By Mark Rhoads –
The current group of candidates for president include some of the oldest candidates ever to run for the office. Sen. Bernie Sanders is 74 and would by far be the oldest person ever elected. Donald Trump will be 70 on June 14 and would be older than Ronald Reagan by more than half a year if elected.
Until now, Reagan was the oldest person to assume the office at age 69 years and 349 days on Jan. 20, 1981 and Reagan was also the oldest to leave office at age 77. Hillary Clinton is 68 and will be 69 next Oct. 26. Dr. Ben Carson will be 64 on Sept. 18. John Kasich is 63 years old.
Sen. Ted Cruz is 45 and Sen. Marco Rubio is 44. The two youngest presidents to take office were Teddy Roosevelt at age 42 and John F. Kennedy at 43.
The average age of all the presidents from George Washington to Barack Obama has been 54 years and 11 months at the time of taking the oath. Yes, it's true that people live longer than ever before and the average lifespan for Americans is now 78. But very few people start a brand new physically and mentally demanding job after the age of 65.
Eight years ago Sen. John McCain was 71 when he ran against Sen. Barack Obama who was then only 48 and the contrast in age was quite dramatic. Obama was 50 when he was opposed by Mitt Romney who was then 64 in 2012 for a less dramatic but still significant age difference of 14 years.
I am not saying that there is any specific age that makes a person too old to run for president. But as a senior citizen myself, I am simply making a common-sense observation that older candidates naturally face more serious health issues than younger candidates and the demands of the office are enormous. The recent health problems of Hillary Clinton have been well documented.
Dr. Harold Bornstein, from Lenox Hill Hospital in New York is the personal doctor of Donald Trump. He is shown in the picture above.On Dec. 14, 2015 Dr. Bornstein made this amazing statement. "If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."
The doctor gave no specifics but said only that Trump has lost 15 pounds in the last year and never drinks alcohol. The statement is ludicrous on its face. How could Dr. Bornsetin possibly know who was the healthiest individual ever elected president since 1789? Did he have access to the personal health records of all the presidents? Of course not.
The statement was typical Trump bluster from his personal doctor with no independent verification. The only reason that Donald Trump will not face a political contrast is that the two Democratic candidates are almost as old or older. But 70 is hardly an ideal age for a candidate for the most difficult and demanding office in the free world.
