Voice of America reported that First Lady Jill Biden was in Paris this week to announce that the U.S. is rejoining the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Yet although the first lady brought her daughter Ashley, Mrs. Biden's husband was nowhere to be found.  

First lady taking bigger role as doubts grow over president's age and acuity

This is not the first time the first lady has headed out into the world without the president, as The Times of Israel revealed earlier this spring that she was embarking on a solo tour of the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

Jill Biden visits Paris to mark US return to UNESCO https://t.co/SnR6tYsTqo

— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) July 24, 2023

Mrs. Biden's duties have apparently not been limited to representing America overseas, as in May a Spectator columnist pointed to rumors that she is also helping to select the next NATO chief.

The columnist wrote that he "can’t help wondering why Dr. Biden — an intellectually underwhelming academic with a Ph.D. in educational leadership — might think she has insight into Western security, especially at a time when NATO is doing almost everything possible to stop Russia in Ukraine."

The first lady's growing prominence comes even as there are growing concerns over whether or not her husband, who turns 81 this fall, is fit to remain in office.

Poll finds that 43% of Democrats believe Mr. Biden is too old

Those thoughts aren't just being expressed by conservatives, as on Tuesday Newsweek cited a Harvard CPAS/Harris Poll carried out between July 18 to and July 20 which found that 43% of Democrats think Mr. Biden is too old to be president.

Newsweek noted that this figure represents an eight-point increase since June and a 10-point jump from when the same question was asked in May.

Meanwhile, Fox News contributor Liz Peeke wrote an op-ed piece this past February in which she compared Mrs. Biden's role to that of Edith Wilson.

"After President Woodrow Wilson suffered a massive stroke in October 1919, leaving him paralyzed, his wife Edith effectively took over, concealing his disabilities from Wilson’s staff, his cabinet and Congress. Edith Wilson ran the country until the end of her husband’s term in March 1921," she wrote.

Republican congressman: "Nobody elected her"

Peeke went on to suggest that "it is entirely possible that if Joe Biden’s decline accelerates, Dr. Jill might play an ever-grander role in the affairs of our country. Indeed, it appears she already is."

Peeke noted that the situation has left many of the president's critics troubled, including former Georgia Republican Rep. Doug Collins.

"This has really gotten concerning because nobody, frankly in all fairness to the first lady, nobody elected her to answer questions for the president on issues that the press may have questioned," Peeke quoted Collins as telling Fox News.