, in Lewes, Del. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President-elect Joe Biden attends a national security briefing at The Queen theater, Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2020, in Wilmington, Del. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Donald Trump: biography, facts, net worth, health and presidency

US President Donald Trump hugs the American flag at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2019. File photo: AP

US President-elect Donald Trump boards the elevator after escorting Martin Luther King III to the lobby after meetings at Trump Tower in New York City on January 16, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / DOMINICK REUTER

Developer Donald Trump, accompanied by his wife Melania Trump, is applauded by his daughter Ivanka Trump, right as he's introduced before his announcement that he will run for president of the U.S., Tuesday, June 16, 2015, in the lobby of Trump Tower in New York. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

Mr Donald Trump, a casino and property tycoon in the United States, in an interview. He is in Hong Kong for a four-day personal visit. 19AUG93

Donald Trump with contestants from TV show, The Apprentice.

Fred, Donald and Mary Trump Donald Trump with his parents, Fred and Mary Anne, in 1992 JUDIE BURSTEIN/REX FEATURES

Donald Trump dips his new bride Marla Maples after couple married in a private ceremony at the Plaza Hotel, in New York, 20 December 1993, following a six-year courtship. Billionaire Donald Trump, who was born in 1946, Queens, New York, has gained notability for his celebrity lifestyle. He was previously married to Ivana Trump between 1977 and 1992. (Photo by BOB STRONG / AFP)

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gestures and declares "You're fired!" at a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, June 17, 2015. REUTERS/Dominick Reuter TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY

epa08440038 US President Donald J Trump, wearing a white hat and white Polo shirt, plays golf at the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, USA, 23 May 2020. It is the first time the president has played golf since the lockdown over the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. EPA-EFE/JIM LO SCALZO

US President Donald Trump at an Ohio campaign rally in January 2020. File photo: AFP

Joe Biden: biography, net worth, family tragedy and path to presidency

Joe Biden on the campaign trail in Florida. File photo: AFP

In this image obtained from the official website of US Senator Joseph Biden, shows the Senator (C) with his sons Beau (L) and Hunter and his future wife Jill in an undated photo. Democratic White House hopeful Barack Obama on August 23, 2008 officially announced that he has chosen Senator Joseph Biden as his vice presidential pick. AFP PHOTO/HO = GETTY OUT = (Photo by Senator Joseph Biden / AFP)

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden arrives to speak at a rally at Belle Isle Casino in Detroit, Mich., Saturday, Oct. 31, 2020, which former President Barack Obama also attended. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

The wife and infant daughter of Senator-elect Joe Biden (D-Del), were killed on December 18, 1972 in a traffic accident in nearby Hockessin, Delaware. Biden's two other children were seriously hurt in the wreck but later made full recoveries. At left is Senator Biden and his wife Nealia during a recent campaign tour. At right is their 16-month-old daughter Amy, who was also killed in the accident.

(FILES) In this file photo former US Vice President Joe Biden (R) talks with his son, US Army Capt. Beau Biden (L) at Camp Victory on the outskirts of Baghdad on July 4, 2009. - As men in their 70s, both Donald Trump and Joe Biden have large extended families -- some members of which are the subject of scalding controversy, while others live less in the spotlight. Examining the two competing "first families" of the US election reveals the presidential candidates' differing life stories, and how their wives and children are involved in the battle for the White House. (Photo by KHALID MOHAMMED / AFP)

WILMINGTON, DELAWARE - AUGUST 20: : Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden appears oh stage with his wife Dr. Jill Biden after delivering his acceptance speech on the fourth night of the Democratic National Convention from the Chase Center on August 20, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. The convention, which was once expected to draw 50,000 people to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is now taking place virtually due to the coronavirus pandemic. Win McNamee/Getty Images/AFP

US Senator Joseph Biden, D-Del., announces on September 23, 1987 that he is withdrawing from the race for the 1988 Democratic presidential nomination, as his wife Jill grasps his arm (R). (Photo by Jerome DELAY / AFP)

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By the time Joe Biden is sworn on January 20, 2021, he will be 78 years and 61 days old
The president-elect has remained purposefully vague about his future plans



Throughout his campaign against Donald Trump, Joe Biden has remained purposefully vague about his future plans.


US Politics

Donald Trump

US presidential election 2020

Joe Biden turns 78. Is he a one-term president?

.css-1mniedq{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;} By the time Joe Biden is sworn on January 20, 2021, he will be 78 years and 61 days old The president-elect has remained purposefully vague about his future plans

By the time Joe Biden is sworn on January 20, 2021, he will be 78 years and 61 days old

The president-elect has remained purposefully vague about his future plans