4
votes
Nancy Pelosi embodied America's gerontocracy problem
Link information
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- Authors
- Eric Boehm, Billy Binion, Jacob Sullum, Fiona Harrigan, Veronique de Rugy, Emma Camp, C.J. Ciaramella, Addie Mae Villas, Christian Britschgi, Jackie Pyke, Elizabeth Nolan Brown, Hunt Beaty, Adam Sullivan, J.D. Tuccille, Peter Suderman, Stephanie Slade, Bess Byers, Joakim Book, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Hilary Hackleman, Regan Taylor, Jason Russell, Brian Doherty, Kurt Loder
- Published
- Nov 18 2022
- Word count
- 1039 words
I am not an American, but I realize that the president of the United States is the most powerful person in the world, and I am not sure that anyone in the line should be above 75 years old. My opinion would disqualify both Biden and Trump, as well as Pelosi and Feinstein (also, Strom Thurmond was elected president pro tempore of the Senate at the age of 90 a few decades ago, so it is not about the party affiliation).
At least, Nancy Pelosi recognized that her time at the top is over.
I am less stringent than the author of the article linked, but I would still say that any person in the line for US presidency should be at most 75 years old at the moment the newly (re-)elected president takes the presidential oath. Otherwise, such a person should be skipped just like someone who was born outside the United States.
I can understand the standpoint more for very public roles like President, where the candidate is very clearly the face of the party. But I'm not quite sure I understand why it would matter for Speaker of the House, apart from their short distance to the presidency if the current president were to be made invalid.
In the end, both the Speaker and Senate Majority Leader are really about the party dynamics within those chambers. They're not in the public that much - I doubt the general public really knows that much about Pelosi other than what is in Republican attack ads - but they have really critical roles holding the caucus together.
Pelosi was a really excellent Speaker throughout her tenure. The Democrats had a 5 seat majority the last session; how many times was there drama in the house? Never, Pelosi got the votes, and the roadblock was Manchin and Sinema. That's REALLY quite hard when you think about - wrangling 223 votes. The fact that she's old I don't really think matters that much. The only thing that matters is if she can convince her caucus to vote for the things they should vote for.
Given that McCarthy is apparently losing his own Speaker vote in the behind the scenes vote right now, we're about to have an absolute clusterfuck of a Republican majority in the house.
I could not personally care less if the Speaker was 6 years old, 40 years old, or 120 years old as long as they can do their job well.
My point is that the person in the question is the
thirdfourth in line for the president. This person can be a great speaker of theSenateHouse but simply way too old for the president of the United States. Unfortunately, the age of 75+ means that the person in question is too susceptible to a sudden illness.Edit: the House, not the Senate, so the fourth in line (sorry, as I stated I am not an American). Still, my point holds.
The thing is that the presidential succession is a very minor part of the role. I think you're really throwing the baby out with the bath water to disqualify people who are very good at being speaker of the house like Pelosi on the off chance the President AND Vice President die (and even then, it would have to be very early in the term to matter - a lame duck Speaker presidency is not going to change much of anything). For note, a Speaker has never succeeded presidency due to those above them in the line of succession dying.
There is like a 0.01% the Speaker will become President. Caring about their presidential worthyness just doesn't seem like something worth doing.
I would also argue that the very clear chain of succession in American government makes the risk of an elderly person dying much less significant. Sure we may wind up with someone unelected and in over their head for a few years, but the wheels will stay on the bus. We elect people in over their heads from time to time anyway.