The other side of the coin is that our emphasis on name brand politicians means that they are often too old when they finally get their shot, like 72-year-old Bob Dole in 1996, or even 67 year-old George Bush in 1992, who appeared to have largely retired after the successful conclusion of Desert Storm. Reagan was too old after he got shot, but the country was lucky that his principles were the right ones for the time. Even Clinton at age 54 spent most of his last year in office trying to break Ike's Presidential record for most rounds of golf in a year (103).
Being President is hard, and Obama's youth could come in handy.
There are other reasons to question Obama (e.g., his passionate ethnocentrism, as documented at vast length in his autobiography), but we aren't supposed to mention those, so many are turning to "experience" as a politically correct way to express perfectly appropriate concerns about Obama.
My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer
Even older than that; Dole was 73 on election day in 1996, and the elder Bush was 68 on election day in 1992. McCain will be 72 on election day, 2008.
ReplyDeleteI remember as a very young kid watching the State of the Union address one year(why,God only knows!)but I recall being fascinated and a little spooked by an unmoving cadaverous creature sitting behind the President. It was House Speaker John MacCormack.He was so old. I didnt know people could get that old! And how he sat there as still as a statue!He died 6 months BEFORE he left office!
ReplyDeleteIf he were a socialist, Obama would at least have one redeeming quality.
ReplyDeleteBarack Obama is a loyal servant of the corporation.
As Steve Sailer has argued persuasively in several vdare.com essays, socialist type policies only work in racially homogeneous societies such as Scandinavia.
A strong argument can be made that corporatists support post-1965 immigration as a way of undermining socialist type programs.
Jupiter
"If he were a socialist, Obama would at least have one redeeming quality.
ReplyDeleteBarack Obama is a loyal servant of the corporation.
As Steve Sailer has argued persuasively in several vdare.com essays, socialist type policies only work in racially homogeneous societies such as Scandinavia.
A strong argument can be made that corporatists support post-1965 immigration as a way of undermining socialist type programs.
Jupiter"
You make a good case. I still don't see why Steve devotes so much time to this half-breed Obama. He is not a good candidate and is only being considered because he is part black.
The appearance of youth and vigor in a president can be deceptive, though. Look at JFK, who looked the picture of virile good health but in reality was a physical wreck who might very well have died in office of natural causes even if he hadn't been assassinated.
ReplyDeleteIn contrast, Reagan, while quite old, was incredibly robust physically, to the extent that his body far outlasted his ravaged brain. Unfortunately, being put on the heart-lung machine after the Hinckley shooting gave him "pump head" that he never fully recovered from.
Obama is youngish and appears quite physically fit, and those close to him describe him as very energetic...which will be a nice contrast to W, who's supposedly this incredible physical specimen yet can't stay up past 10 pm and loses his shit whenever he gets fatigued, which apparently is quite often.
I wonder why it is that the supposedly race obsessed Obama, would run as a stealth DLC candidate, over the authentically and OPENLY race obsessed former Black Panther Bobby Rush? It's almost like the whole thing is an elaborate fraud....
ReplyDelete