Yeah, Biden Has a Speech Impediment

It’s a right-brain thing that indicates he’s smarter and more capable than most

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Joe Biden stutters. He’s in good company with some equally famous stutterers like:

• Winston Churchill, prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War and again from 1951 to 1955: Churchill spoke with what has been characterized as “a lisp and a slight stutter,” which he was usually able to disguise when he spoke in public.
• King George VI of England from 1936 until his death in 1952: The king was a symbol of courage and strength for his people during World War II. He stuttered badly but was able to speak very, very slowly with lengthy pauses without revealing the problem. His most famous speech, the Royal Christmas Message of 1939, is evidence of this. You can hear it on YouTube.
• Samuel L. Jackson: No stuttering in Jungle Fever, Jurassic Park, or Pulp Fiction, though his problem before he spent time with a speech therapist as a child was “debilitating.”
• Nicole Kidman: The actress remembers struggling to speak as a child. “I remember when I was little just being so excited to get it out and I couldn’t get it out.”
• Tiger Woods, one of the greatest golfers of all time. Tiger says his stutter only occurs when he’s tired.

And many others: Ed Sheeran, Grammy-winning singer and songwriter; James Earl Jones, one of the most memorable voices in movies; Emily Blunt, Golden Globe-winning actress; John Stearns, captain of the New York Mets in 1984; Mel Tillis, legendary country singer and songwriter; even Marilyn Monroe.

None of these people are or were stupid or incapable. In fact, every one of them demonstrated intelligence and the capability to work hard to achieve a goal. Every one of them garnered worldwide respect.

As has Biden.

When Biden’s teacher in fifth grade derided him and called him “Mr. Buh-buh-buh Biden,” he could have figured he was going to be embarrassed for the rest of his life every time he opened his mouth. He could have thought he was too stupid to do much of anything.

Not young Joe Biden.

This young boy went home, stood in front of a mirror with a flashlight pointed at his mouth, and recited Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. You have to win it.”

He practiced and practiced and practiced in front of that mirror until he could recite entire essays by Emerson almost perfectly.

People who stutter are not stupid. In fact, stutterers have an average IQ that is 14 points above the national average, and Biden’s IQ is one point higher than that.

People also don’t stutter because of psychological or emotional issues — though these can result from how others treat them. Instead, as brain imaging shows, there is more right-brain activity — attention, reasoning, and problem-solving — in people who stutter, with less of the left-brain motor activity required for speech.

More attention, reasoning, and problem-solving ability are what we want in a president who must deal with complex domestic and global issues.

Practicing moving your mouth to make speech can make for perfect speech — unless you are more capable than most people of giving attention to a problem, reasoning it through, and solving it, and less capable of making your mouth move in specific directions. For Biden, practice has made for almost perfect speech.

When I watch the 2024 Presidential Debate on Thursday, I’m going to keep this in mind. Biden’s speech is sometimes impaired, but he is smart, capable, and has a lifelong habit of working hard. I plan to pay close attention to what he says about his plans to continue making life better for everyone in this country.