"Flight 2008, Your Plane Is Now Boarding"

During the 2004 presidential election and for several years thereafter, I was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rock the Vote, the well-known non-profit young voter registration and education organization. At my suggestion, we decided that our 2005 Rock the Nation Award would be given for the first time to a progressive politician in each major party order (instead of the traditional single award) to underscore that we were, in fact, a non-partisan outreach organization. The recipients would be a Democrat and a Republican whom we felt, at the time, demonstrated and exemplified progressive bi-partisan politics. So on June 8, 2005 at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C, we awarded our 2005 Rock the Nation Award to Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain.

What a difference three years makes.

What is most striking to me about this in retrospect is not our eerie prescience regarding the 2008 presidential candidates. Rather, it is that the John McCain who received the award to in 2005 just does not seem to be the same John McCain who is running for president today. Now, I must disclaim that since stepping down from Rock the Vote two years ago, I have dedicated myself to helping Barack Obama become our next president. Nevertheless, as the 2008 race approaches its apex, I've been trying to discern what it is about John McCain 2008 that is so different from John McCain 2005 -- the one I actually kind of liked -- before his numerous policy-reversals that have drawn so much attention in the media.

To make sure I wasn't merely having a partisan moment of buyer's remorse, I went back and watched a video of the speeches that both Obama and McCain gave that night in 2005. What shocked me wasn't that John McCain's message had changed so much from then (frankly, the speech he gave that night was fairly apolitical and so bland that you couldn't tell what his positions were) -- it was that in the three years since, John McCain had clearly, and noticeably, aged. As Indiana Jones famously observed, "It's not the years, it's the mileage." In McCain's case, it seems like it may be both.

In 2005, McCain appeared to be vibrant, engaged, and generally "present". In comparison, McCain these days seems rather worn and shaky. It got me thinking: If this is how much McCain has aged in the last three years, how well is he going to age in the next three years, after the accumulated stresses of the grueling primaries and election, and with the unimaginable stresses of the Presidency lying ahead?

Many presidents have gone noticeably gray from stress by the end of their term. Campaigning itself contributes to rapid aging. In case you haven't noticed, Senator Obama himself has started getting a bit "more distinguished" over just the last couple of months. So, it's difficult to fathom how a 72-year-old man, especially one who has endured the unimaginable physical horror of five years of torture and confinement compounded by the bodily stress of five bouts of skin cancer, would hold up over the course of his stressful term.

To inject a sense of "real world" into this, let's consider that at present, many corporations have mandatory retirement at ages ranging from 65 to 72. Commercial airline pilots must hang up their wings at 65. Yet Senator McCain wants to assume the most stressful job on the planet beginning at the high-end range of most mandatory retirement policies? The man who wants to be in charge of the safety and well-being of 300 million Americans wouldn't be allowed to be in charge of the safety of 130 passengers flying aboard the New York-Florida shuttle this weekend.

I don't know about you, but if I were a commercial airline pilot seven years past the age of mandatory retirement, I'd feel a heightened sense of responsibility to choose a co-pilot who actually knew how to fly a plane, just in case something happened to me. And if I didn't choose such an experienced co-pilot, I guess my decision would speak volumes about my judgment, and perhaps underscore the reasons why the mandatory retirement age for high-stress occupations like airline pilots is 65.

Why are pilots grounded at that age? Because maybe your judgment starts to get a little fuzzy at 72 when you're dealing with life-or-death decisions that affect a lot of other people. Maybe your reflexes -- mental, physical, and emotional -- have eroded somewhat, leaving you less responsive in moments of crisis. When these unavoidable, natural facts of aging combine with the occupational risks involved it's no wild stretch of the imagination to foresee that you might be more prone to rash, selfish decisions that don't take into account the welfare of the passengers on your plane.

In a scenario like this, it's easy to target the co-pilot for his or her inexperience; however, it's really the pilot who needs to be blamed for selecting that person as co-pilot in the first place.

But ultimately, the choice of how we fly is really up to us. We all get a look inside the cockpit as we board the plane for our flight, and as passengers we can determine whether we should continue on or get off and wait for a different flight, with a crew better able to deliver us safely and securely to our destination.

On November 4, Flight 2008 starts boarding. So think long and hard about who you want as the pilot.

Because once we take off, there's no turning back.

Comments

[All in All]

Some People are able to keep their "Marbles" even within the later Years of Their Lives, for one reason or another.

However most People do start too lose more & more of their "Marbles" as they get further into Their later Years of Their Lives, sadly said!

