I’m sad to hear about Joe Biden being diagnosed with cancer. I hope that he will get the best possible treatment, and I wish his family and himself a lot of strength during these next few months.

That said, the story about him just now finding out about the diagnosis doesn’t sound very credible to me. I also thought that the high-profile interviews he gave shortly before the announcement were not a wise strategic move.

Let me explain. I’ve told clients of mine who were in similar situations that once you’re out of office, you can enjoy private life with all the freedom and advantages that come with it. Or, if you decide to speak publicly—do interviews, give speeches—why not admit mistakes? Life is full of them, and as an elder statesman, you’re in a comfortable position to be more open and honest about them. It makes you look human, and I think that’s something people really appreciate. Both friends and foes will respect it.

What I would not recommend is to go on the record and insist you were right about something the public has clearly rendered a (different) verdict.

I get it. The new book, Original Sin by Jake Tapper, paints a very dark picture of Biden’s cognitive decline while he was still in the White House. He and Jill Biden want to defend themselves. But I don’t think that’s a wise move, because that’s the very issue his own party pressured him to drop out of the race—something unprecedented in modern political history.

Yes, you have to defend your record. If you don’t, no one else will. But you should focus on your strengths, not your weaknesses.

Joe Biden can rightly celebrate having passed infrastructure legislation under very difficult circumstances. He can also claim, legitimately, that fewer people died in Ukraine during his term than are dying now. But I really don’t think his age is a topic that benefits him.

This applies to other leaders as well. When Angela Merkel, the former German chancellor, published her memoirs, I didn’t understand why she used the media attention to insist her asylum policy was right—when it’s clear that said policy caused serious damage to Germany, damage the country may never fully recover from.

Barack Obama, for example, can legitimately defend the Affordable Care Act. He can protest that coverage might be taken away from millions of Americans. But to insist that his weakness on foreign policy was the correct decision, seems like a wrong move. Maybe there were reasons for it at the time, but it’s clear now that those decisions are at the root of many current problems—whether with respect to Syria or Russia.

An interesting case is Tony Blair. Smart politician that he is, he doesn’t spend much time talking about the war in Iraq. He knows that the British public has a very clear opinion about that war. Instead, he reminds people that New Labour achieved a number of significant and popular accomplishments with respect to domestic policy.

Check out my latest video on YouTube where I further discuss Joe Biden and the handling of his post-presidency.