LETTER: Is Joe Biden sliding downhill?

I remember Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign ad from May 2008. A phone is ringing in a bedroom (supposed to be the White House) and the narrator proclaims that, “It’s 3 a.m., and there is a crisis somewhere in the world.” He then asks, “Who do you want answering that phone?”

I watched President Joe Biden’s recent CNN town hall where, like in many of his public appearances, he continues to show an alarming inability to stay on message, remember the question or even speak coherently. Regardless of your political affiliation, we need to step back, put our bias aside and think about the ramifications if that phone does ring. What are the cognitive abilities of whoever is picking it up?

Mr. Biden’s obvious degradation is not his fault. However, in his unique position as president, the consequences of ignoring or attempting to cover it up is surely not going unnoticed by our enemies, perhaps with irreversible and catastrophic consequences for all the world.