The Observer: The White House is no country for old men

Do you know who Dean Phillips is? Political junkies do. Phillips is one of Minnesota’s eight representatives to Congress. He’s running a long-shot campaign against Joe Biden to become the 2024 Democratic Party’s candidate for president. Pretty audacious for someone whose only political experience is five years in the House.

Phillips made headlines recently with his comment that Biden’s re-election would be “dangerous” for the country. “I think it’s irresponsible for Americans to place in the White House presidents who are in their 80s,” he said. He got my attention with that soundbite, but whether he will ever get my vote is another thing altogether. Phillips (born Jan. 20, 1969) won’t turn 80 until 2049.

What does 80 look like? Angela Davis, Danny DeVito, Michael Douglas, George Lucas, Diana Ross, Alice Walker and another 14 million lesser-known Americans will be 80 or more this year. Joe Biden (born Nov. 20, 1942) is older than each of these celebrities. He will turn 82 just after this November's election. Donald Trump (born June 14, 1946) will be Biden’s age before the 2028 presidential election takes place. For all intents and purposes, these two men are contemporaries. They’re both pretty old.

The United States population this year should reach almost 342 million; among them, a mere 1.7% of males and 2.4% of females will be 80 or more years old. Eighty has always seemed to me to be a turning point — physically, intellectually, psychologically and socially. At 80, we stand on the threshold of momentous things.

Sometimes, at 80, we finally achieve our lifelong dreams, but more often at 80, we are overtaken by events that happen to us.

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Joe Biden has known both types of moments. Beyond his well-known personal tragedies, Biden has had momentous successes — especially since becoming president. A recent Boston Globe column by Kaivan Shroff points out that under Biden’s watch, unemployment has fallen to record lows. Shroff hopes Biden will run again. He notes that Biden “has created more jobs than the last three Republican administrations combined.”

Another Globe opinion piece written by Scott Lang, arguing that Biden should not run again, concedes that controlling inflation has been a major Biden success. Inflation is down to 3.1%, he notes, “a six-point drop from June 2022 when it reached a 40-year high of 9.1%."

Further evidence of his momentous success might be seen in the stock market, which has rallied remarkably since he took office. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which stood at 18,592 in March 2020 (when Trump was president), closed last Friday (Jan. 5, 2024) at 37,466 — more than double the low of 2020.

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At the same time, other momentous events do threaten. World conflicts present dangers that will challenge any president: the Israel-Hamas conflict and its potential to spread to Iran and Lebanon; Russia’s use of North Korean missiles against Ukraine; territorial disputes in the South China Sea; the Chinese confrontation over Taiwan; North Korea’s firing artillery shells into waters near South Korea, etc. Not to mention domestic threats to our functioning democracy and our civil society.

Much as I support President Biden, I think Dean Phillips is right. The White House is no country for old men. And yet, America’s two major parties seem dead set on running two of their oldest men to take on the most difficult job in the world.

Emerson said, “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” The election of 2024 is as good an example of this as I can imagine.

Surely, if ever there was a time for finding new ways of thinking, it is 2024.

We need younger talent because advanced age brings greater and greater challenges every year past 80. Research has shown that many things change for most people when they pass 80; slowed cognition and reduced energy reserves, among them.

Eighty may not be old for redwood trees, which can live for thousands of years, but for most humans it is. And for United States presidents, it most definitely is. Democrats and Republicans each need to find someone else, but who?

Here’s a bit of outside-the-box whimsy: Dean Phillips (D) and Liz Cheney (R)… on the same ticket.

Ron McAllister is a sociologist and writer who lives in York.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: The Observer: The White House is no country for old men