Not totally true. People’s energy levels drop with age. So an older president may not be able to hold the 16 hour days that a president needs.
Also a person’s cognition can decline with age for various reasons. if you watch videos of Trump in his 50s, he is far more cogent and intelligent than he is now.
I like Joe Biden quite a bit. Most recently (like in the past couple of years), I saw him on talk shows talking about his son, Beau, who recently died, and was impressed by what he said and how he said it. Don’t ask me for specifics, though.
Edited to add, he was on The View on ABC sometime recently and one of the hosts was Megan Mccain. He spent some time talking to her about the brain cancer her father has, given that his son died of the same cancer. After watching Trump’s incredible rudeness and inhumanity, that sort of thing was refreshing.
I like him, he has good politics, and NO, he is NOT too old to be president.
Mind you, I think a younger Veep might be a good idea…
False.
Warren Buffett, who is sharp as a tack is 87. There are 70 Nobel Laureates older than that.
26 were 83 and older.
He’s a politician, so no, I don’t like him. Do I like him better than a lot of politicians? You bet. And when it comes to voting, it’s about whether I like him better than the other guy or gal. And it’s hard to like someone less than I like Trump. Throw in some possible dementia down the road and I still think JRB >> DJT.
He has better national name recognition than than a lot of other potential candidates, which I think is why he polls well. I haven’t been doing a good job on keeping up to speed on who else might run. I imagine that’s the case for a lot of folks.
In 2020, she’ll be 71. If she serves eight years, she’ll be almost 80.
But how old were they when they did the work that was recognized? I think a lot of the economics, science and medicine awards go to people for a body of work/discoveries that took place when the prize recipient was younger.
I’d think the rigors of campaigning would weed those people out.
I like him fine. But he will never be President. Even he knows this.
The fact that he did stuff like commute home to Delaware and such was always a good sign. So a lot of positives.
I do carry a grudge against though. The Clarence Thomas confirmation hearing. The GOP talked Joe into accepting an X day limit on the hearings. So they brought in a ton of people who didn’t see anything bad Thomas did. (A fairly trivial task. You could find a ton of people who never saw Jeffrey Dahmer do anything wrong.)
That and a bunch of other things ate up time. So the Dems didn’t have time to bring in the other woman who were like Anita Hill to testify about the really awful things Thomas did. If those witnesses had testified, his nomination would have been toast and one of the most pathetic and corrupt SC justices wouldn’t still be there.
Biden, like a lot of Democrats, is too trusting of Republicans and repeatedly gets screwed by them. It’s a good sign of honesty, but on the other hand …
Have you seen what a mess Yoda made of the Jedi Council when he was leading it? He got the entire order destroyed, and that was when he was decades younger. There’s no way he should run for dog catcher, much less president!
But seriously, using three magical fictional characters, one of whom is an immortal angelic being, as examples of ‘age is good’ when talking about an actual presidential run is… not exactly sensible. Sure the imaginary person who lives forever gets better with age, but this is about actual humans not invented elder beings 2/3 of whom aren’t even human. Also it’s worth noting that Ian McKellen was only 63 when he finished playing Gandalf in the LOTR movies, which is two decades younger than we’re talking about, age under a decade) and while Michael Gambon was 71 when playing Dumbledore, his memory for lines was failing so badly that a co-star called working with him ‘hair raising’ and he’s recently retired entirely from acting. The fictional characters you’re referencing were played actors were either much younger than being talked about or who had major age-related issues with playing the part, it really weakens your point.
Trump will be 74 in 2020. Have you compared Trump to Biden? I’m absolutely amazed every day that Trump hasn’t dropped dead from a massive heart attack, stroke or an acute case of bone spurs. Joe looks like he has found the fountain of youth compared to that bloated sack of “239 lbs”.
My point relates to the perception of age, not the physicality of it. The majority of human beings do not automatically thing “weak, infirm, and likely to die” about someone just because he’s old. If anything, they think “wise and experienced.”
Nobel Winners are generally not awarded for work they did yesterday.
Biden, for me, is right on the cusp. I’d problem be OK voting for someone at his age, but add a few years and probably not. I doubt I’d be happy about voting for someone who was 80.
