The New Old
Ageism is the last acceptable ‘ism.’ There is no better example of this than the mainstream media’s comfort in calling Biden out – about his age. After today’s formal announcement of his campaign, the torrent of outrage will be unleashed. It’s already been a constant, critical under-current of his presidency. The New York Times published an editorial this weekend in expectation of his re-election run, calling for him to act his age. Or at least talk about it. Would they have written anything similar about his race, his gender or his Irish heritage?
“If Mr. Biden runs again,” the NYT writes, “…questions will persist about his age until he does more to assure voters that he is up to the job.” Would they have made a similar recommendation to Obama to address his race ‘to assure voters that he was up to the job’? Or suggest to the next woman who dares run for US President that she address the questions that will just as surely persist about her gender?
The degree to which age remains a free target of attack is curious in our new era of remarkable longevity. The demographics of almost every country on the planet has been trending older. Societies are ageing fast, and the US is no exception. Science has gifted us an extra three to four decades of life expectancy in just the last century. You would think this would be something to be celebrated. The US could be proud of the vibrancy of its modern elders rather than disparage their abilities and question their competence.
But Americans are fearful. Of his age and their own future ageing. A weekend NBC poll showed a majority of people who think Biden shouldn’t run cited his age as a concern, with 48 percent saying it was a "major concern". The BBC interviewed some 80-year-olds who mostly seemed to resent the question, citing ageism. “The satire and the sneering about him are ageist,” says one eloquent woman. “Some people at 60 should go nowhere near political power.”
Today’s Senate, notes the NYT’s editors, is the second oldest since 1789. That makes sense, because the US invented a lot of the science that has more than doubled life expectancy since that time. They call Biden “a complete outlier” because of his age. Yet China’s Xi Jinping is 69, India’s Modi is 72, Turkey’s Erdogan is 69 and Russia’s Putin is 70. Rather than being an outlier, Biden and this bunch are examples of leadership in an age of longevity. Like or loathe their politics, at least Biden knows what he is up against. In the job he is running for, experience matters. He’s got something few Presidents before him have. Literally decades of knowledge, networks and connections. Including a deep familiarity with his global peers, allies, competitors and bogeymen.
He is, like many other knowledge workers the world over, able to continue working for many years beyond what we used to think of as retirement age. That’s a problem, not because Biden is obsolete, but because our biases are. Most employers are loathe to recruit, invest or promote older workers. They aren’t yet used to our new longevity or its multi-faceted consequences. Most aren’t even measuring it yet. Biden’s presidency has helped to redefine what older humans are capable of in the most impactful way of all. Not by talking about his age. But by doing a good job.
His first two years in office were described as “among the most productive of any president in the past half century.” He managed to push through a $1 trillion bipartisan infrastructure law - as well as the biggest package of climate measures in US history. But he’s regularly spoofed or questioned for his age, from both sides of the American political aisle. Maybe it takes an external perspective to see the benefits of Biden without the distorting debate about his age. Kind of like being a bit embarrassed about your parents’ overly familiar lapses. From the UK, The Financial Times’ Gideon Rachman wrote an article titled “Joe Biden’s claim to Presidential Greatness,” explaining that “at home and abroad he is already a formidably successful leader.”
Most of us are likely to live and work far longer than we think. Like Biden, many of us may only achieve our dreams and goals at unimaginably later ages than we had expected. Imagine what this President may yet teach us all about our own possibilities and potential with another four years.
