There is a time stay, and a time to go. It happens to everyone. To athletes and to public figures. I remember many years ago reading the novel, “The Last Hurrah.” The book by Edwin O’Connor, made into a movie starring Spencer Tracy, highlights the last mayoral run of an aging politician, who runs a campaign as he always had, and ends up losing.
He fails to see that his time has come and gone. New ideas and particularly new people have come to take his place. Life is like that, and no more so for those in the public spotlight. Senator Dianne Feinstein, at 90 the oldest member of the United States Senate, was such a person.
Death robbed her of the chance to step aside with dignity, although that certainly cannot take away her illustrious career and accomplishments. We choose to remember that career, and not that she was unable to attend session after session of the Senate. Many of us feel that way when we see Senator Mitch McConnell every time he steps up to a microphone. We felt that way about the late Senator John McCain, who certainly was not the same candidate in 2008 running for president as we saw him in 2000 in New Hampshire.
Benjamin Franklin said that, “Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.” Politicians have a longer shelf-life, but the implication is clear – if you stay too long, it doesn’t end well for you. Football fans will reflect on Tom Brady’s and Brett Favre’s last years of professional football. Yes, we remember the glory, but we also remember the final humiliations.
I prefer to think that when I retired, after 38 years, that more said, “Thank you,” than said “Thank God”. At least among my students, I think that’s true. Among staff and colleagues, perhaps a bit more divided.
There was film clip of former President and Mrs. Carter being driven to a community gathering in Georgia a short time ago. We think of him fondly – that iconic smile, his grace and dignity as he faced illness. Yes, we can all agree that his post-presidency was far more successful than his presidency.
The next presidential election, barring some major and dramatic shift, promises to be a rerun of 2020. Essentially the same cast of characters, just four years older, a few more indictments, making the rounds, climbing the stairs a bit slower, a few more cheeseburgers under the belt. and it’s shaping up to be a second Bull Run.
The minute they step in front of a microphone there is not much to inspire us, but much to make us question. I have liked President Biden, but I think like many Americans, there was a heavy sigh when he announced he was running for reelection.
He’s looking less and less physically up to the task. When he stands next to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the difference is striking. Time for more vigorous, more imaginative, and yes, I have to say it, younger leaders to step up, like John F. Kennedy and Tony Blair.
Looking at past presidents, you really see how much the job ages a person. and I’ve made no secret of my views on Biden’s likely opponent. I don’t think he’s ever been up to the job, even while in office. Sometimes it looks like they dug up Zachary Taylor or Rutherford B. Hayes, fluffed up their hair and put them in new suits.
Both candidates could be running William McKinley-type, “front porch” campaigns, where they come out on the porch and wave, then go back inside and take a nap. Sometimes, the more we see of the candidates, the less we like them. The thing is, though, age is not it alone.
Many of us admired Edward Kennedy right up until the day he died. We saw Ronald Reagan step back from public life with grace and dignity as his dementia advanced. Many of us so wanted Barack Obama to stay on, particularly after his successor’s election.
And yet there are some members of Congress who are youthful and vigorous, and strikingly lacking in vision or suffering from a profound inability to grasp the big picture. They are unable to distill accurate information and understand its implications; willing to speak out boldly when they have nothing of value to say. They remind me of what my grandfather used to say: “My mind is made up. Don’t confuse me with facts.”
For some of them, one term in office was one too many. There is a certain senator from New Jersey who really needs a reality check and should step down before he’s thrown out of a window of the Senate Office Building. and a congressman from upstate New York, whose background is seriously in question, and who has a constant struggle with the truth. Or a congresswoman from Colorado, who gets thrown out of a theater during a musical performance for vaping. and then publicly denies it until videos of the act go viral.
My father used to say about some, “what they lack in intelligence, they make up for in stupidity.” Sen. Joseph McCarthy comes to mind. He accused, falsely it seems, thousands and scared the daylights out of millions before his death in disgrace and ignominy shortly before the end of his second term. Or South Carolina Sen. Strom Thurmond, whose platform of, and advocacy for, segregation left him an aging political and social dinosaur when he finally retired in 2003.
History is littered with politicians who simply stayed too long. Yes, they should all have known when it was time to dim the spotlight and quietly go home before that spotlight became an ugly glare. Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has a great routine about determining the expiration date of milk. The cow whispers the date in the farmer’s ear.
That would seem to make about as much sense as any way of determining the date, because some milk cartons can be about a month out, while others give you just a few days. Then I feel rushed, and eat bowls and bowls of cereal so it doesn’t go to waste. Maybe we should have a system like that for politicians — a “best used by” date that could be featured in the campaign advertising, or announced at all of their press briefings.
We could do what works for food. Are they this week’s shopping, or have they turned to left-overs? Like guests and fish, we’ll know soon enough.
Tom Walters is a retired music teacher and school arts administrator. He retired as Fine Arts Director for the Methuen Public Schools, and is a past president of the MA Music Educators Association. He lives in Londonderry, and has a blog: imthinkingno.com. Reach him at tomwalters729@gmail.com