Joe Biden made history on Saturday, and he did it with relatively little fanfare. On that day, he became the first of the 45 men we’ve elected president to reach the ripe old age of 79 while in office. We’d congratulate him, but that would be disingenuous.

Friday, the day prior, The Washington Post reports that he had what was called a “routine physical” at Walter Reed Medical Center, whereupon his doctors pronounced him “fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”

Uh-huh.

Did that exam include a test of Scranton Joe’s cognitive abilities? An exam of the sort that first-term Texas Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson has been clamoring for since Biden took office? Apparently not. Why on earth would we need to inquire whether the American president is a few fries short of a Happy Meal?

Jackson, perhaps more than any other American citizen, has reason to be concerned for Biden’s mental aptitude. After all, he was formerly the White House physician to both Barack Obama and Donald Trump. If anyone understands the great strain and the awesome cognitive demands of the American presidency, it’s Jackson. Back in July, he issued a written statement questioning whether our 46th president is up to the job:

The American people deserve to have absolute confidence in their President. They deserve to know that he or she can perform the duties demanded of the office, and they deserve to have full transparency on the mental state of their highest elected leader. I would argue that the American people don’t have that confidence in President Biden. When I was Physician to President Donald J. Trump, the liberal media relentlessly pushed a narrative that he needed a cognitive test and that it should be the standard for anyone serving as Commander-in-Chief and Head of State. I administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MOCA) test and President Trump excelled. Given the precedent set and Biden’s clear mental impairment, I believe it is past time he undergo a cognitive test.

Trump, for the record, passed that test with flying colors. And Jackson knew he would. Joe Biden? Not so much.

Biden and his handlers have never complied with Dr. Jackson’s request, so we’re free to draw our own conclusions about his health. And trust us: If Joe Biden had taken and passed a cognitive test at Walter Reed last weekend, we’d have heard about it — all of us. “Very recent polling,” writes Paul Mirengoff at Power Line, “shows that around half of Americans don’t think Biden has what it takes mentally to be president. And in a September Pew Research Poll, 56 percent of respondents said that ‘mentally sharp’ describes Biden not too well or not well at all.”

If the American people are this concerned about the mental abilities of the Leader of the Free World, isn’t it essential for the Biden administration to address them?

Mere longevity isn’t anything to brag about, either. After all, he wouldn’t even be president if it weren’t for James Clyburn and Mark “Zuckerbucks” Zuckerberg.

But in certain respects, we’ve got to hand it to the guy: Yeah, sure, he’s wrecking the country and he’s made us a global laughingstock, but he’s also exceeding our expectations in terms of staying power. Many months ago, here in our humble shop, a certain writer and publisher (who shall remain nameless) took the “under” on a bet as to whether Biden would make it to June before stepping down and turning things over to his vice president, Madame 28% Approval.

Perhaps the fact that Kamala Harris’s popularity is even lower than his is reason enough for him to resist removal. Take note that amidst the rumors about a possible vice presidential departure, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg wished Joe a happy 79th, and it was almost as if he were angling for a job. “Happy Birthday, POTUS!” Mayor Pete squealed. “Thank you for your lifelong commitment to the American people and for delivering on your promises to Build Back Better. Grateful to serve under your leadership.”

The birthday of any American president would seem to have been cause for celebration, but we can understand why Biden and his handlers didn’t want to make a fuss. Far better to lay low than to throw a superspreader event like his old boss, Barack Obama, threw this summer for his 60th birthday on Martha’s Vineyard. No, Joe’s handlers know his age isn’t anything to call attention to.

According to a new McLaughlin & Associates survey, a full 59% of voters want Joe Biden to take a cognitive test and release the results, And the six-page letter that his doctor, Kevin O'Connor, released on Friday, while telling us all about the polyp that was removed from the president’s alimentary canal, said nary a thing about his cognitive faculties.

And about that Joe Biden shuffle — the unsmooth, unsteady way he moves from one place to the next: Is it merely the aftermath of his broken foot, or is it something that we’ve all come to recognize as being more serious? “I don’t like that they ascribe his gait issues to a broken foot,” says Dr. Marc Siegel, a clinical professor of medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center. “This is not a fully characterized neurological assessment of somebody with a gait problem, and I want to know why.” What Siegel is getting at is that gait disorders, particularly stiffer, shortened, more asymmetric strides, are often linked to dementia.

If one ever needed proof that the Democrats are more concerned with remaining in power than they are with the welfare of this nation — or with the welfare of Joe Biden, for that matter — one need look no further than the unwillingness of anyone on that side of the aisle to acknowledge the issue of the president’s clear cognitive decline.