‘They say I’m ancient’: Biden speech to White House media proves to be one for the ages

Age shall not weary him, but it might provide some good punchlines.

Joe Biden, the oldest president in American history, faced his biggest political liability with a smile on Saturday as he addressed a gathering of Washington's political and media elites.

The 80-year-old, who this week announced a bid for re-election in 2024, flipped between a pugnacious defence of press freedom and crisp one-liners at the expense of political opponents as he addressed the White House Correspondents' Association annual dinner.

As opinion polls show that a majority of Americans have little appetite for a second Biden term, with many citing his age as a defining concern, he chose not to hide from his most obvious vulnerability but run towards it.

"I believe in the first amendment, not just because my good friend Jimmy Madison wrote it," he said, referring to one of America's founding fathers, who died in 1836.

He went on: "Look, I get that age is a completely reasonable issue. It's in everybody's mind and by everyone, I mean the New York Times. Headline: 'Biden's advanced age is a big issue. Trump's, however, is not.'"

The president had a dig at Don Lemon, a CNN host who was fired this week after a series of missteps including remarks that Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, 51, "isn't in her prime" because "a woman is considered to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s".