Yet the president enters his ninth decade at a moment of unexpected strength. Democrats defied history in the midterm election, holding the Senate and dashing Republican hopes of a "red wave" in the House.
The verdict offered validation to a president who saw the election as a test of US democracy.
In the afterglow of the election, Democrats have piled on praise - a major reversal for Biden, who spent much of the second year of his presidency weathering the blame for what many anticipated would be a crushing rebuke from voters. But instead of a repudiation, he found vindication.
"You did it, Joe!" the vice-president, Kamala Harris, said at a post-election event with supporters, while his one-time rival for the Democratic nomination, the Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren, said last week: "This victory belongs to Joe Biden."
"He's a president who understands the moment," said Donna Brazile, a former chair of the Democratic National Committee. "And when we look back at this period, we're going to see him as 'steady Joe', someone who was able to stabilise the country and move us forward."
Denne historien er fra November 21, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian.
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Denne historien er fra November 21, 2022-utgaven av The Guardian.
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