Should McCain's age be an issue?

Alexandre
Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:57:49 +0000

Age is a factor. McCain will be 72 when he is inaugurated and would be 80 when his second term ends. Leading a nation, particularly one of the World’s larger powers such as the US, requires a great deal of energy and mental awareness/control. McCain is already unnable to contain his temper and often lashes out. If you ask me, the man is already showing signs of his age. And as BedHead said, people deteriorate quickly at that age…and that’s assuming they are retired and leading a normal life. A President’s life is far from normal. It is intense and stressful beyond belief. Most presidents age a great deal during their presidency. I would hate to see what 8 years in the Whitehouse would do to McCain.

As far as I am concerned, the retirement age for most people is 65-70. Electing a president who is already older than the retirement age is not prudent. And it has nothing to do with “ageism” either. Ageism would assume that a candidate is just as able to perform a duty but was not given the opportunity because of age discrimination. The point with McCain is that he is not able to perform his duty as well because he is not as alert, energetic and aware as a persident of a major nation should be.

Although this is not a subject that is being discussed now, you can be sure it will be brought up in September-November.

By the way, I have noticed that some here have said that the age of the VP would be a factor. That alone pretty much proves that McCain is too old. Who elects a president with the expectation that the nation will have to resot to its VP? A VP is a last resort, not a mulligan!