Don't evaluate candidates on age alone | Opinion

It's time we have a fresh discussion about age in this country.

I'm old enough to recall when news anchor Walter Cronkite was forced into mandatory retirement by CBS at 65. Back then, we thought that was too old to be trusted with the public confidence. Lots of people thought you couldn't play in the NHL at 52 until Gordie Howe did it, scoring 15 goals and 28 assists in 80 games. In 1980, people thought Ronald Reagan might be too old to serve as president at 70. After two full terms, he’s now considered by many Americans to be among the great ones.

But let's shift to the here and now. Joe Biden is 80. Mitch McConnell, 81. Bernie Sanders, 82. Nancy Pelosi, 83. Chuck Grassley is 89. Diane Feinstein is 90. Fifteen other congressmen or senators are in their early to mid 80s. Should some of them retire? Sure. But they are all still functioning and doing their job about as well as most of their younger counterparts. Because 80 is the new 65. And Biden is the new Reagan.

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Could Biden suffer a catastrophic debilitating illness in a second term? Of course. But President Dwight Eisenhower had a stroke at 67 and still recovered to finish out his term. Seventy-six-year old Reagan clearly lost a few steps in his second term and probably wasn't calling all the shots. Woodrow Wilson suffered a debilitating stroke in office at 62. President Trump was hospitalized with COVID and was perilously close to death at 74. But in all cases, government continued to function.

Might a feeble 84- or 86-year-old president freeze in a crisis? Possibly. But a much younger president might just as well react too precipitously. Older, seasoned leaders tend to make key decisions with cautious calculation, not the impetuous insecurity of youth.

Though we vote for a president, we elect an entire executive branch, including a vice president waiting in the wings, and have an appointed chief of staff, 24 Senate-confirmed Cabinet officials, and a huge organizational apparatus that powers the executive branch. If something suddenly befell President Biden in his second term, a relatively young and experienced Vice President Kamala Harris would step in, just as the Constitution prescribes. She might not be your first choice for the next president but she'd surely have the competence to handle the job.

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Politicians suddenly thrust into power tend to step up and impress the world. Just look at Teddy Roosevelt, Calvin Coolidge, Harry Truman, Lyndon Johnson and Gerald Ford. You can add San Francisco Mayor Diane Feinstein, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, and New York Gov. David Patterson to that list. Each stepped into office suddenly after a predecessor was assassinated, impeached, or resigned. Yet they all hit the ground running and were eventually elected on their own merits.

But back to the core issue of age. While a person in their 80s might sound feeble, seem forgetful and even freeze up during a press conference, we simply have to accept the fact that in a world where more and more folks like my mother live into their 100s, we cannot set an arbitrary outside age where effective public service or private employment has to be terminated. Would anyone kick 91-year old Dan Rather or 80-year old Bob Woodward to the curb after listening to them now, with their lifetime of hard-earned wisdom?

Instead, we should vote for the whole person, not just a narrow set of data points. While the right-wing media likes to mock every verbal gaffe or momentary misstep Biden might show to the cameras, any fair analysis of his press conferences and interviews shows a man still in command of his facts and in control of his destiny.

Would a younger Democratic nominee be preferable? Maybe. But there is no heir apparent waiting in the wings. Were Biden to announce he’s not running, all it would do is open up a bruising, bitter primary battle that is just as likely to divide Democrats as unite them. Which very well might lead to the heartbreaking 2024 general election loss they are trying to avert.

Age considerations have their place. But in this country, we don't fire someone simply because of age. It's called age discrimination. And discrimination in any form is just that: discrimination.

In 2024, I'm better than that. And so are you.

Kevin Kelton is a writer living in Austin, Texas. He hosts The More Perfect Union Podcast.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Judging candidates by age alone is discrimination; Biden has game