Hopefully within Time with the help of Scientist and even not so well Educated People alike We will be able too find out the cause/s of Mental Deficiency and reverse the processes of those causes in-order hopefully not only too keep Us all Mentally sound in Our later portion of Our Lives, but also as-well in the hopes of unlocking more potential of everyones Minds/Brains, Young & Old!

As far as McCain is concerned He has lost His way "Marbles" starting from a while back, and We know as of today "once it's gone, it's gone".

[exoevolution]

McCain has already crashed FIVE planes in his "younger" years!

Now the Republican Party has crashed the plane of "AMERICA".

America do you really want to put a 72 year old Republican pilot into the plane that the Republicans have crashed & with a inexperienced unknown Christian hockey mom as his co-pilot???????????

Think about it. Would you "really" board a plane with those two in the cockpit????

We need to rebuild the plane of AMERICA & hire "qualified" "competent" pilots with "youthful" "vigor" with a "21st century vision" & get the hell out of this crash site that the Republicans have given us.

We can board at gate "MORE OF THE SAME".

OR

We can board at gate "CHANGE WE NEED".

Think carefully our "lives", our "future" will depend on it!!

Departure date Nov. 4.

[davedave]

in arizona, we've known for a long time that mr. mccain is not a real stable guy,

his reputation has been to be petty, angry, and prone to very bad quick decisions.

bomb, bomb, bomb---bomb, bomb, iran......­..........­..

hows that for music?

d

[S1m0n]

Pilots are grounded because their reflexes go, not their judgement.

And anyway, the navy grounded McCain YEARS before age 65. He kept crashing planes, and they got fed up.

[bayside]

You make a good point.. Fred. I suspect if MCCain doesnt get the questions beforehand during debates, the world will see a MCain in a fog. That is if media will stop covering up for him..

[OutsiderSA]

Been monitoring MSNBC and CNN (only ones we get here in SA) and I have noticed that they have stopped covering up - I guess everyone has their lie limit - all but the GOP of course.

Good article BTW

[vippy]

We are putting an age limit on jobs then let us start with congress and senate. Fair is fair.
Those old geezers and dinosaurs need to make way for new ideas and of course, less corrupt.

[Princeton]

Congress is collaborative body which no one member could screw up the system. There are real benefits to having members from all walks of life. Presidency is quite different. McCain is either is going to snore during meetings or mess up the world specially with his anger (read PTSD).

[CinciKid]

O wine and cheese gathering with Cinci campaign office workers this Friday. We are showing a short video and getting everyone pumped up for Nov 4th.

We have to be the change we want to see in the world. Get active, work to get O in office!

[cct1984]

Yes, keep insulting senior-cit­izens...th­ey just happen to be the most reliable block of voters in America.

[2012isnear]

Perhaps you should get one of your grandchildren to sit down and explain to you what the article above is all about.

[skeptaholic]

Beautiful.

[SailFree]

The main reason is not specifically judgment, but that reflexes slow as we age. Thanks much.

[skeptaholic]

He acknowledged that. Our older citizens are an invaluable source of knowledge, experience and (sometimes) wisdom. I greatly appreciate their opinions and advice. And avoid them on the highway. If a septagenarian walked into the cockpit while I boarded a plane, I would be nervous. We should be nervous.

Do you suppose there is any connection between Bush and McCain being aviators? I still can't believe Bush was allowed to take the joystick of a million dollar piece of government equipment, let alone the whole country.

[MajorKong]

It's a lot of things, not the least of which is the increased chance of sudden death or incapacitation.

[Opsimath44]

I'd vote for 81 year old E. O. Wilson (zoologist at Harvard) in a heartbeat. The guy hasn't lost a step and has more on the ball than most kids in grad school.

On the other hand, I work with 45 year olds who have to circle the parking lot for hours looking for that perfect spot as close to the door as possible.

Age is just a number, and McCain's "72" doesn't bother me in the least.

But his mileage... his mileage scares the crap out of me. Testy, short tempered, and prone to playing silly word games instead of talking about the issues. If the spoken word Grammy was a choice between Bush reading "My Pet Goat" and McCain reading anything, Bush wins in a squeaker.

"And we're going to drill, so we can drill, because we have to drill now, and here is where we should drill, we should drill now right about here... drilling here, drilling there, uh huh, there is nothing we can't do, drilling here, drilling there, uh huh...."

[Opsimath44]

By the way... Indy stole that line from me!!

[skeptaholic]

I believe Indy stole that line from Flo the waitress from Mel's Diner on "Alice."

[Opsimath44]

Dave Plouffe said there were 900,000 young voters in Florida alone who were registered and didn't show up in 2004.

Get up early on Nov 4th and get the job done, people!!

[larry278]

Vote early & often.