This is a free episode of Checks in Balance.

To listen every week, you'll need to be an economist subscriber.

For a free trial, click on the link in the show notes,

or search online for Economist Podcasts Plus.

The Economist.

It turned out to be a prophetic opening line.

Joe Biden looks like the photograph of a great statesman in his youth, ran the profile in a

Delaware paper, the Evening Journal in November 1970.

You look at it and you can't quite believe how wild-haired and scrawny the great man was in

his dashing 20s, the piece continued.

Joe Biden had just been elected to Newcastle County Council, his first public office.

In what was then solidly Republican Delaware, the Dashing young lawyer, quickly caught the attention of

Democratic leaders looking for a candidate for the long shot statewide Senate race two years later.

He has all the qualifications for a great future in government, the

Democratic State Chairman was quoted as saying. Now the youthful subject of the

adoring profile in the evening journal is a much, much older man.

With three hundred and five days until the 2024 election,

I'm John Prido, and this is checks and balance from the

economist.

Each week we take one big theme shaping American politics and explore it in depth.

Today, should President Biden stand aside and let someone else run? Joe Biden has been a solid president, but he's unpopular and his age puts many Americans off.

With him as the candidate, polls suggest Democrats' chances of blocking Donald Trump

...