The Daily Novel

As I write this the voters in New Hampshire are still in their beds but when they get up they will be voting in the second primary in this very exciting Presidential race. And the likelihood is that it will be a record turnout. Most of the media commentators I have read are suggesting that John McCain is best placed to win the Republican vote.

What is interesting is that I have not come across any commentator who has suggested that his age may disbar him, if not today then very soon. There has been a huge amount of discussion, on both sides of the pond, as to whether America is ready to elect the first black President or the first female President. But nothing that I have seen about whether America in 2008 will vote for man who is now 71 and would be 75 when his term ends.

Partly this results from the way that journalism is done. You cannot sum up the age arugumant  without some qualification. McCann would not be the first US President to be elected after reaching the usual retirement age of 65. Dwight Eisenhower won a second term at the age of 66. But he was not only a war hero but his first term as President was rated successful and he was hugely popular, winning one of the most resounding victories in hiistory when he stood for re-election. But the historians will remember that his second term was not distinguished. By the time I arrived to live in America in 1959 he was spending much of his time playing golf with his old cronies. Americans in their forties (including his own Vice President, Richard Nixon) were dismayed as to how out of touch he was with the younger generation.

And that was in 1959. The norms about age are now vastly different. The men Eisenhower used to play golf with included the bosses of many of America’s biggest corporations, who were his contemporaries. Today many managers retire at 50 and there are many chief executives in their thirties and forties.

I write this blog with very mixed feelings. Because I am even older than McCain by two years. But in the hard reality of modern politics age does matter. On this side of the pond Menzies Campbell was thought to be too old to lead the Liberal Democats, although he would not have had to shoulder the burden of the premiership. His best hope was to be the chief negotiator in Britain’s next Parliament, where neither Labour nor Conservatives are likely to get an absolute majority. The Liberal Democrats went on to choose their present leader from a field of two, who were remarkably similar in background and policies. They chose the man in his mid forties, Nick Clegg, rather than the man in his early fifties, Chris Huhne.

I wanted to vote for the man who took over the acting leadership, Vince Cable, who gave outstanding performances in the House of Commons, blending cogent analysis with wit and humour. But he is 71 and was thought much too old to be a candidate for the leadership.

So I shall be very surprised if McCain becomes the Republican candidate and astounded if he goes on to win the election in 2008.