The elderly can and do pass away while in office, and they won’t always know when it’s time to retire or acknowledge that old age has taken its ...
Senator Dianne Feinstein, rest in peace. Whatever you think of her and her 31 years in the Senate, she was loved by a lot of people, and those people are hurting right now. We should all hope that God eases the grief of Feinstein’s friends, family, and supporters; perhaps they can find solace in the fact that Feinstein packed so many accomplishments into her 90 years. We only get one chance at life, and Feinstein made the most of hers.
But the passing of Feinstein really ought to trigger a serious and sustained discussion and decisions about the elderly political leaders currently atop both political parties.
President Biden turns 81 in less than two months. Republican front-runner and former president Donald Trump is 77 years old. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is 82 and recently had some troubling freeze-ups on camera.
Believe it or not, a chunk of Congress is even older. Iowa GOP senator Chuck Grassley is 90. Democratic members of Congress Grace Napolitano and Bill Pascrell and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton are each 86 years old. Kentucky Republican Harold Rogers is 85, as is California Democrat Maxine Waters. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, no longer majority leader, is 84 years old; former speaker and California representative Nancy Pelosi turns 84 next March, and former House whip Jim Clyburn of South Carolina reaches that threshold a few months later.
All of these people can call 82-year-old Vermont senator Bernie Sanders “youngster.”
Feinstein missed a lot of votes in the past few years. What’s more, it has been clear for years that Feinstein’s age and health were deteriorating to the point where she had great difficulty performing her duties. Multiple “exposés” showcased her problems with short-term memory, confusion, difficulty recognizing colleagues she knew well, and increasing dependence upon her staff.
The Senate has 100 members; it can function with a couple members who are struggling to get through the day, although it weakens the institution to have several members who are senators in name only. The White House is different; it needs a commander in chief, and the person behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office needs a certain amount of physical energy and mental sharpness. The modern era has no room for an Edith Wilson, running the executive branch while her husband is effectively incapacitated from a stroke.
The elderly can and do pass away while in office, and they won’t always know when it is time to retire, or acknowledge or accept that old age has taken its toll. The fact that this is a difficult truth does not make it any less true, and I doubt that a single fan of Dianne Feinstein thinks this was the ideal end to her long career in the Senate.