In a single, brutal week, the fundamental communications paradox of President Joe Biden¡¯s re-election campaign was laid bare: whether it¡¯s better to confront or ignore the news media as concerns about his age and acuity dominate headlines.

Biden¡¯s team managed to find the worst of both worlds, fanning worries about how their campaign will manage the 81-year-old president over the next nine months.

First, they withheld Biden from the press, announcing he would skip a traditional Super Bowl interview and opt against a news conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. But then a series of missteps in which Biden confused long-dead European leaders with their living counterparts amplified questions about whether his aides were keeping the president bubble-wrapped.