Hillary Clinton will be 77 when she allegedly will run for and conceivably be elected to the office of the president. This news, being tossed around by Democratic insiders and the subject of a lengthy op-ed piece in today's Wall Street Journal, is both sad and scary, since Hillary's health was already poor the last time she ran and lost. After all, being old is not quite as desirable as being young.
I speak from experience, being just about the same age as Hillary. While I still retain a semblance of the female form, my body is not what it once was. It's creaky on most mornings, requiring several cups of coffee to get all the parts working together. Once they do I'm fine and can get through a workout with my Crossfit trainer with no complaints -- at least not until the next day.
But despite my relative good health, like most of my peers I have a host of petty ailments that take some tending. Ice packs, eye drops and a blood pressure monitor can be found among my personal belongings, and my bathroom closet looks like a CVS outpost. I still do most of the things I used to, but with reduced vigor and a lot less passion.
One thing I could not do is run for political office. Another thing I could not do is be the president of the United States. I'm certainly as capable as the present holder of that title, who is a few years older than I and apparently half out of his mind. But his rocky performance makes it obvious we need someone with plenty of stamina to dress up every day, travel constantly, eat bad food, attend early morning meetings and pretend to run the country.
Hopefully a woman will be president someday, but do we really want her to be an old lady?
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