How Many Birthday Candles?

Why are American voters preoccupied with presidential birthdays? Questions have been asked: “How old is John McCain?” “Hillary Clinton?” “Obama?”

If age means anything, McCain is 72, Hillary is 60, and Obama is by far the youngest of them all: 46. If Hillary is elected, she would be the first woman president of the US. If Obama, the first African-American to occupy the White House; but definitely not the youngest (both Theodore Roosevelt and John F. Kennedy became president at age 43).

Why are they so concerned about presidential ages? Is it because of John McCain? If elected, McCain would be the oldest to occupy the Oval Office (Ronald Reagan became president at 69).

They never ask this question of Romney (if elected he could be the first Mormon president of America); or of Edwards (he could be the second member of the church to occupy the White House, next to James Garfield); of Giuliani (he could be the first American president with an Italian-sounding name). These three are not strong contenders.

Vladimir Putin, president of Russian Federation, does not like McCain, not because he is also a Republican like Bush but because he could follow in the steps of Bush. But to Felipe de Jesus Calderon Hinojosa, president of Mexico, such bloody fears of Vladimir are unfounded. The Mexican president cares for neither Obama nor Hillary. So what?

Well, so what? They say that wisdom comes with having many birthday candles. King Rehoboam’s damnation was because he had listened to his youthful advisers, they add. So you want someone older? As one American columnist has pointed out, in the case of Miss Britney Spears this doesn’t seem to ring true. The wisdom of age eludes her. Her Baptist background was no help either.

Methuselah holds the record of the being the oldest man in the Bible (age: 969). Wonder what he was doing while his grandson Noah was constructing the ark. For the information of everyone, Methuselah had perished in the year of the Flood.

Read more>>>