Good Morning.
The troops on both sides of the aisle are gearing up for the 2020 presidential election, and my immediate and considerable problem is that the troops are old. I am old so I'm entitled to say that I really don't want old in the White House. Old is fine in the form of historical furnishings sitting around in the Blue Room but old should not be sitting in the Oval Office.
Let's consider some of the antiques who are being mentioned as potential candidates to challenge the current occupant of the house at 1600. Bernie Sanders is considering another run, and if successful, he would be seventy-nine when he took the oath of office for his first, not his second, term. That means that if he got the usual eight years, he'd be pushing ninety. This is old. We also have Joe Biden who would be seventy-eight at his inauguration and Elizabeth Warren who would be a spring chicken seventy. They would face an incumbent who would be seventy-three at the start of a second term. I have no idea what the health insurance arrangements are for people who are or who have been in high public office, but the rest of us are on Medicare, a plan that was put in place for an age group that lugs around oxygen tanks, uses stair lifts and grab bars, and has fake hips and teeth.
Reagan was sixty-nine when first inaugurated and seventy-seven when he left office. He gave the appearance of being robust
but reportedly nodded off in cabinet meetings during his second term. Old people do this sort of thing. I can nod off when I'm reading a novel with my morning coffee, an activity that does not require my attention to foreign policy and disaster relief. Old people, when not slumbering in a chair, sometimes lose their train of thought, a situation that could cause a real mess with a visiting dignitary, especially one from a country that doesn't like us. "The president discussed sanctions with the Russian foreign minister this afternoon but couldn't be specific about when they might be lifted," the press corps reports around the world. Translation: the president was chatting with the Russian foreign minister about his great-grandchildren because he couldn't remember that Congress had voted to extend sanctions the week before.
It's not that young presidents don't have their problems. Kennedy, who came into office at a boyish forty-three, had issues with his back and Addison's Disease even though he seemed to be the picture of health. Clinton, inaugurated at forty-seven, carried around a fair amount of extra weight from too many visits to McDonald's and clearly left his ability to make good personal decisions under the golden arches. Obama, forty-eight upon entering office, and George W., a pleasant fifty-five, didn't have any apparent health concerns that slowed them down whether you agreed with their policies or not. The point is these younger men were more equipped to deal with the arduous tasks of the presidency. When they dined with the prime minister of somewhere, for example, you were quite certain they wouldn't dribble their vichyssoise down a pleated shirt or call the prime minister the name of some other prime minister during the toasts. You knew they could handle jet lag, high altitudes, and punishing schedules.
Back in the states, you were confident they rose early and retired late because they had the stamina to do it. Who wants a president who dodders into the shower after watching The Price is Right and has a glass of warm milk before the street lights are on? The current president enjoys something called executive time that gives him carte blanche to show up at the office around noon. This does not mean he slept in because his tweets at the crack of dawn indicate otherwise, but it does mean that he struggles with the tedium of morning briefings and the nuts and bolts that is a necessary part of the presidency. He'd rather be playing golf and he should be, just like the others who have wisely decided to give up office hours. And the idea, put forth recently, of making sure the vice-president is thirty years younger isn't comforting.
Best regards,
Elisabeth
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