ANALYSIS | Joe Biden's latest mistake comes in handy for Republicans

Biden's age worries voters ahead of the 2024 election 0:43

(CNN) --

President Joe Biden once called himself a "goof-up machine," and his latest blunder was huge.

Speaking at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition and Health on Wednesday, Biden called Rep. Jackie Walorski to the podium ... even though the Indiana Republican was killed in a car accident in early August. .

“Jackie, are you here?

Where's Jackie?

I think she wasn't going to be here to help make this happen," Biden said.

The White House sought to explain the strange moment by saying that Walorski was "on the mind" of Biden.

"There will be a bill signing in her honor next Friday, so of course she was on his mind," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said.

"She was a priority for the president."

Sure.

Everybody makes mistakes.

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But that's a pretty big mistake.

And unfortunately for Biden, it adds to the caricature that Republicans, led by former President Donald Trump, have long been painting of him.

“This guy has no idea.

He doesn't know where the hell he is,” Trump said of Biden during the 2020 campaign. “This guy doesn't know he's alive.”

At another point, Trump said: “Biden is fired.

I'm telling you he's shot.

Something is happening.

However, Biden's overall health did not play a significant role in the 2020 election. Forty-one percent of voters in the 2020 exit poll said only Biden had the mental and physical health to serve. as president.

The same number, 41%, said only Trump had the mental and physical toughness for the job.

Another 8% said neither.

In 2021, in the midst of the failed US withdrawal from Afghanistan, Tennessee Republican Senator Bill Hagerty suggested that the handling of the situation "created doubts not only in my mind, in the minds of many, many Americans, but also in the minds of our allies” regarding Biden's ability to get the job done.

Earlier this year, Kansas Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, a physician, suggested that Biden should have annual cognitive tests.

"I think we're all worried about President Biden's mental health," Marshall said at the time.

He added that he felt he had seen a "deterioration" in Biden's mental health over the past year.

This is what we know with facts: Biden is 79 years old.

She is the oldest person to be elected to a first term as president, and if she runs for a second term, she will also be the oldest person to do so.

Her most recent physical was last November.

At the time, the White House physician said Biden "remains fit for office and fully executes all of his responsibilities without waivers or accommodations."

What we also know is that Biden's age is an issue for voters far beyond the hardcore Republican base.

In a New York Times/Siena College poll conducted over the summer, Biden's age was a major factor among Democratic voters who said they would prefer the party nominate someone else for president in 2024.

As The New York Times noted in July, in an article on Biden's age, citing more than a dozen current and former top officials and advisers:

“[They] recognized that Mr. Biden appears older than he did a few years ago, a political handicap that cannot be resolved by traditional White House ploys like personnel changes or new communication plans.

His energy level, while impressive for a man his age, is not what he was, and a few aides watch him in silence.

He often drags his feet when he walks, and helpers fear that he will trip over a wire.

He stumbles over words during public events, and they hold their breath to see if he gets through without a mistake."

On Wednesday, Biden did not make it to the end without making a mistake.