Showing posts with label Presidential age concerns. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Presidential age concerns. Show all posts

Monday, May 20, 2019

How old is too old for U.S. president?


The question is, does age matter?
Art Cullen in the Guardian says that age-70 may be too old for being President of the United States, referring to Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, the latter turning seventy before inauguration. Considering who will be running in 2020, Trump will be 72, Biden 76, Sanders 78 and Warren 69. He cites Ronald Reagan in his 70s while in the White House, and Nancy Reagan and Al Haig actually running things as the Gipper passed into neverland.

Here's how Cullen describes the situation...
"Trump is batty and losing it more each day. Bernie impresses as a grumpy and impatient Trotskyite, Biden as a familiar Irish pol who wants to hug you up and keep you warm, hearkening to days when unions had teeth and Scranton had steel. They confront a candidate written by Rod Serling for the Twilight Zone."
 "Warren seems a pup in their presence. Young of mind, she is a fan of Game of Thrones. She is full of vim and vigor and maybe is no more likely to die of a stroke than Pete Buttigieg, 37. She could beat me in a foot race any day of any distance. But if she wins she will be 75 at the end of her first term – slightly older than Reagan at the end."
You'll note here that he spends twice as much space on Warren as any of the other three. After this Cullen draws comparisons between Einstein, Mark Twain, Eisenhower and the Kennedys, alluding to their accomplishments at various ages. He says, "War would be rarer if women ran the world." then adds, "But we are talking, in the main, about three old white men. At least the national cable media are. Biden nearly has the nomination cinched, to hear it told."

That doesn't bode well for Democrats with the rest of the field relatively weak, except, perhaps, for Kamala Harris. Sorry, but I still have a warm spot for the Bern, and as a Democratic Socialist myself, believe that most of his issues could fly. My concern is Medicare for All-Single payer plan, and just how feasible that is. Here's a definition...
"Single-payer is a more general term used to describe a government system, typically backed by taxes, in which everyone gets health care from one insurer, run by the government. Think of Medicare for all as a brand-name single-payer plan. Some advocates also like the term 'national health insurance.'”
Consider the possibility of not doing away with insurance companies, which would be an almost impossible sell. Have the government use insurance companies, allocating coverage out to the lowest bidder, with obvious restrictions on the quality of coverage. I solidly believe Bernie deserves a shot at the presidency with his honesty and integrity.  And I have no problem with his age...I am 86.

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