Leadership and Age.
Claudewell S. Thomas, MD, MPH, DLFAPA, is an established psychiatrist who is currently retired ,, He received his medical degree in 1956 at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine and specializes in social psychiatry, public health psychiatry, and forensic psychiatry. Dr. Thomas was board certified by the American Board of Psychiatry... more
President Biden has tested positive for Covid-19 infection. News reports indicate that he is tired, but quite functional. Vice President Kamala Harris is uninfected and separated from the President. Joe Biden has run into a storm of protest and indignation following his "bro grab" with Benjamin Netanyahu and his fist bump with Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud. Joe also stubbed his foot and fell off his bike in the public domain. Early use of Paxlovid has been ordered and recovery is expected. But what do we expect of a 79 year old man? He is not and never was a quick witted responder and of course has been slowed by age and a couple of brain aneurysm repairs. Runny nose fatigue and occasional cough are the expected sequelae, but if we wanted a younger more vigorous leader, why didn't we elect one? Why was the option between a septugenarian autocrat with imperial aspirations and good old union Joe. Vladimir Putin spent a decade riding horses bare chested and engaging in wrestling, hockey, etc. All this in an attempt to prove his equality with Peter the Great and old imperial Russia. Inevitably the body fail and Putin gave up the more extreme macho act. Did this lead to the invasion of the Ukraine facilitated by our failure to supply arms because of our septugenarian autocrat President's blackmail attack on the Ukrainian President? The North Korean leader has lost weight and is now galloping about on horseback while his sister supplies a steady supporting monologue.
The explosion of gun and other violence is most pronounced in the USA because of the number of guns available, the loss of women's reproductive rights, the prospect of extension of Justice Alito's personal view to other areas of what is the American Democracy addressed by Justice Thomas ensures the absence of America on the side of human rights in the worldwide dialogue that ensues. The relationship of physicians and healthcare deliverers to their patients is being usurped by states rights devotees. The Rule of Law is ponderous and slow and in the hands of those who view 1619 as their model. Alteration of the outcome has no guarantee with the current SCOTUS.
