Mccain Age and the Presidency:

McCain

Age and the Presidency: John McCain

It's time for a change." With this slogan, the likely Democratic contender for president, Barak Obama, both sets the tone for his own youthful, exuberant, and anti-Washington campaign, and also directly frames the problem that Republican John McCain will suffer as a personality during the 2008 presidential election. McCain is not simply one of the oldest men to run for president, he does so with the memory of Ronald Reagan, whose final term was characterized by forgetfulness and other debilitating effects of age and dementia, still in the minds of the American populace. McCain does so in an era where the current Republican administration is largely discredited, and young Americans ache for a new voice and spirit. And also there are questions about his physical stamina and ability to deal with change that would plague any elderly nominee, regardless of the era when he ran and his political affiliation. Even elderly women on the campaign trail have marveled: "You're getting pretty old...And it's such a hard job!" (Copper 2008).

McCain is seventy-one years old, and turns seventy-two in August. Even Ronald Regan was younger during his first term, a comparatively juvenile sixty-give. He is of course quite energetic for his age. There is no doubt that he is youthful and vigorous, more so than individuals much younger than himself -- but so was seventy-three-year-old Bob Dole, who failed to capture the presidency and was criticized for seeming out of touch with the younger members of the electorate (Cooper 2008).

The fact that young people are registering in record numbers bodes ill for McCain, who hails from Arizona, a state with a high retired population, where his age has been less of a factor in the past. This suggests he may be unprepared to deal with the full implications of his age in a general campaign. McCain has tried to counterbalance his image as old and grandfatherly by taking hikes in the Grand Canyon and appearing on Jon Stewart's youth-focused satiric television news program (Cooper 2008).

But the real concern should not be image, but upon the difficulty of an older individual to adapting to new circumstances. With rare and disarming candor McCain has said that his understanding of the economy is not his strong suit. On the issue of a potential vice president, McCain admitted to the Boston Globe (2008): "The issue of economics is not something I've understood as well as I should... you also look for people who maybe have talents you don't, or experience or knowledge you don't, as well....somebody who's really well grounded in economics....I think I understand the fundamentals, I talk to people all the time on economics...I freely admit I am not an economist."

The idea that economics can be separated from politics, or international politics, in today's interconnected economy, where European Community relationships have an impact on what geopolitical conflicts certain nations are more likely to support, where Islam and oil cannot be viewed as existing in separate spheres, shows McCain's outmoded thinking. Furthermore, it is often more difficult for an older individual to adjust to learning new things -- how can the American public feel confident that McCain will have the flexibility to become fluent in an entirely new discipline, learning on the job?