Thorny question of presidential ‘age limit’ grows in US political discourse
Al Jazeera
US Congresswoman Porter says age limit is a conversation ‘we ought to be having’, in run-up to Trump/Biden rematch.
The question of whether there should be an age limit for US presidents was raised in a particularly high-profile public forum this week when Congresswoman Katie Porter said in a televised debate that such restrictions “are a conversation for all elected officials that we ought to be having”.
Porter’s acknowledgement was made during a candidate debate for the US Senate seat left vacant by Dianne Feinstein’s death in September and represents the latest instance of a thorny issue that is increasingly becoming a topic of discussion in mainstream political life, as the inevitable rematch between 81-year-old Joe Biden and 77-year-old former President Donald Trump takes shape.
If elected, Biden would become the oldest sitting president in US history, a mantle he first claimed when he took office in 2021, while Trump would tie Biden for the record if he were to enter office next January at the age of 78.
It is an unprecedented situation that has brought potentially uncomfortable questions of age to the fore on cable and internet news talk shows, academia, and public opinion polls. Discussions of cognitive decline in the elderly have proven particularly fraught, raising the spectre of ageism and ableism and a delicate question: How old is too old to lead the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world?
“This year, there’s been an exceptional focus on the age of the candidates, particularly the age of President Biden,” Steven Austad, a professor focusing on ageing at the University of Alabama in Birmingham, said on Thursday while moderating a webinar on presidents and age.
