
If John McCain is elected president in 2008, he will become the oldest person to ever enter the office, at 72 years old. The distinction currently belongs to Ronald Reagan, who was 69 when he began his first term in 1981.
McCain would be the White House’s first incoming septuagenarian. Among our 43 U.S. presidents, 8 were in their 40s when they began their first terms, 25 were in their 50s, and 10 in their 60s. Bill Clinton became our first baby boomer president, and was followed by fellow boomer George W. Bush. In the 21st century, are voters willing to elect a man born 10 years before the Baby Boom even began?
Of course, if 60 is the new 40, then 70 is the new 50. To prove it, in August, McCain backpacked through the Grand Canyon — and his publicists have been mentioning it every chance they get since. Expect to see plenty more feats of strength and daring by McCain during the next two years.

Related to age is the question of health. McCain seems to be in good health. His chief concern is melanoma. He had a cancerous mole removed from his shoulder in 1993, and two cancerous tumors removed from his temple and arm in 2000; no more problems since then.
During the McCain campaign, comparisons to Ronald Reagan are inevitable. McCain may benefit by the comparison. In a poll this year, citizens named Reagan the best president in the last 60 years (George W. Bush was named the worst). However, there is a big problem for McCain with the Reagan comparison: thinking of Reagan brings to mind the late president’s Alzheimer’s disease during his final years. That’s not what McCain wants voters thinking about.
No matter how energetic McCain is, health concerns are an inescapable fact of life for people in their 70s. Two Stanford scholars wrote this when Bob Dole was the GOP nominee in 1996 at age 73:
No matter how healthy the elderly candidate for the presidency appears to be, there is a significant likelihood that he will not survive or that his intellectual powers and leadership ability may be compromised, far more so than among those in their 50s.
If McCain gets the nomination, his choice of running mate becomes crucial. Will he pick someone in their 40s or 50s to balance the ticket, or will he worry that a significantly younger running mate will only underscore his age? Most importantly, it will be essential for McCain to choose someone the nation would be comfortable with in the Oval Office. It also would be interesting to see how McCain’s age plays against the Democratic nominee, particularly if the nominee is youthful, such as John Edwards, 53, or Baruck Obama, 47. (Hillary Clinton turns 60 next year.)
Reagan was the master at using humor to deflect questions about his age. In his 1984 debate with Walter Mondale, Reagan (73 at the time; Mondale was 56) quipped:
I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.
I have seen McCain’s attempts at humor. He does not have Reagan’s gift, but he can be funny, as he was in 2002 in a Saturday Night Live skit promoting his supposed album, “McCain sings Streisand.” “I’ve been in politics for over 20 years, and for over 20 years, I’ve had Barbra Streisand trying to do my job. So I decided to try my hand at her job,” McCain deadpanned. You can be sure McCain has been rehearsing age-related one-liners for the campaign trail.
My opinion: McCain’s age is not an issue. Nine of our 43 presidents — that’s 21%, a significant percentage — failed to complete their terms. Four were assassinated, four more died in office, and one resigned. Two of them were in their 40s and five were in their 50s; in other words, youth is no guarantee of a full term. The only thing certain about the future is that it is full of surprises.
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Thanks to Michael Bates at Batesline for linking to this post. Thanks also to Andy Jackson at SmartChristian for pointing this way. Andy says he’s leaning toward McCain, but will be watching to see if McCain is able to maintain his energy level during the next two years of campaigning.