Joe Biden is awesome, and I was disappointed he didn’t run this time around. Hell, the Onion articles alone would be worth it.
Most of the young people I know do not like him. I definitely hope he isn’t the candidate, because I fail to see a sufficient difference between him and Clinton that he could override the incumbent effect. Sure, he’s not a woman, but why would that matter? Liberals will be held against their gaffes, and Biden is always making gaffes. And that whole creepy Biden meme has enough legs even among liberals to tank him.
We need a young person who can fire up the progressives. Those are the people who were hard to motivate last time. Throw in an older statesman for VP, but we need to have someone who comes off as having fire and passion, not yet another milquetoast guy.
You’re just repeating anti-Biden propaganda. He isn’t “always making gaffes.” He has said a handful of things in the past that could be construed as gaffes - as anyone who has been in politics for as long as he has, is likely to have done. Somehow this meme (using this word here in its original old-school meaning as “a popularly held idea”) developed that Biden was “always making gaffes”. There’s no such thing as a gaffe anymore as far as I’m concerned. We currently have a president who has totally destroyed the idea that someone running for president or acting as president needs to be expected to always speak with a mannered and polished perfection, to say the least.
I’m sorry to derail the OP’s thread, but it doesn’t matter if D’s want Biden or not…I’m a card-carrying Independent since 1992, so, yes, I’m violating the OP’s premise…get over it, happens all the time in the Dope…:D…
Seriously, as a matter of reality, D’s will generally vote for the Democratic nominee, R’s will generally vote for the Republican nominee, those that do not like either will stay home or make a useless vote (me!) for a third party just because they can’t vote for either…
But, to win the POTUS, one needs IND votes…has to have them…
I don’t know if Trump will get them again, but that’s not the question, frankly, as an IND, I can’t vote for Biden, I actually like him, he’s genuine and real, but he is old, yes, I know Trump is old, but I’m not voting for him either, Biden is creepy, yes, I know Trump is double creepy (that’s a technical term), but forgive me for not wanting to see a bunch of ‘Creepy Joe’ ads by the RNC and, I’m sorry, I am not comfortable with Biden…
The most important thing for me, he’s not relevant, he has a past that can be attacked, I don’t care if he plagiarized the Delaware Constitution in 1776, you can be sure the Trump PACs and RNC will pile on that…
It has to be someone else not named Clinton, that would be the gift that keeps giving the RNC, in another post, I suggested Webb, but as likable as Uncle Joe is, he has too many vulnerabilities…
And if the economy is good, the D’s better nominate someone strong, not rehash the past…JMH independent O…
How often do you hang out with Mr Buffett? How is he at 11pm after a long day? How well does he do at 3am when he’s woken up for a life and death emergency? He has the luxury of being in his routine. Gets his McDonald’s breakfast. Goes into the office. Works as much as he feels like. He doesn’t have to deal with daily crisis. He doesn’t have to order people to their death. He doesn’t have to make decisions that will change the lives of billions. Being “sharp as a tack” is not enough. My mother is 83 and her mind is as sharp as ever but I worry about her bringing the laundry down the stairs. “Age is just a number” is a lie we tell ourselves to make us feel better as we get older.
As someone who remembers the Reagan campaign I find it funny that being 69 was a huge issue at the time and now people are quick to throw octagenerians into the race.
If it is Biden v Trump age won’t be a focus for precisely this reason. They are roughly age contemporaries and Biden is the more youthful and healthier appearing of the two.
I do think betterlifethroughchemistry has a reasonable point. This time around I suspect that Democratic voters will circle the wagons end of day, centrists for a progressive or the other way round. And Independents who voted for Trump have moved into the disapprove camp in droves. Is Biden someone they can and would vote FOR? Despite betterlifethroughchemistry’s personal take I think many would. More than anyone else out there he is able to express compassion and concern for those in the middle class fearing a drop of SES and feeling economically insecure (whatever their color) while not coming off as dismissive of the separate and independent impacts of color and ethnicity in our society.
I’m still hoping someone else shows they can be that person even more though.