America's Political Leaders: How Old Will We Go? Stay Tuned.

“It is a paradox of democratic politics that only those willing to walk away from power deserve to be entrusted with it in the first place.” –Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe

Should I stay or should I go?

That is the question all of us face as we age.  We’ve worked for many years in a career or calling and then the day comes when we just know it our is time to go. To retire. To find new work. To pursue new passions and pastimes. We realize that where once our body was young enough, agile enough, limber enough to do this or that, well…one day we just can’t do it anymore.  So, we adapt. We find a new sport to embrace.  Think pickle ball instead of tennis.   

The point is simple and clear: we all “age out” in this life. Age out of pursuits, careers, sports, day to day activities. That’s ok. That’s normal. Then if we are wise, humble, and realistic, we let go and go on to whatever is our next chapter.

We know. “Yes—it is time for me to go.”

That is, I guess, unless you are Joe Biden (81) or Donald Trump (78) or Senators Mitch McConnell (82), or Chuck Grassley (91) or Bernie Sanders (82), or Representatives Nancy Pelosi (84) or Grace Napolitano (87). I hope when I am 78 or 81 that I’ll have the stamina and intellectual acuity needed for high office, though I’d never want those jobs. But even if I could do it, should I do it? Or maybe when you get to be that old you step aside and make room for the next generation to serve. Welcome and support those amazing and very ready younger folks to lead our land and bring their new ideas and visions to governance.  

President John F. Kennedy said, “The torch has been passed to a new generation!” But my generation and older—we just can’t seem to let go. If you watched Biden’s “deer in the headlights” debate performance or have ever watched Trump get on the crazy train at one of his rallies or watched as he fell asleep during his recent trial, it’s easy to see that each man is diminished by age. They are “less than,” physically and mentally.

Yet still, they stay.   

Reminds me of a personal sports hero who stuck around the game too long. Carl Yastrzemski played left field for the Boston Red Sox from 1961 to 1983. He was fast in the field and on the bases. He could dive for a ball and elegantly scoop it up for an out. He could smash the ball over the green monster with ease. And then he aged and lost a step and had to give up playing left field for first base and then designated hitter.

I remember watching him play his last year. Like a lion in winter, he gave it his all, but Yaz just did not have it anymore. Reflexes. Strength. Agility. Stamina. These had waned, which is natural for a professional athlete in their forties.

Just as it is natural for a politician in their late seventies or early eighties or beyond to lose a step or two or three. To have trouble retrieving information. To struggle with your energy, and the ability to stay awake, focused, sharp. Yet right now an entire generation of political leaders can’t or won’t see how much they’ve faded.

So, they stay.  To wreak vengeance on those whom they think wronged them. To make sure that their legacy is secure. To hang on to power. To enjoy the elixir of influence. To be a king or queen maker. It’s sad that Trump and Biden and so many other elected leaders don’t know when to exit the stage. Yet, the real risk is that their obstinacy hurts our democracy and blocks the next generation from taking their rightful place in leadership.   

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a President and Congressional leaders who came of age not during World War II and the years after but instead, who grew up in the sixties, seventies, or eighties? So, so much has changed in this world in the past half century. Yet, our choices for president are two men who grew up using dial landline phones, listening to eight track tapes and watching Lawrence Welk on network TV!  Seriously, can’t we please just elect someone who is not yet eligible for Social Security?  

One of my favorite American presidency stories is the amazing tale of the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Both men died just five hours apart on the same providential day: July 4^th, 1826.  Adams was 90 and Jefferson, 83. When those former presidents began their terms of office Adams was 61 and Jefferson 54. Spring chickens in comparison to our current geriatric presidential choices.

Trump, Biden, McConnell, Pelosi, et al: it’s time to take well-earned retirements. Go back home. Play with your grandkids and watch them grow up. Golf. Take afternoon naps. Try painting or cross stitch, or pickle ball! Write a memoir. Return to reality TV.

To stay or to go? Go. Please.  Just go.  It’s time.

The Reverend John F. Hudson is Senior Pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn, Massachusetts (pilgrimsherborn.org). He blogs at sherbornpastor.blogspot.com and is a resident scholar at the Collegeville Institute at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. For twenty-five years he was a columnist whose essays appeared in newspapers throughout Massachusetts and Rhode Island. He has served churches in New England since 1989. For comments, please be in touch: pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org.