Me Nor Trump Nor Biden are Qualified to be President

My Personal Principle for Who Can Serve as President of the United States of America

Me Nor Trump Nor Biden are Qualified to be President

According to my personal principle for who can serve as President of the United States of America, I am unqualified to serve.

Donald Trump and Joe Biden are equally unqualified to serve.

I developed this principle in 2016 and shared it then and in 2020. It is not new or uniquely related to the current election. It is based on only one factor.

Age.

Here is the principle I stated in 2016: “No person should be the nominee of their party or an independent candidate for the presidency who at the time of their inauguration for their second term would be more than 69 years old.” 

Applying this principle means that among the two major political parties we have not had a qualified candidate in 2016, 2020, or 2024.

The Physical and Mental Toll

The rigors, requirements, and responsibilities of the presidency are great. They take a physical and mental toll on the president. You need no other evidence, than to look at a picture of any president the year they are inaugurated and annually thereafter.

It is amazing to see how the presidency takes a toll.

My father bore some physical resemblance to President Lyndon Johnson. When Johnson was vice president, periodically people would approach my father and ask if he was Johnson.

Within a year after Johnson became president, no one ever asked my father about this. Johnson aged in his looks so much more rapidly when he ascended to the presidency.

More than physical appearance, it is the unseen. The mental toll and sharpness of a president is crucial. It is the unknown creeping factor that impacts the energy and clarity of thinking during day after day that can be 15 to 18 hours long.

Also, nights during a crisis when sleep deprivation impacts the strategic and critical thinking skills needed due to unforeseen national and global emergencies.

Let’s be clear, this is not ageism on my part--prejudice or discrimination due to a person’s age. It is reality. I speak as a person turning 74 years old in 2024.

I have no business being president of the USA. I might very well be able to do the job. Make good decisions. Enjoy the pomp and circumstance. But physically and mentally a younger person is needed in that role. Not someone my age or older.

Thus, as an individual voter, I set the benchmark at 69.

People like me, Trump, and Biden need to be “elder statespersons” providing commentary, advice, and counsel as needed. Not serving in the actual role. 

Presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt

We saw major health issues impact the ability of presidents to serve out their term at least two times during the 20th century. The presidents were Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt. 

Woodrow Wilson was not yet 63 years old when he suffered a severe stroke in 1919 that left him incapacitated until the end of his presidency in 1921. A period of almost a year and one-half. 

During that time the First Lady, Edith, functioned as the de facto President of the United States. Keeping people away from him and supposedly helping his hand sign official documents. In reality she ran the executive branch of the government.

Was Edith Wilson our first female president?

Franklin Roosevelt suffered from various diseases throughout his life and presidency. At age 39 in 1921 he was diagnosed with polio and was paralyzed from the waist down.

This was 12 years before he became president in 1933. He sought to hide the fact he could not walk without mechanical or personal assistance. 

In March 1944 Roosevelt was diagnosed with severe hypertension and congestive heart failure. His personal physician concealed his health condition. Roosevelt was elected to a fourth term as president in November 1944.

Roosevelt died of a stroke--cerebral hemorrhage--on April 12, 1945 in Warm Springs, Georgia where he often went to rest. That was four weeks before the Second World War in Europe ended. The war in the Pacific did not end for another four months.

Vice President Harry Truman became president upon Roosevelt’s death.

Two Other Presidents

Other presidents had challenges that were not as severe as Wilson and Roosevelt.

President Dwight Eisenhower had a heart attack in 1955. Medical advice suggested he not run for re-election in 1956, but he ignored this. In 1957 he suffered a stroke but was able to finish his second term in early 1961. He lived until 1969.

Ronald Reagan experienced several cancer scares during his presidency that were easily addressed by medical procedures. He was 69 years old when inaugurated for his first term.

That made him the oldest incoming president at that time beginning a first term. He served two terms and was 77 when he completed his presidency.

Rumors of dementia arose during his presidency. He was periodically challenged about dementia by news journalists and others. One of his sons--Ron--declared he showed signs of dementia during his presidency. This condition was never medically diagnosed during his presidency. 

He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at age 83. He died in 2004 at the age of 93.

An interesting story circulated about Ronald Reagan. I heard several versions of it. It goes something like this.

Ronald Reagan liked one-page briefing sheets on issues that would offer three possible choices for decisions he needed to make. On at least one occasion his staff brought him the usual three choices on a single sheet of paper. 

He read them. Asked questions. Said he was fine with any of the three. He then indicated he was going to the family quarters to take a nap. He asked his staff to tell him what he decided when he returned to the Oval Office. He would then authorize it.

Restatement

Me nor Trump nor Biden are qualified to be President of the United States of America.