Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that Americans cannot argue against President Joe Biden’s record ahead of Biden’s State of the Union address Tuesday.
CNN’s Jake Tapper brought up concerns about Biden’s age, as he would be 81 on Election Day in 2024, referring to it as the “generational argument.”
“You made a similar generational argument when you were running against Joe Biden for president yourself,” Tapper added. “Are you worried that it could work in 2024?”
“Generational arguments can be powerful, as you said, I’ve used them myself,” Buttigieg said. “The most powerful argument of all is results. You can’t argue – at least I would say you can’t argue with a straight face that it isn’t a good thing that we have had 12 million jobs created under this president.”
“I think when you look at [job growth], when you look at what America was up against when President Biden took office and what has been delivered, again, just in these first two years of his administration, let alone what’s possible as we actually start entering more and more, for example, of the construction phase on the infrastructure law, I think those results are going to continue to accumulate,” he continued. (RELATED: Things That Didn’t Exist When Biden Was Born)
“At the end of the day, you can’t argue with the extraordinary accomplishments, more than almost any other modern president that President Biden achieved, again, under the toughest of circumstances.”
Biden turned 80 in October, though the White House tried to keep celebrations under wraps as to not draw attention to his age, Politico reported. Biden became the first president to hold office as an octogenarian after having been the oldest president ever elected at 77.
Americans overwhelmingly believe in age limits for elected officials, with a September CBS News/YouGov poll finding among Democrats, 71% believe there should be a maximum age limit for elected officials while 75% of both Republicans and Independents agreed.