THE WASHINGTON POST [OPINION] – There wasn’t much to celebrate this July Fourth …

Let’s start with the sudden post-debate recognition among Democrats that Joe Biden isn’t quite up to speed. Really? He wasn’t exactly hitting on all cylinders during his third run for president in 2020.

Biden was jauntier back then, sure. But consider this headline from March 2021, two months after he was inaugurated: “Biden ‘just fine’ after tripping 3 times jogging up steps to Air Force One.” Subhead: “The White House blamed the incident on high winds and a ‘misstep.’”

After the debate last week, the same propaganda team attributed Biden’s “faltering” performance to a cold. A few days later, they said he was suffering jet lag — from a trip to Europe two weeks earlier.

“No, what happened to Biden was obvious to anyone watching.”

He was spacing out and mumbling answers because it looked to me like his occipital lobe, fusiform gyrus, hippocampus and temporal gyrus weren’t communicating.

Look at a video taken after the debate when Biden and the first lady joined supporters in the Democratic spin room. The president stands off to the side looking somewhat dazed while Jill Biden takes the microphone, turns toward her husband and, as if talking to a toddler, exclaims: “Good job, Joe! You answered all the questions! You knew all the facts!” Joe smiles.

Then she turns back to the crowd and screams, “And what did Donald Trump do? He LIED!” It was not her best moment.

Jill Biden has appeared for a while to be running the show and, therefore, the country — though I don’t recall seeing her name on the 2020 ballot.

It’s clear she is pushing her husband to stay in the race, probably not eager to retreat to Delaware with a man whose years have caught up with him. It happens. Age sweeps in the front door …