Iowa has a senior moment

Updated 06/11/2019 10:06 PM EDTOh, yes, perhaps you’ve heard: These two men leading the long parade of people trying to win the presidency in 2020 are both rather old — between them, 148 years of experience on the planet.And Donald Trump and Joe Biden have had careers on the public stage for nearly 90 of those 148 years, a fact that might at first call into question the whole premise of their showdown Tuesday in Iowa, where they were in separate locales but spent the day talking very directly to and about each other: What can either man hope to tell voters about the other that they don’t already know?Story Continued BelowBoth men, of course, believe the answer is plenty. And in both cases, the message was a variant of, It’s getting late in the day for you, old man.Biden said he welcomed being in Iowa on the same day as Trump as a “clarifying event.” His argument was essentially that Trump’s whole act has gotten old, exposing the president as a fraud not just as politician, but as a man. Biden taunted Trump’s inability to deliver on his boasts he would overturn Obamacare: “Now he’s got his tail between his legs and barely mentions it.” He said the president lacks the dignity to represent America overseas: “He gets up in the middle of the night to attack Bette Midler … a stunning display of childishness for the whole world to see.” Above all, he said Trump is too self-absorbed to care about ordinary people: “Donald, it’s not about you — it’s about America.”For his part, Trump didn’t stop at saying Biden’s message is old and tired. It was this interpretation that Trump seemed very purposefully trying to amplify.“I call him ‘1 percent Joe’ because until Obama came along he didn’t do very well,” Trump honked on the White House South Lawn as he departed for Iowa.At the same time, it is possible to view Biden’s autumnal moment in almost Churchillian terms — a man who spent decades in preparation, whose moment has come round at last. By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and NANCY COOKThe relish with which he came to Iowa — ABC News morning anchor George Stephanopoulos was aboard Air Force One for the trip — and showered ridicule on Biden was as if he were trying to signal to Democrats: I’ve still got it, and will do to your 2020 nominee what I did to Hillary Rodham Clinton.Beyond atmospherics, the day had Trump and Biden both doing cleanup chores on some substance.During a visit to Iowa last month, Biden appeared to discount the competitive threat posed by China, in remarks that were widely criticized.