Younger than Obama

by: tremayne

Thu Aug 28, 2008 at 16:45


Some of the most recent ads to attack Barack Obama focus on age and experience. They use old clips from both of the Clintons and others to help make this point.

My own take on the "age" question has always been this: most people who are bad at making decisions continue to make bad decisions even as they get older. But rather than spend time citing evidence of Obama's tendency to make good decisions (of which there is plenty) I'd like to offer this very brief overview on presidential age.  Obama would take office when he is about 47.5 years old which is only about 7 years less than average.  Here are the Presidents that were younger than Obama (alternatively, they had less life experience):

Theodore Roosevelt, 42

John Kennedy, 43

Bill Clinton, 46

Ulysses S. Grant, 46

That's pretty good company on the whole. On the other end of the spectrum is Ronald Reagan who was elected at 69. Most experts agree he was showing signs of Altzheimers while still in office. Outside of Reagan, there have only been 4 other Presidents who took office within TEN years of McCain's current age (72 tomorrow):

William Henry Harrison, 68

Zachary Taylor, 64

James Buchanan, 65

George HW Bush, 64

Quite a distinguished crew there. Two who died not long into office and another routinely on the list of worst presidents. Somewhere in here is the makings of a good response to the age charge.

 
tremayne :: Younger than Obama

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Younger than Obama | 17 comments
Interesting stuff. (4.00 / 1)
But let's not get carried away with any direct causal link here.  It may simply be that you have to be something super-special to get the nod in your 40s, and you have to be pretty mediocre to have failed to get it by your 70s.
Think about this (0.00 / 0)
If JFK had lived (and only served one term), he could have run in the 1988 presidential campaign and still been younger than McCain is now.

That's pretty damn scary.

[ Parent ]
people tend to get more conservative as they get older (0.00 / 0)
and politicians probably cement more bonds with other politicians.  But I agree the age itself is only one of several factors that determine their youthfulness/outsiderishness.  on the other hand, you could make the argument that electing a youthful president is more a reflection of social trends than anything that the person himself/herself is doing.
[ Parent ]
To be fair... (4.00 / 1)
Grant was also one of the worst presidents in U.S. history. Out of that list, only Teddy Roosevelt could be considered 'great', with JFK and Clinton somewhere along the lines of above-average.
Except That (4.00 / 1)
Common perceptions are that Clinton and Kenneday were at least "near great."

Exaggerations, I know.  But compared to other recent company, a not totally unwarrented distortion, favoring our side for a change.

What's more, the "inexperienced" charge was levelled at JFK, and while he wan't a great President, he did show that the charge was ill-founded.  

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

[ Parent ]
JFK was president for only 1036 days (0.00 / 0)
If he would have had the time, he would have been able to achieve much more regarding civil rights, health care for the elderly, education, and tax reform. He sure had some great oideas in his "New Frontier" profram.
[ Parent ]
doubt it (0.00 / 0)
it was probably his assassination that allowed the landslide in 1964 that allowed the passage of most of the legislation that people think of as hallmarks of the civil rights era.  but that era might have continued longer if he (among many others) hadn't been assassinated.  
[ Parent ]
Bay of Pigs? (0.00 / 0)
Seems that that was quite a debacle, which could be partly ascribed to JFK's inexperience.

Or maybe just to proto-neo-conservativism...

[ Parent ]
Not At All (4.00 / 2)
The Bay of Pigs was an Eisenhower/Nixon plan all the way.  It was set to go before Kennedy took office, and if he'd pulled the plug on it, Republicans would have cried bloody murder.  I'm not saying he did the right thing--I strongly believe that he didn't.  But it's grossly unfair to hang the Bay of Pigs on him.  Rather like hanging the Branch Davidian fiasco on Clinton--only with far less justification.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3
[ Parent ]
Huh. (0.00 / 0)
Didn't know that. Interesting.
[ Parent ]
And also (0.00 / 0)
the CIA lied to Kennedy about the chances and risks of the operation. Their plan depended on the US giving air support. When JFK determinedly ruled this out, only some old WWII bombers without markings could be used, and those were later shot down by Castro's air force. Obviously, Allen Dulles, J.J.Angleton, E. Howard Hunt and whoever else was involved were thinking that the US couldn't afford not to intervene when the rebels got into trouble. They totally underestimated Kennedy, who stood by his word.

Btw, the CIA codename for the bay of bigs plan was "Operation Zapata". Surprisingly, George H.W. Bush was at that time president of Zapata Oil in Houston, and the ships that transported the rebels were named "Barbara" and "Houston". Certainly a pure coincidence.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z...

[ Parent ]
WHAT??? (0.00 / 0)
Be missing, Kossack! Grrr.
[ Parent ]
how about this (0.00 / 0)
which of those groupings would YOU prefer to be in?
[ Parent ]
Boy Howdy! (0.00 / 0)
This is a great way to frame the whole age/experience thing, what with it being all reality-based and such.

I can hardly wait for TNR's attacks to begin!

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

lucky 41 (0.00 / 0)
he only looks good compared to 43.
Ike (4.00 / 1)
was 62 when he came into office. I believe he reached 70 during his last few months in office.
Fun with iMovie (0.00 / 0)
This should work once Youtube is done processing the video:


Younger than Obama | 17 comments
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