I was not going to write a story about Joe’s trip to Poland but well, maybe a little bit.

President Biden loaded up on AF-1 last weekend, the big 747 the taxpayers provide for our presidents as they scoot around the country and yes, the world. It’s convenient, the president always knows where it’s parked and so far, no presidential airplane has ever crashed. Our president, who is well up in his 70s needs Air Force One so he can travel safely and in comfort. On this craft there is room enough for him and his family and medical team too. Even some of his staff.

Anyway, the pressures of the new war, resulting from Russia’s armed invasion of the Ukraine and their bold attacks on civilians has brought the world, NATO and indeed, the USA into its worse crisis in recent years. Biden is old. Not as old as me, but “Old.”

I was up at my doctor’s office last week, walking down a long hallway and my speedy wife just kept on walking and left me behind. Finally, realizing I was about 50 feet behind, she stopped and waited on me and gave me a wife look. “I’m going as fast as I can,” I said. “I’m walking just like Joe Biden today, so be patient.” Her reply was something like, “C’mon.” I sped up as much as I could. But my steps were still short; slow and “Joe Biden-like.”

The President walks with the short jerky steps of an old man and when I see him doing that, I wish that someone would take his arm and help him out. Unlike my wife Pat, they never do because he’s the president and they all try to maintain an image of his virality and energy. And that’s OK with me. However, I decided to look in (via TV) on Mr. Biden after he had landed over there. I noticed first of all that his walk was a little better than it had been. He came up to the microphones and made a little talk. There was speed and spunk in his voice, and he looked like he had just taken a vitamin injection. I was glad. The President was over there dealing with some “big boys”, and he needed to be sharp and on his toes. A condition that I often worry if he is capable of being.

As the visit continued, I watched it with renewed interest. I had feelings of approval as Joe Biden expressed his forceful views on the obscene invasion of the Ukraine by the army of Russia’s Putin. As the president continued his tour, he remained tough with his rhetoric and finally in his address to NATO he even advocated the overthrow of Putin. Wow, I thought. President Biden has really gotten worked up and I was pleased to see him strengthen his stance toward the Russian President. His stated wish that Putin could be removed from his office and his power was courageous and finally, I thought, this guy is measuring up to what a president should be. He sounded just like I wanted him to sound like.

This assumption was in error as it turned out. The “White House,” whoever that is, quickly denounced Joe Biden, saying in effect, “he didn’t really mean that.” “He misspoke.” Whether or not he meant it, the spell was broken. The trip a washout. Biden is home now, I guess. But I wonder how he will respond to his “White House” that denounced him during these delicate times between us and NATO and Russia. Will Joe Biden be doing short steps in his walk again? I wonder what Putin thinks.

He may well be thinking that Joe Biden is just an old man who took the reins of office of the president during odd and unusual times. He may just dismiss him as just an old man who doesn’t even have the support of his own cabinet. A man who is physically decaying, who takes short steps and isn’t going to try for a 2 nd term. Putin, a dangerous “Hitler-like” demagog may just feel free to go on his merry way, destroying the Ukrainian democracy and shipping its conquered citizens to work camps all over the Soviet Union. Historically, that’s the way the Soviets do things. Be sure and go to

Be sure and go to church Sunday. It’ll help you to keep taking big steps.

Wayne Bullard, DPh cwaynebullard@gmail.com