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When I was covering the Legislature and watching our elected officials at work, I would sometimes say a silent prayer: “Help me know when it’s time to step aside and do it before I make a fool of myself.”

Legislative sessions are grueling. While some lawmakers give in to age-related health issues or exhaustion, some – I won’t name names – stick around long past the time they can effectively serve their constituents.

Last year, we watched uncomfortably as U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell, 81, stared vacantly into the cameras. Sen. Dianne Feinstein displayed flashes of astute questioning but was more often given to verbal meandering. Feinstein, a towering figure among women in politics, died in office at age 90.

And yet…

AARP The Magazine every month features old people who are still involved, still productive, still making a difference.

And 80-year-old Mick Jagger and the geriatric Rolling Stones are touring again after releasing their first album in 18 years to enthusiastic reviews.

In the seesaw debate over aging, we’re trying to understand what happened to the president in his recent debate with the former president. We’ve now heard that he had a cold, that he didn’t feel well, that it’s just one event and anybody can have a bad debate.

There is even speculation online that “something happened” and that somebody, maybe the First Lady, should look into who had access to her husband in the hours before the debate. Conspiracy theorists point fingers at the president’s Secret Service entourage. 

Older people will agree that we have good days and bad days – days when we’re still in the game and days when we’re in the bleachers. 

With the two oldest presidential candidates in U.S. history, age has been a factor from the first stump speech of this campaign. Both sides have used film clips of the opposition rambling incoherently in a staged contest of who is closer to losing his marbles. 

Last summer pollsters asked open-ended questions about what word pops in mind when they think of either candidate. For Joe Biden it was “old” and “confused.” For Donald Trump it was “corrupt” and “dishonest.” That was all on display during the debate.

Poll respondents of all political flavors said they wanted to see age limits on the presidency, Congress and the Supreme Court. That hasn’t happened, and neither has the proposal that all public officials over 65 take a cognitive health test.

The Associated Press, reporting on that poll, quoted an expert on aging, S.J. Olshansky of the University of Illinois, who said age was no more relevant than eye color. Preoccupation with circuits around the sun is ageist, he said, and it discounts wisdom and experience. 

“If you don’t like what they say, it’s not because of how old they are. It’s because you don’t like what they say,” he said.

Olshansky called both candidates “super agers” who were “both functioning at a very high level” but predicted that Biden would probably live longer because he exercises and watches his weight.

That was almost a year ago. The aging issue has not aged well. Young voters are unhappy, and, since the debate, voters in general are less philosophical about age. Dem leaders are mulling their options.

Biden wants to stay in the game, like Dianne Feinstein and others of their stature accustomed to the halls of power. They believe they still have a job to do and aren’t easily persuaded to leave.

Sen. Mitt Romney suggested last year that Biden and Trump both step aside. Baby boomers, he said, are “not the right ones to be making the decisions for tomorrow.”

As a baby boomer, I recognize the wisdom of that statement even as I still crave a role in the decision making.