Opinion: Biden's Not Too Old To Be President - Just Our Ideas About It Are

PixabayPhoto bytiburi

Wasn’t it Sen. Kyrsten Sinema that gave us a colorful quote recently about senate luncheons (of the Democratic variety) being filled with old dudes eating Jell-O?

When that pithy comment was made, was it an ageist statement or simply accurate?

And even if it’s accurate, coming from someone who is 46, puts age in a spotlight that is guaranteed to draw laughter and criticism, which is exactly what it did when she made this observation in front of a group of Republican lobbyists.

It’s easy to make fun of people when you’re on the other side of a problem. When the uphill climb is over. When the need for financial help is in the past. When the job has been gotten and secured and keeping tight-lipped is no longer a priority.

Older people remind us too often of where we will be in a few years and that thought, however tinged with fear or needless trepidation, needs to be pushed aside and not dwelled on, so best push aside the people that bring it on.

Better to stay focused on the here and now and maintain close ties with those of our own age and perspective, lest we start talking about aches and pains, doctors’ appointments, and the slipping and breaking of hips.

Biden is 80 years old and shows it. Meaning he has a full head of white hair. He moves with the deliberateness that comes with old age and the keen awareness that a loose carpet or a high threshold can lead to a trip and fall and an untimely visit to the ER.

His speech moves from brisk to carefree to labored before circling back and zeroing in on a problem with practiced tenacity and an underlying sense that this man has done it all before and likely before most of those watching him were born.

So, does that make him wise, competent, efficient in movement and speech - or simply old?

We are all surrounded by the elderly in our nation every single day. We ride the buses and trains with them every morning and watch them knit or read or hold a shopping bag with slightly trembling hands and think all sorts of things about what we see and how we feel about it. With many of us looking away.

Getting old is great when we’re 5 or 7 years old. It’s what we’re supposed to do. Get older. Become more independent, wiser, more productive, and useful in society. It’s what everyone around us expects and gets kind of testy about it when we don’t deliver on that unwritten promise to be mature and serviceable to those around us.

But once we get past 40 and certainly 50, the idea is to put the brakes on the whole aging process. To cover the rear-view mirror with black gauze so we don’t dwell on the years past and instead continue to focus on the future - a space of time we hope will remain long and unimpeded.

But what about Joe Biden? Is he doing the kind of job we expect him to do?

According to the surveys - all 138 of them - state he’s doing okay but not as well as we would like him to do. Never really as well as we would like him to do.

He’s making practiced moves, but like a ball player entering his 20th season would, knowing his way around a bat and a fastball well enough to stay in the game, but maybe not hit for average like he once did.

He seems to say the right thing when he’s not tripping or falling off a bike that is.

And we laugh and share the photos on IG and Twitter and think we’re not being ageist or prejudiced against those who are time impaired - just pointing out that the man is the President of the United States and he’s supposed to be - you know, agile and with it and different. Better somehow.

But the stats and the deeds speak of another story. One that more closely resembles the tortoise and not the hare in its deliberate approach. A story of exactness and competence, like a watchmaker taking days to fix an old timepiece that was ticking when the Civil War was just beginning. The watch, not the watchmaker.

Knowing what is needed and how to get it and not wasting time on press conferences, tweets in the middle of the night, or gathering large masses of people together to reinforce the notion that, yes, I do know what I am doing.

Older people are more practiced at living. Not necessarily better at it but it is inevitable that age and duration of life will bring about some wisdom. Even if it’s the certain knowledge that eating too much fried food is bad and drinking, well perhaps it's best to put the bottle of Johnnie Walker away and let it age separately by itself for a while longer.

Biden by all standards and most definitely by recent standards is doing a good job. Some might say a very good job and running the business of government for the people and not the corporations. Some might even go so far as to give him good marks and even at this early stage say that they will vote for him again.

Is that just a different spin on ageism? Let’s give the old guy a break, he won’t be around much longer, might as well let him enjoy his moment. After all, it’s only another four years. We’ve all got another four years, right?

Or would it be a rather wise thing to do, considering the alternatives, considering his actual successes, and the improvements that are going in slow and steady?

Not the overnight, watch the Twitter feed to see the progress kind of thing that we were used to for a while.

Biden is a Democratic President and for some that is reason enough for him not to run again. For him not to be praised. For him to be lauded as the “old guy” who keeps on giving us great moments to laugh about on Twitter.

And that’s too bad. As in it’s always too bad when wisdom and age are somehow separated out with both being viewed as mutually exclusive.

As in you see someone over 70 in line at a store or bank, fumbling slightly with their deposit slip and pen and automatically start speaking louder to them, and using smaller words in an effort to tell them - the teller is ready to see them now.

It’s too bad to not view something working as simply, something that is working and better than it has been and not as an illusion conjured up by some personality on hiatus from their Las Vegas residency.

Biden is the oldest president in our history with the exception of those who acted prematurely as if they were the oldest presidents through incompetence and failure to understand that the role of the president is not to “be the best” or the “most entertaining” but merely a steward of our nation for four years.

So, is Biden too old to be president again?

No, he is not.

You may not like him because you liked the other guy better.

You may not want him again because he’s on the other side.

You may not believe him, because it would just confuse the issue.

But no, he’s not too old. In fact, he’s just old enough.