John McCain: Is His Age a Factor?

January 18, 2008

John McCain 2008At 71 years old, Sen. John McCain is one of the oldest Americans to hit the presidential campaign trail. If elected, he would be the oldest to assume the presidency for the first time. (Ronald Reagan, the oldest president on record, was elected first at 69 and then again at 73.)

Will this limit the Republican senator from Arizona, physically or in terms of public perception?

The image of age isn’t necessarily what a presidential candidate wants to convey, acknowledges Edward Schneider, of the Keck School of Medicine of USC and the USC Davis School of Gerontology. “The handicap for any candidate is baldness and gray hair,” Schneider says. “John F. Kennedy was the ideal candidate, the handsome, young-looking guy.” And yet Kennedy had serious medical conditions that belied that image, Schneider notes.

McCain, on the other hand, is relatively physically fit, mirroring a senior citizenry that is changing what it means to age, Schneider says.

“Seventy is the new fifty,” he explains. “In the 1960s and ’70s, we thought of our grandparents as old and infirm, but that’s not the case today. People are living longer healthfully. John McCain’s a great example of that.”

There are some physical changes that affect even healthy seniors, however. McCain would most likely lose a video game if he played against a 20-year-old or a 30-year-old, Schneider points out. But what an older person may lose in reaction time, he makes up for by having much more experience and wisdom, Schneider says. Think of it this way, he adds: Do you want a president who will rush to push the button, or someone with a more measured response?

“I don’t think we elect presidents based on physical fitness. If we did, most of our presidents wouldn’t have been elected,” Schneider says. In a president, intellectual attributes are what we desire and what we focus on.

McCain brings with him a wealth of experience, Schneider concludes. “He’s not just off of his high school debate team. He’s been out there in the world. And that’s not a bad thing.”