McCain's Problem: Not Age, but Condition
Barack Obama versus John McCain. One of the first things that supporters of Obama ought to realize is that attacking, belittling or characterizing John McCain by emphasizing his age is a mistake. It is a mistake that may backfire and cost them a lot of votes with seniors in this country.
I don't know about you, but everywhere I look in our society, people over sixty-five are making profound contributions to their chosen fields. Architecture, writing, journalism, painting, education, corporate leadership, law, medicine. You name it. With the exception of actually performing in fields such as sports or ballet, for example, men and women that are John McCain's age are not only contributing, they are at the top of their game.
The problem with John McCain is not his age, it's his condition. McCain's true lack of the abundant energy required to function as president, even performing the job on the most basic level, is what must be questioned. Perhaps McCain could have served in the 1950s, back in a time when the job was significantly less complicated than it is today. However, the world has grown far more dangerous and complicated in the last decade. (I know this because the Bush administration has worked incredibly hard for eight years to convince me of this.) The world today requires that we have a president who has the mental and physical capability and stamina to face issues such as terrorism, global warming and the energy crisis we are currently steeped in, not to mention the link between all three.
John McCain had a relatively brief and less taxing battle for his party's nomination than Barack Obama did. He has had time to rest up. Get mentally fit. Study his notes and come out swinging once he had a clear target. And what have we witnessed thus far? What kind of shape will John McCain be in come September or October, after weeks of stress and pounding from his adversary, who seems right now to be indefatigable?
McCain's ideas are too old, not the Senator himself. McCain's view of this country, his view of the world, are too old. There may be a seventy-two year old Republican Senator/ war hero who has most or all of what it takes to lead this country out of these difficult times. John McCain is not that man.
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Mr. Baldwin,
I know many older people who have a problem with McCain's age. Partly because because being a president requires a lot of energy.
YES, ALEX BALDWIN, I AGREE WITH YOU. THE BOTTOM LINE IS MC CAIN HAS MANY STRIKES AGAINST HIM. HE IS NOT A MAN FOR OUR TIMES. (I AM 77 YEARS OLD AND A WOMAN, SO YOU DON'T THINK I AM PREJUDICED BECAUSE OF HIS AGE OR GENDER.) WE ARE LIVING IN A MUCH DIFFERENT WORLD THAN ONE OR TWO GENERATIONS AGO. OBAMA SEEMS TO HAVE A VISION OF THE FUTURE, ALTHOUGH SOMETIMES I THINK HE DOES FLIP-FLOP. BUT, YET, I DO HAVE A FEELING THAT HE IS TRYING TO USE DIPLOMACY AND NEGOTIATIONS.
Nice blog mom. I am impressed with a lot of blogs from our seniors this morning.
I disagree in part, Alec. Using the sole reason of "old age" is not enough to justify disallowing an elderly president. But, age is an important consideration when talking about four long years as our nation's leader (and also, who would succeed McCain in the event of his passing away while in office). We're talking about an extraordinarily stressful job in which even younger men have aged prematurely ... & McCain would be leader of the only remaining superpower nation on the globe; so yes, I think voters must take into account all factors, including age, mental & physical condition, experience, education, past problems & issues of all kinds (eg., familial, financial, health, etc.).
K
Some bloggers have stated that Reagan chopped wood, and Geroge H.W. played golf as evidence of their fitness, but we have not seen McCain exercise...I disagree.
He shoots craps, but now only in private rooms, so we don't get to see it. Dice throwing can be very strenuous.
He is known to get a cardiac workout whenever he is asked questions he doesn't want to deal with. We've all seen him strain to keep cool and never let us see him sweat, but seeing him clinch his teeth, with neck veins apopping, I'm sure his heart gets a good workout.
McCain's not a total physical wreck.
He can still stoop pretty low.
Aging is a funny thing. Different parts of different people don't age at the same rate or in the same way. My late father, who died at 84, was mentally as sharp as he was at the age of 21, right up to his dying moment. Unfortunately, the body did not keep up with his mind, which he found somewhat frustrating as there was much that he still wanted to accomplish. On the other hand, I've seen those who are quite physically sound into advanced age, but the mind has gone. Go figure.
A balanced point of view but I think age is even more of a factor than Alec does. I am sixty-five and pretty active and "with it" but I know what age is doing to me and it ain't pretty. Further, I am a snowbird and while I find much to admire in the vigor and health of my elders, the annual six month hiatus in day to day interaction makes "slippage" painfully obvious. It is incremental for some and dramatic for others. McCain has a good set of genes on his mother's side but I haven't heard much about his dad's side.
