esrosedotblog

OLD MAN

Sooner or later everyone will have to face the issue of John McCain's age.

He is my age.

He is an old man.

Now, I am an energetic, extremely healthy, aware and bright old man who is in very good shape.

I am not fit to be President.

I am probably not fit to hold down any 9-5 job.

I get tired.

I have seen too much. I am a cynic.

I lack ambition.

I am privileged and spoiled.

I have forgotten half of my experience and more.

I am obstinate and woefully out of touch with 'regular' people.

I am not a regular person.

I am an old man.

He simply cannot do it. So what does that mean?

He will be a surrogate.

His 'people' will run him.

Now don't get me wrong.

I am still good for something.

I work with a lot of people one on one. But I can't stand crowds any more.

Watch McCain. He can't either.

He schmoozes. That is OK. But he does not handle groups well.

I remember when my Dad hit that point in his life when he was pretending to 'get it'. I find myself doing that a little now and again. I stop it immediately.

I see this with McCain.

He misspeaks.

So do I.

I have excellent short term memory for a person my age.

But it is not enough.

I do not want that man's hand anywhere near the bomb or anything else.

A while ago, while I was still getting my haircut by a barber, I noticed a huge election sigh in the window. City Council. A man who had years and years of experience. He was 70-ish.

I mentioned that I would never vote for anyone that age.

The barber was incensed.

Probably still is.

These are the people who will vote for age.

The ones who venerate age for all the wrong reasons.

There are a lot of good things McCain can do.

We know that he is already an expert curmudgeon. A sign of codgerism if there ever was one.

He can be a Senator. We know that isn't hard work. Your staff does everything.

He could stay in the Senate. He could be a good advisor.

He could sit on a committee.

But he cannot be President.

No matter what other reason I would have to vote against him, this is the killer.

Labels: aging