“We are due for a national conversation about what we should expect in terms of the cognitive and emotional health of our leaders.”

That’s what Charan Ranganath, a neuroscientist who just wrote a book about memory, recently said.

Excellent idea. But isn’t that what we are having right now with all the concern about the ages of Joe Biden and Donald Trump?

Are you kidding me?

Will all the talk about their ages increase our understanding of aging generally? Not a chance. 

Quite the opposite. It’s just a torrent of words that reinforce misunderstandings and stereotypes about old folks.

Whether the current or former president wins, elderly people will suffer collateral damage.

Let’s look at what a true national conversation would be like compared to what’s actually tasking place.

It Would Consider Up-To-Date Information And New Ways Of Thinking

Special counsel Robert Hur’s recent report is a good place to start because it’s become so important, particularly his description of the 81-year-old president: “Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

That’s such an old-school, ignorant way to talk about older adults, not so much because of what it says but because of what it leaves out.

Hur reinforces all of the common, inaccurate stereotypes. His view of aging is out of date and offensive. 

You know, it’s possible that Hur is right about Biden in the sense that a jury might see Biden as a stumbling geezer. Who knows? I’m not blind to how the president looks and acts at times, and juries, well, they’re juries.

The problem is that Hur’s description sounds so much like the demeaning default way people describe old people: stumbling and bumbling, feeble and frail.

By leaving out key parts, the report reenforces the oh-so-common notion that being old is a stigma and not simply a characteristic or even a source of strength.

The report ignores the science. To help you understand, think of some elderly person you know.

Good chance that at times, he or she would fit Hur’s description of Biden.  

But only at times.

At other times, no matter how cautiously he or she walks or how old he or she looks, this person is cognitively sharp, aware, wise, and competent. Sometimes they are forgetful, but often that memory comes back even if it takes awhile. 

Otherwise, you wouldn’t trust that person with your kids all day when you go to work.

That person you know may occasionally bumble and stumble, but they are much more than just a bumbling, stumbling little old lady or a bumbling, stumbling little old man. 

Research about the elderly supports this more nuanced, real-life view of the competence and wisdom of old people.

“Memory is surely relevant,” Ranganath says, summarizing the evidence, “but other characteristics, such as knowledge of the relevant facts and emotion regulation — both of which are relatively preserved and might even improve with age — are likely to be of equal or greater importance.”

“I can’t speak to the cognitive status of any of the presidential candidates,” he goes on to say. “But I can say that, rather than focus on candidates’ ages per se we should consider whether they have the capabilities to do the job.”

A Conversation Needs To Be Collaborative

Look, political campaigns aren’t supposed to be collaborative. Campaigns are not about coming together. They are about blasting your opponent. Campaigns tend to reinforce conventional “common sense” beliefs, not change them. Campaigns exaggerate differences by oversimplifying them.

That’s definitely not an atmosphere for gaining insight about old people. And boy oh boy is that the case in this campaign.

The 2024 age-bashing, partisan-based tone was set long before 2024 when it became a Republican issue filled with coarse, demeaning descriptions of Biden.

Biden had barely taken office when Tucker Carlson, defending the false claim that the 2020 election was stolen, called Joe Biden a “senile hermit” who couldn’t possibly have received that many votes if the election had been on the up and up.

It’s not just the denigrating names. It’s also the media’s obsession with gaffes and stumbles.

With its gaffe and slip and fall coverage, the media contributes to this stumble and fumble view. Biden slipped here and slurred there. Yes, but so does Trump. He tripped. The other guy couldn’t hold his water glass. Total score: Biden 102, Trump 99.  And hey we got pictures. Wanna see ‘em?

It’s elderly disaster porn. Pratfall politics. Two geezers over the hump. Watch them trip, watch them slip. Whatever side, whatever candidate, whatever coverage, they all reinforce ill-informed visions of the elderly. You don’t think that reinforces stereotypes about old people generally?

Biden’s handlers are also stereotype-enablers. They make things worse by being so secretive and sneaky about the elderly friendly steps he uses to board a plane. 

I guess they think this cloak-and-dagger concealment will help Biden’s image. That’s arguable. What’s not arguable is how much that hurts the elderly by reinforcing the idea that feeble body equals feeble mind. Shower chairs as stigma.

The Conversation Needs To Avoid Polarization

Biden’s skipping the traditional Super Bowl interview, which offered an easy, relaxed atmosphere to talk story, is another kick in old peoples’ pants.

Really, though, polarization is the fundamental reason why harmful views about age will be thrust and countered ad nauseam in the 2024 race.

Politics in 2024 is nasty and polarized, and that makes views of aging nasty and polarized. 

Polls constantly show that Republican voters are much more likely than Democrats to believe that Biden is too old to be president. Democrats are much more likely than Republicans to think that Trump is too old.

That’s not because Democrats and Republicans view the aging process differently. It’s because these views on aging, just like their respective views about the candidates’ competencies, are filtered through their party identification. 

Actually, it’s not quite that simple. Age is important. But so is the fact that both Biden and Trump, 77, have historically low approval ratings. A significant number of voters don’t like either candidate.

In my next column I’ll show how this combination of age and disgust is playing out.

Meanwhile, for both extra credit about ageing and a swell time, check out the life and writings of this 93-year-old lox slicer.