If President Biden’s birthday is anything like his last one, he’ll eat a cake quietly with family and hope nobody else notices. When he turned the big 80 last fall, the White House arranged a marriage as a distraction for the press. Biden’s granddaughter was wed on the South Lawn. The timing “was not a coincidence,” two sources told CNN.

Regardless, voters have managed to notice that Biden is showing his years. Seventy-seven percent of Americans say he’s too old for another term, according to an August AP poll, including 69 percent of Democrats, 74 percent of independents, and 89 percent of Republicans. And who says Biden hasn’t united the country? During the 2020 election, concerns about his age were muttered sotto voce, but now they’re front and center in his re-election bid.

Last week, Biden turned 81. Already he is struggling on camera and limiting his public schedule. His aides fear he might trip — again — on TV. “Biden will not be able to govern and campaign in the manner of previous incumbents,” Politico reported this week. “He simply does not have the capacity to do it, and his staff doesn’t trust him to even try.”

Then why is he asking the public to keep him in the Oval Office until 2029, when he will be 86-years-old? If he can’t take the rigors of a presidential campaign, why would voters think he can handle four more years of a grueling job, which might include being shaken awake in the wee hours to respond to a Chinese invasion of Taiwan?

Given Biden’s age and obvious decline, running for re-election is an act of profound selfishness. He has wanted the big desk since at least 1987, when he first ran. Aging people, even if they’re not surrounded by yes men, can be the last to notice time’s toll, as many can attest after trying to take away dad’s car keys.

Biden wants to run another Wilmington basement campaign, albeit this time from the White House. But the polls are screaming that his weakness could put Donald Trump back into office. Even if Biden wins, there’s a strong chance the country would get President Kamala Harris before his term ends.

The White House has tried to laugh away such worries. As press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre once memorably put it: “Eighty is the new 40. Didn’t you hear?”

This won’t work, especially when Biden’s aides are whispering to the press that they don’t trust him on the campaign trail. His staff and family should put the country before the perks of office. If the reality is that the boss is too old for another term, and if he refuses to hear it, the honorable move is to resign and quit covering for him.