Democrats fear in secret that Biden's age will cost them the White House: Senators say president, 81, has to 'show some energy' but still won't discuss his performance issues in public

Democratic senators fear President Joe Biden's advanced age could cost the party the White House but the topic is so taboo that it hasn't even come up during their weekly private luncheon. 

Biden, 81, is facing additional scrutiny after last week's release of Special Counsel Robert Hur's classified documents report, in which the Trump-appointed DOJ official referenced the president's 'diminished faculties.'

The report also said a jury would find Biden 'a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory,' which the White House said was a 'gratuitous' characterization. 

The Hill reported Tuesday on concerns expressed by Senate Democrats over Biden's age and electability, but only two lawmakers, Vermont Sen. Peter Welch and Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow, were willing to talk about it on-the-record. 

Welch advised that Biden needed to 'show some energy,' while Stabenow argued she'd recently seen that kind of vigor from the 81-year-old leader. 

Democratic senators fear President Joe Biden's advanced age could cost the party the White House but the topic is so taboo that it hasn't even come up during their weekly private luncheon

One senator, who remained anonymous, said Biden's age hasn't come up in the weekly leadership lunches run by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (left), while Sen. Peter Welch (right) said 'Biden can win ... he's got to deal with the age issue' 

'[His] energy level was high. He was in his element. I see a very different picture,' Stabenow said, pointing to a recent trip in which Biden met with black pastors and the United Auto Workers in Detroit, Michigan. 

Another Democratic senator remarked with surprise to The Hill that Biden's age hadn't come up in the weekly gatherings. 

'In all of our lunches, it's never been discussed. It's kind of amazing,'a Democratic senator told The Hill. 'No one has said, "We should talk about this." Or, "Isn't this an issue? Should we have him come over and talk."'

'I've never heard anybody say, "Schumer should go over there and talk to him about it,"' the unnamed senator added. 'But I don't think that means that people aren't worried about it. Look, I worry about it.' 

For months, polling has showed it's a major concern for American voters, with an AP poll from August finding that a whopping 77 percent of U.S. adults felt Biden was too old to be effective in a second term. 

Another 51 percent said the same of former President Donald Trump, 77, the likely Republican nominee.  

'I'm less worried about his ability, I'm assuming he's going to do,' the job, the Democratic senator said of Biden, 'but I'm worried about a lot of people in the country' who don't think the president is up to the task.

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (center) said Biden's (right) 'energy level was high. He was in his element. I see a very different picture,' referring to the president's recent trip to Detroit, Michigan earlier this month 

Welch told The Hill that Biden 'can win' but encouraged the president to take voters' concerns about his age seriously. 

During Biden's heated Thursday night press conference, he told reporters 'that is your judgement' when asked questions about his age, his memory and his abililty to do the job. 

While Biden recently said there were other Democrats who could beat Trump, he argued that he deserved to be the nominee 'because I'm the most qualified person in this country to be president of the United States and finish the job I started.'

'Biden, he's got to deal with the age issue. He's got to show some energy, and he's got to show what the future is, not just beat up on Trump,' Welch argued. 

'Trump is going to be Trump, and people are going to come to their own reactions. They don't need the Biden campaign to be telling them how bad Trump is. Trump will take care of that himself,' the Vermont Democrat predicted. 'There's got to be a real manifestation of energy and future orientation from the Biden campaign.' 

A second unnamed Democratic senator told The Hill that there are concerns about Biden's age but there's also a sense that the primary is too far long for Democrats to field a fresh candidate. 

Michigan's Democratic primary will take place February 27 and Super Tuesday will happen a week later. 

Only Minnesota Rep. Dean Phillips is still challenging Biden, as self-help guru Marianne Williamson dropped out of the race last week. 

'The general sense of folks is that we've hitched our wagon to Biden, that he's delivered a lot in partnership. It may not be Biden himself, but it's his team. Right? And we're already into the primaries,' the second Democratic senator said.  

Only a really glaring health setback would shake-up the race, the Democrat speculated.

'If there was something super obvious like there was with Mitch McConnell,' the senator said, referencing the Republican leader's public freeze-ups.