Maureen Mackey: This key Joe Biden question needs to be asked early and often

Where’s Joe Biden hiding?

It’s been a question on many people’s minds—especially as the Democratic candidate for president has continually announced early-morning “lids” (meaning no more public events for the day) on his campaign appearances.

But the real question that people should be asking is this: Where’s Joe—and where isn’t Trump?

President Donald Trump released his planned schedule for Friday, September 25, to take just one example, that puts decades-younger men to shame—never mind the 77-year-old Biden (Trump is 74). And if the two candidates are judged purely on their energy and activity level, for a mere moment here—well, it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know the winner.

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Joe Biden on Friday morning left Wilmington, Delaware, for D.C., where he is paying his respects today to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Lovely and important gesture, to be sure. But that’s one event. One sentence. One done deal.

For the sake of argument, let’s assume he’ll insert some debate prep into his day, since the first Trump-Biden face-off will occur on the evening of Tuesday, September 29. So let’s build that in, just in case.

OK, two tasks for the day.

President Trump, on the other hand, has a schedule for Friday that would exhaust most people just by reading it.

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But don’t take one person’s word for it. Here’s a look at the events on Trump’s docket for a single day, as compiled by the White House Dossier and based on info from the White House. This is for Friday, September 25.

At 11:00 a.m. Trump took part in a Latinos for Trump roundtable in Doral, Florida. (Just like his other roundtables, Trump listened closely to all the speakers and participants at the event. Few ever give Trump credit for how well he listens to others, by the way. At his last Latinos roundtable event, Trump listened to and actively engaged with 12 individual speakers for nearly two hours. As anyone who’s ever attended any sort of roundtable knows, doing that is far harder than it looks.)

At 12:05 p.m., the president departed Doral, Florida, for Atlanta, Georgia.

At 2:20 p.m., Trump arrives in Atlanta, where he’ll deliver remarks beginning at 2:40 p.m. on Black Economic Empowerment.

At 4:05 p.m, once that event concludes, he departs Atlanta.

At 6:10 p.m., he arrives in Washington, D.C.

At 6:45 p.m., Trump holds a fundraiser there.

At 7:35 p.m., he departs the nation’s capital.

At 8:50 p.m., Trump arrives in Newport News, Virginia.

At 9 p.m., he delivers a campaign speech there.

At 10:30 p.m., he departs Newport News.

And at 11:30 p.m., he arrives back at the White House.

Once there, as is his wont, the president will likely work into the wee hours of the morning.

That’s just one day. And it doesn’t include the likely debate prep he’ll do as well (never mind the job of being president). And it’s immediately following the packed schedule Trump kept on Thursday—which included a rousing rally at night in Jacksonville, Florida.

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Biden, in stark contrast, called a “lid” on any public appearances of his own at 9 a.m. on Thursday.

Not just that, but Biden has had 22 days—since his pick on August 11 of California Sen. Kamala Harris as his running mate—in which “he either didn’t make public appearances, held only virtual fundraisers or ventured from his Delaware home solely for church.” That’s according to an Associated Press analysis of his schedule. No wonder some Democrats are worried about Biden’s “lower key” approach.

Policies? Position statements? Plans? Accomplishments? Actions? Background? Beliefs? Visions? Vows for America? Of course, all of these things matter when the American people vote. Of course, this is what the candidates are judged on, and ought to be judged on—all this and more.

But activity level? Vim and vigor? Willingness to go out there and work for the A1 job of running our country, not to mention leading our nation through some of the toughest times we have faced in decades?

Come on, man. Joe’s the low man on the energy pole.

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Trump’s got more energy than the last 10 presidents put together.

And all those who don’t acknowledge this fact are willfully, woefully disbelieving what’s right in front of their own eyes.