TOO OLD [M. 7-22-24]

BEYOND WINTER: Irrelevant Musings of an Old Man—TOO OLD [M. 7-22-24]

 

Well, I certainly was not expecting to write about Joe Biden this week. Or anything else having to do with politics. Others are able to understand and talk about politics much better than I. I do know more than most, though, about what it means to be old, and that seems to be the only thing that Joe Biden has been for a couple of months now—old.

Not President, not Commander in Chief, not “leader of the free world,” not the Democratic nominee for the election in November, not the guy taxed with the American economy—and thus the world economy, not husband or father or grandfather or friend, but… old.

When John McCain ran for president in 2008, he and I were the same age. I voted against him because, among other things, I thought he was too old. I knew what it was like to be that old. We could think pretty well, but we needed naps. President is a 24/7 job. I didn’t think I could do it, so I didn’t think he could do it. We were 72.

Joe Biden was born in 1942, so he’s younger than I. Still, I’m not so old that I can’t remember what it was like to be that age. I needed naps.

Joe Biden has done a remarkable thing, made a decision that is far too rare in politics these days. He has put the nation first. He has decided that he is too old.

That is a hard decision. Nobody wants to be considered too old. But he knows that he needs naps. I’m glad he’ll be able to get them in six months, when his service as President is over.

Now you know who is too old to be president? Donald Trump. Born in 1946. In Kenya. Eighty-two years old, for pity’s sake. I can remember what that was like, too. He needs naps. I hope he can get them in three months, when the election is over. Have mercy on him, people; he’s much too old to be President.

John Robert McFarland