Then there is the mental framework. There is a ton of research on how when we grew up and the culture we experienced doing it shapes attitudes and world views. I catch myself sounding like my dad and know that the world has progressed (?) beyond my mindsets. The elder sages have a lot to offer but leadership needs a younger generation's thinking.
Mental Health and Intelligence quotient (IQ) trump age for me. He's been proven unstable in the first and lacking in the second. Just one of those two should disqualify anyone from the office. Unfortunately, we have proof positive that they held little water in deciding who should be President in the last 2 elections.
Alec, you are absolutely correct. It is not his age that is the question regarding his candidacy, it is his condition. Mental and physical conditions are not separately occurring phenomena. If an individual has one such problem, he will soon have the other. Unfortunately, McCain shows signs of both mental and physical decline. The odds are very high that McCain will begin an accelerated physical and mental deterioration during his first term if he is elected. And, if history is any guide, it will be kept secret from the US public for as long as they can get away with it; which will probably be a long time judging from the mass media's reluctance to touch the issue even now.
Unfortunately, normal understanding and compassion for a fellow human must be forgone in this instance since we are deciding on an individual who will be entrusted with the well-being of the planet and its people.
Smart Alec!
McCain is not old - he just has some lousy friends. Such as George W. Bush.
Ageing is a relative process that depends on genes and varying lifetime experiences. I happen to be 81 and still totally fit both physically and mentally -- in fact I am still fully employed in my lifetime career, and also go to the gym every day of the week. But honestly, John McCain looks and feels as if he were my grandfather even though he is a decade younger. He has been through terrible ordeals as a prisoner of war and in his five melanoma cancer operations. I greatly admire his heroic stand both in wartime and in his politics. But unfortunately this type of melanoma cancer keeps recurring and will have to be treated. That is a medical fact the voters must consider.
Couldn't agree more about the relative process of ageing. My father is sharp as a tack in his mid-seventies and often surprises his grandchildren with his dry cynical grasp of current affairs. My father-in-law on the other hand is only a couple of years older but has been illogical, set in his ways, uninterested in new experiences, in other words "old" since middle-age.
Lack of engagement with a changing world is, to me, a definite symptom of emotional ageing (or, downright stupidity) and is a worrying trait in anyone in a position of power.
I'm deeply impressed by what you are writing in your posts. This is a thoughtful, but still provocative, argument well-made.
I have stereotyped actors as undeserving of their ability to speak about issues purely because they are "famous."
I apologize.
If you stop acting, you should be a columnist.
Well Alec you are half right. JMac's age is not the problem, though it is certainly a consideration. JMac's real problems are his lack of ideas, lack of knowledge, and the lobbyists that control his campaign. He doesn't appear to stand for anything. He is not a solid guy. He also does not appear to know how to build good teams, manage his campaign finances, or how to win a campaign.
The only coalition of support he has are the people that hate democrats more than anything else. In all of these things he is the perfect representative of the Republican Party. And that is the root of their problems.
The real problem is that conservatives have run out of ideas and have no real agenda except to keep themselves in power. They don't want to govern, they want to continue to loot and pollute this country unmolested by the press, the Democrats or the public just as George Bush has done for the last seven and a half years.
You are so right Alec, it is not his age that makes him look and act like an old man its the fact that he is so out of shape.
He is certainly no Jack Lalanne, it is incomprehensible to me that he has a medical record 1500 pages long with skin cancer the focal point of his most serious problems.
I think his physiological problems are the least of my concerns, his psychological problems and his bitter angry hostile personality are much more troubling, flying off the handle and losing his temper among staff is usually harmless but as president the lose of his mental composure could mean something very dangerous like war.
I totally agree, Alec, about your views re older people and their ability. If I have to make a remark it would be that 65 is not the age when it comes to still being needed in society, you are not important in many cases when you are as young as 45-50, that is nothing but a scandal. If you lose your job at f.i. 48 you may be shut out from employment for the rest of your life. How fun is that?
A rescue would be to enter politics, but not all are suitable for it or have any ideas that might help. Not to mention the awful thing called money. It is totally wrong to depend on having a small fortune, or being able to raise one, to stand a millimeter of a chance to even try to be the next President. Joining a political party and being backed up mentally and financally by it is the only correct thing to have a chance to reach a position where you can change the world.
Can McCain change anything significant? I doubt it. Can Obama change things just because he always says so? I am not so sure about that either. McCain may have an unsuitable condition, but by judging Obamas recent change of haircolour into greyish his health is in no favour either. Maybe both guys ought to rest at a spa before all hell breaks loose shortly. Then we will see what happens.
What we are looking at are the residual effefts of "untreated" Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome,a condition that was not known in the Post Vietnam Era of the late 60's.
Really kind of sad that the Medical Professionals in the MSM have looked the other way at this very serious situation facing the American people. (Posted by a Nurse)
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