A reader writes:
I felt like taking a bath after reading "The Age Issue". Can Andrew really have sunk this low, I asked myself? You have no evidence that McCain is suffering any cognitive impairment. You are smearing him not for his ideas or positions, but for his age. Are you recommending an age limit for the president – and if so, what is it? You have no evidence of cognitive impairment – but are very happy to insinuate it. That’s despicable.
Another adds:
Since Obama’s mother died of cancer at age 52 (only a bit more than a half decade older than Barack Obama is right now), whereas McCain’s mom is still vigorously alive today at age 96 — and since cancer is a malady where one’s genetic heritage (inherited from one’s parents) is an extremely important aspect of one’s own susceptibility to the disease — why isn’t Obama’s health an important question in this campaign?
Another:
Ronald Reagan turned 70 three weeks after beginning his first term (January 1981); he was three weeks shy of 78 when he left office eight years later.
Winston Churchill was six weeks shy of his 77th birthday when he was elected to his second term as prime minister in 1951. He didn’t resign until 4 years later. Konrad Adenauer was 73 when he became the first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (then West Germany) in 1949 — and 87 when he left office in 1963.
Obama’s and McCain’s health are issues, as they always should be. Why else release the medical records? And age is related to health and capacity, as any doctor will tell you. I don’t think McCain’s age is dispositive for me; I’m staggered by his energy and focus for a man of his age. But we’re talking about a minimum of four years here, and having a president in his upper seventies is worth discussing. Reagan, our recent older president, did not have Alzheimer’s in office, but his age was showing in his second term, and may have contributed to some errors. Churchill’s second term was deeply affected by his age – as any biography will tell you. This doesn’t detract from these men’s greatness; it merely reveals they are still men, subject to all the frailty that flesh is heir to. So I really don’t think this issue is off-limits, as long as we stick to the facts, the data and not a bunch of ageist stereotypes.
