Breakfast Discussion: The GOP whining about the Dems mentioning McCain’s age, but why shouldn’t they? [Politics Sucks]

In an article from CBS via Politico, some Republicans are furious at what they see as the Obama campaign and the DNC “talking in code” to allude to the fact that McCain is an old bastard– that if he becomes president, he’ll be the oldest person ever elected president. It appears that their assumption is that talking about McCain being old is as much out of bounds as it would be for them to talk about Obama being black and that his middle name is Hussein.

However, the obvious problem here is that the color of your skin or your birth name has absolutely nothing to do with how well you would run the country, where as the issue of whether someone is physically and mentally capable of running the country does.

Many observers have noted that it appears that time and the stresses of campaigning might have finally started to take their toll on the Arizona Senator and he appears to not be nearly as bright and aware as he used to. I think eventually this will come out in the wash, especially when the two men start debating, but if McCain is starting to lose his faculties now, the last thing this country needs is an old man whose mind is going.

Even taking out any health problems of the equation, the age issue is important for another big reason, the one word that Obama has built much of his campaign around– CHANGE. McCain can rip off Obama’s website and his slogan of change and deny as much as he wants that he isn’t BFFs with Bush, but he’s an old fart with old ideas, old ways of doing things and old buddies who will make sure that he maintains the status quo. Sorry, but 72 year old men aren’t known for their ability to instigate big change or to be agents of change themselves.

So, yes, the age issue is very important and on one hand I wish they would bring it up more but on the other, I don’t think they’ll have to. Once it gets closer to November and once Obama and McCain are on the stage together, it will become incredibly obvious whether McCain’s one savvy mind is still up to the task.