Americablog Asks: Is John McCain Too Old?

John Aravosis has been getting feedback from his readers on whether McCain's age should be an issue.

Considering that my website is called "Old Man McCain", you know where I stand. But here's what a few of Americablog's readers have said.

Reader PHB writes:

How many 72 year olds think that they are up to one of the world's most intellectually demanding jobs?

I think that is the key to the age issue. Disqualifying people on the grounds of race and gender is telling people of the disqualified class that they are not up to the job. But most seniors have left their jobs by 72. They know that they are no longer as quick as they were in their 40s or 50s.

Septuagenarians who are working at that age are almost exclusively doing a job where their long experience makes up for their age. McCain was never a flag officer, never on track to make flag officer. He never commanded a large unit. Now he wants to be President.

Or put it another way. We are both in our 40s. Neither of us is going to make the finals of Wimbledon or Formula One racing driver. That's not ageist, it's just a fact that your reactions at 40 are not what they were at 20.

Another concurs:

You know, the thing about age is that John McCain is an "old" 72. Some 72 year olds are vital, healthy, and young for their age. You see them on the tennis courts, or in the gym, in great physical shape and, most importantly, they are really sharp mentally. You are blown away when you learn they are 72. But John McCain is not one of them. Mentally and physically he almost seems like late 70s. So the discussion about age and fitness for office, I think, has to be more than about chronological age. Then there is the fact that he has had four or five (I forgot how many) malignant melanomas removed which is not good.

I think there is nothing wrong with being ageist. After all, businesses do it all the time:

Four out of five companies in the Standard & Poor’s 500 force retirement - typically at age 70 or 72 - for their directors, according to Institutional Shareholder Services. Law firms still tend to shoo aging partners out the door.

The rationale is that older people are less physically and mentally rigorous, and less productive. Ample research suggests that, on average, this is true. The Mayo Clinic studied septuagenarians and reported that 1 out of 11 displayed cognitive impairment.

New York State forces judges to retire at age 76, while Arizona forces them to retire at the age of 70. In other words, McCain is already too old to be a judge in his home state.

Call me crazy, but being President of the United States is just a wee bit more demanding that sitting on a judicial bench listening to arguments and writing up opinions. You have to travel constantly, stay up to date on hundreds of events, meet thousands of people, deliver countless speeches, all while presenting an air of vitality and confidence. It is an incredibly stressful job, not for the faint of heart.

If McCain looked sharp and agile, this wouldn't be an issue. But when he makes a new gaffe every single day, when he stumbles over words, when he blows up in anger at the slightest offense, and when he gets confused about real world events, then it is clearly uncertain if he is up to the task.

At such a critical time in this nation's history, I don't think we should take that chance.