By Mark Rhoads -
The ancient proverb that time and tide wait for no man applies to women as well. Many well informed friends and associates of Hillary Clinton say that she has the ambition to run again for president in 2016. That October, she would be 69 years old or the same age that Ronald Reagan was when he was the oldest person ever elected to that office. John McCain was the oldest to run at age 72 but he lost. Hillary, unlike Reagan, had a recent serious health scare with a blood clot near her brain. Reagan was shot in 1981 but recovered because his overall health was good except for minor problems.
Mrs. Clinton is not super human. Age 69 is not the new 55. The stress of travel and speaking that goes with a presidential campaign is often hard for younger candidates to bear even when they are in top health. For all the current speculation that Hillary Clinton will run again in 2016, I remain skeptical because of the common-sense reality that age wears people down.
The same truism applies to Joe Biden who will be two years older than John McCarn was at age 74 in 2016. The bench of younger talent on the national Democratic stage is not a deep one at the moment. Notwithstanding the fact that President Obama did well among younger voters in the last two election cycles, the Democratic leaders of the House and Senate are in fact much older than average for the two houses but there are a fair number of younger Democratic governors who are not yet well known on the national stage. As for Hillary I do think she does have the ambition as of now but if she still has that ambition three years from now I will be surprised if she does not have to slow down.
