Let's get politically incorrect

These days as soon as someone says John McCain is old, Barack Obama is a black, Sarah Palin is a woman, or Joe Biden is a white American male, immediately hackles rise. They wait for the next word to see if what is said will be politically incorrect.

The reason we all get frisked at airports by random searches, not by who is most likely a terrorist bomber, is because of politically correctedness. Some of that makes sense. It's not like every dark-skinned or Muslim appearing person is a terrorist, but some of it makes no sense. The 80 year old lady goes through the turnstile is singled out for the whole tamale of a search. Was this because she looked like a terrorist or was acting suspicious? No, it's because nobody dared say who did.

I understand some of the problem with politically incorrectedness. It labels people based on old stereotypes that often weren't true even when they were thought up. How many times have you heard it said that Hispanics are lazy and trying to exploit our system for free benefits? How interesting-- is this why they do jobs nobody else will do and often a lot faster? Is it why so many people are eager to hire them even illegally? It's a stereotype that holds water like a sieve.

When stereotypes are ugly or based on ignorance, then yes, let's get politically correct, but I think it's more about being accurate in our assessment of who people are to begin.

So back to my point. John McCain is old. I am old at 65, but he is really old. Now there are people who are 72 and are still running marathons, women who still look like Sophia Loren, but there are also those who are having heart attacks, skin cancers, strokes, becoming physically more frail, and are losing their ability to think acutely. Most states begin checking you every couple of years once you get to that age to be sure you have good reflexes and your vision is still good.

When I say John McCain is old, it's because his numbers say he is but even more that his behavior labels him an old man. He doesn't move fast, he goofs up his facts (which maybe he did all along but I don't know about that), he has to take week-ends off from campaigning. Was going to suspend his campaign to go save the bailout because he didn't have the energy to both campaign and go back there? Will he have the energy, for the next four years, to be a full-time president at an age where many men are retired and out playing golf-- with a golf cart? Presidencies, which have no real vacations, wear out even young men. What will it do to a really old one?

There are many examples of people in Congress who stay there until they die, and their constituents keep voting them in even when they can barely get down to the floor for a vote. There is no upper age limit for our political leadership, as there is in many corporations; but maybe there should be as there is for determining no one can be president before they are 35.

We are free to vote in someone who is too old to do the job, but should we?

I write a lot of these days ahead of time, taking ideas as they come to me; then schedule them where they fit. Thursday, I went to Sylvia's blog and found this: What is it about age that John McCain doesn't understand? Please read it, as it is a perfect conclusion to this blog.