"Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears" ----John Lennon
Had Biden
remained in the race and won (which was doubtful) he would have been 82 years
old when sworn in. But how much does that really matter? Ronald Reagan was just
shy of 70 when first elected (and yes, age was an issue then too), making him
oldest person ever elected to the presidency at that point, and he went on to
serve two terms.
Former
Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower, was just 70 when he
left office in 1961 (succeed by one of our youngest elected presidents, John F.
Kennedy, who was a mere pup at 43. The youngest when elected was Teddy
"TR" Roosevelt at age 42). The average age of presidents is 55 at the
time of their inauguration.
It's worth
noting at this point that the topic of age was intensely discuss by the
Founding Fathers when it came to serving in Congress or the Presidency.
However, they weren't concerned with placing a age cap on elected officials. In
actually, they were more concerned with establishing a minimum age!
During the
1781 Constitutional Convention, Virginia's George Mason lobbied hard for establishing
a minimum age. Many of the
Conventioneers, lead by James Wilson of New Hampshire, felt the someone should be at least 25 before
seeking high office (remember that the mortality for men back then was about
40), which kind of makes sense actually.
Speaking of
age, do you know why the minimum age to collect Social Security was set at age
65? Because the average life expectancy for men (the main bread winner) in 1935
was 60 years old (65 for women). Men had to beat the average by five years
before they could apply!
So, if an "age
cap" wasn't of any real consequence for our Founding Fathers beyond setting age
floor, what's all the hubbub about Biden's age? I think the answer is a simple
as it is obvious. We've all known individuals in their 40's, 50's or 60's who
act like their octogenarians. They're sluggish, always tired and don't want to
do anything that involves expending much energy (operating the remote doesn't
count as expending much energy). Even their memory isn't quite what it used to
be mainly because they don't challenge themselves intellectually.
Then there's
those individuals who are in their 70's, 80's and older who are constantly on
the go. There are few household projects they won't tackle. They keep their
minds sharp, be it actively watching game shows like "Jeopardy" or
"The Weakest Link" and "competing" with the contestants to
taking academic courses, learning a new skill, staying engaged with others, are
proactive with their healthcare ,or so forth. These people boldly defy the age
stereotype.
Despite his
age going into office, Ronald Reagan developed a reputation for being active
(like riding horses or working on his
688 acre ranch at Rancho del Cielo). How many of us haven't seen photos of
Reagan splitting wood? Even though Eisenhower was 70 when he left office in
1961, he continued to golf ("Ike" maintained a 14 handicap) but even
while President, he never failed to get in 36 rounds of golf a week.
Nevertheless,
age eventually catches up with all of us no matter how fast we run. For
President Reagan the early signs of Alzheimer were already there as early as
1984 according to Reagan's son, Ron. By
the time Reagan was almost completed his second and final term, the
symptoms were becoming harder and harder to overlook. However, his official diagnosis didn't come until
October 1994, five years after leaving office.
Well, that
brings us to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. We'll start with "the
Donald". At the time Trump was 70 years old when he was inaugurated in
2017. That made him the then oldest president ever elected. However, if age is
just a number marking our trips around the sun, then what factor should we be
most concerned with?
Being
President isn't for the faint of heart or the couch potato. The Presidency is a
highly demanding around-the-clock job. For the next four years you're never "off
the clock". As proof, we've all seen the before and after pictures of
presidents. Most look like they've aged decades instead of just 4 or 8 years no
matter how young they looked going in.
So, perhaps
the most critical factors are their overall health, physical stamina, and
mental acuity. There's no question that
Trump is a physically fit individual. He does things that would exhaust someone
half his age, and his physicals bear that out. At 6'3" and roughly 244 pounds, Trump has
been proclaimed by independent doctors to be healthy (though he could stand to
lose a few pounds). His blood pressure runs around 121/79 with a heart rate of 63.
In addition, in preparation for this race, Trump clams to have completed five cognitive skills tests (as he mentioned in his debate with Biden) and successfully passed all of them. What's not disputed is that the former president aced the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is one of the most accurate cognitive tests available. When voters were polled 47% generally tended to agree that Trump was mentally pretty sharp (compared to only 28% for Biden), which brings us to Biden and his health.
Foreign leaders have said that Biden isn't the man they had known in the past. Many have commented that he seemed dazed, having difficulty concentrating, making decisions, getting lost, and so forth. Our enemies, and even some of our friends, have come to see Biden as feeble and weak. That in turn makes America seem vulnerable. To our friends, it gives them pause as to whether we are still dependable.
President
Biden underwent his annual physical in February
2024 and was pronounced as "fit to serve" and "no new
concerns" by his doctors According
to a White House press release, Biden has never officially been diagnosed with Alzheimer, dementia, stroke, or Parkinson's
Disease and that Biden had met with three neurologists on three separate occasions.
Nevertheless,
it should be pointed out that Biden has repeatedly declined to take any
cognitive tests, which understandably has failed to reassure party leadership
or corporate donors, especially based on what they've been seeing and hearing. If, in fact, Biden had taken some sort of
acuity test, the White House isn't telling anyone, including Democratic
leadership.
Perhaps too
this is all a game of semantics. Biden hasn't been "diagnosed" with
any neurological disorders, but he also hasn't taken any tests to confirm it,
which appears to imply the "diagnosis" was based solely on
observation and not on empirical evidence. Therefore, the statement "fit to
serve" was more likely intended to simply ease public and party concerns and reinforce confidence in Biden's bid for reelection
than an actual statement of fact.
According to
a Pew Report released just before Biden's announcement, almost 75% of the respondents
felt that Biden wasn't mentally fit compared to Trump's positive 58%. Only 24% said they would describe Biden as
"energetic". Just slightly
under one third approved of his job performance (which has never been on the
plus side), This makes his job approval
the lowest of any president seeking reelection.
As a side
note, on issues such as honesty and
compassion, Biden outperformed "the Donald". 48% of those polled said
Biden was more honest than Trump who polled just 36%. When it came to
compassion for the masses, Biden squeaked by with 49% compared to Trump's 44%.
However, the
number which stands out the most was that 71% of Biden supporters no longer
supported his reelection bid. Only 23%
wanted him to remain on the ballot. For a reelection campaign, that's catastrophic.
On the other side of the aisle, an April poll showed that 35% of Republicans
and conservatives wanted to see Trump replaced on the ballot. That number
dropped to 26% as of July with 72% happy the way things are.
With Biden
out, Trump will face off against the 59 year old Vice President Kamala Harris
(the same age as Trump's running mate, J.D. Vance). Ms. Harris has the dubious designation
of having the lowest consecutive approval rating of any Vice President of any
party at any time in U.S. history. As of July 23rd, Harris has a 51.4%
disapproval rate among Americans in general.
Age may very
well be "just a number", but whether is bestows wisdom and maturity
is entirely a different matter. However, with four months to go until the November election,
it appears that experience along with some guile and cunning are beating out
youth and lukewarm enthusiasm.
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Pew: Joe Biden,Public Opinion, and His Withdrawal From the 2024 Race
Gallup: Biden's
Approval Hit New Low Before Exit From Race
Biden quitrace for reelection after agonizing over poll data, sources say
Fivethirtyeight:Do American approve or disapprove of Kamala Harris
What the
White House and the president doctor's say about the president's health
Mental AcuityQuestions Catch Up With Trump
List ofpresidents of the United States by age
Most U.S.presidents have been in their 50s at inauguration
The 8 OldestU.S. Presidents in History
