An incompetent US president might be bad for the world, not just America.

On the way back to the train station, I was driven by a Pakistani immigrant taxi driver. Upon hearing I was from the US, the driver asked me what I thought of the US presidential election. He said he wasn't sure which candidate is better, but indicated he had watched part of the recent debate, and thought Biden seemed too old, and unable to answer the questions posed to him. That led him to wonder about Biden's fitness; an incompetent US president, he says, might be bad for the world, not just America.

This kind of thing blows a hole in the White House argument that it's just a few elites who worry about Biden's age and fitness. The Pakistani cab driver is about as far removed from US political elites as anyone can be. And he's no political junkie. Yet he noticed much the same thing as millions of US debate watchers. Polling data consistently indicates Biden's age and health are a serious concern for many voters, and that problem has gotten worse since the debate. And, as I have pointed out before, this is the kind of problem that can be grasped even by people who know little or nothing about politics and government.

To reiterate for the umpteeth time, I believe Trump is substantially worse than Biden. But anyone who thinks it's only elites who care about this issue is fooling themselves.