By Jim Heffernan
Maybe it’s because I’m elderly myself, but I’ve been thinking a lot about the buzz about Joe Biden’s age. Trump is a week older than me and Biden is 4 years older than me. Six senators are as old and older than Biden.
Konrad Adenauer was chancellor of W. Germany from 1949 until 1963 when he lost an election at the age of 87. He remained the head of his party until 1967 when he was 91. He died at the age of 92. In 2003, Germans voted him as the “Greatest German ever”.
Warren Buffet is 93 and is still admired as the “Oracle of Omaha” and judging by the value of Berkshire Hathaway stock his savvy decision making prowess has not been diminished by his advanced age.
I’m not sure people truly understand what the presidency is about. Performing the duties of the office is not a game of Jeopardy and it is not about making snappy conversation, it’s about making the right decisions and there is no extra credit for ringing in early. Quick decisions are often bad decisions. Many of the decisions I made when I was younger are now decisions I regret. I suspect the decision to invade Iraq was a quick decision.
As I look back over the Biden years, it sure seems to me that he’s been making good decisions, even if he does look like he’s 81 years old. I truly believe media needlessly feeds us a steady diet of negativity because it sells advertising.
I think a much more pertinent example of creeping dementia is in the other elderly candidate, who despite losing 63 of 63 lawsuits still insists he “won” the election and this weekend revealed that he just plain doesn’t understand what the NATO treaty commitment is and how limited the role of the U.S. president really is. The president does not have the power to pick and chose which obligations we chose to honor. Plus, he ignores the fact that all the NATO countries pay. His ploy of “delinquent countries” reminds me of the ”welfare queen” story that was popular in the 1980’s.
Making a choice between the two is easy for me. The challenger seems to be prone to “word salad” rants that play fast and loose with facts. The incumbent has a good record and never lies to us.
As always, discussion is welcome at codger817@gmail.com