Jim Shella: Age is front and center in national politics

My paternal grandfather lived a long and productive life. Edmund Shella was 90 when he died in 1975. During his declining years, I helped him maintain the half-acre garden he tended daily during summer months and, in the process, I picked up on his philosophy. One of his favorite sayings was, “Too soon old, too late smart.”

It’s an argument for age and experience over youth and stamina.

And those are issues now front and center in our national politics.

Democrat Joe Biden is running for reelection as president at the age of 80. If he wins, he will be sworn in for a second term at 82. He would finish that term at an age when my grandfather needed help weeding his potato patch. Republicans see every misspoken word or stumble from the president as evidence of diminished mental capacity. They want the public to believe he’s too old to serve.

But Biden is not the only one facing scrutiny. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is older than Biden. He’s 81. The Kentucky Republican recently froze during a news conference, leading to speculation that he had a small stroke or some other medical crisis. He has suffered multiple falls and is serving a term that ends in 2026.

And then there is California Sen. Diane Feinstein. The Democratic icon is 90 and can be seen in TV news reports being pushed in a wheelchair to hearings where aides tell her how to vote.

In 1995, I went to Capitol Hill to do a series of reports on Indiana Sen. Richard Lugar as he prepared for a run for president in 1996. For the first time, I attended Senate hearings where you see members up close. I was struck by just how old most of the senators appeared in person, including Feinstein. That was 28 years ago. (Of course, I was a lot younger, too.)

Don’t forget the fact that Donald Trump, who is campaigning for a return to the White House, is 78. He appears to be clear of mind, but I would argue that he lacks a conscience. He’s the same age Ronald Reagan was when he left the presidency.

Until now, Reagan was the oldest occupant of the Oval Office. And, worth mentioning, his mental capacity was questioned with some legitimacy before he left office. I was at Notre Dame when Reagan delivered the 1988 speech where he tried to repeat his most famous movie line, “Win one for the Gipper!” It came out, “Win one for the Gippet!” No correction.

So, partisan arguments aside, what is the downside to the election of an elderly officeholder? Is it the danger that the officeholder will die in office?

We went through that here in Indiana in 2003 when Gov. Frank O’Bannon suffered a stroke and died in the middle of his second term. O’Bannon was just 73. It was a crisis for state government that led to significant changes. Even though the new governor was O’Bannon’s running mate, Joe Kernan, dramatic shifts were made in policies and in the people who implemented them. It’s a real consideration.

Or is the bigger concern the behavior of the elderly officeholder?

I would suggest that the character, record and staff selections of an officeholder are more important.

Elections are about choices, and I would choose an incoherent Biden over Trump every day of the week. To do otherwise would violate my grandfather’s “too soon old, too late smart” dictum, and I’m just 68.•

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Shella hosted WFYI’s “Indiana Week in Review” for 25 years and covered Indiana politics for WISH-TV for more than three decades. Send comments to ibjedit@ibj.com.

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