Boomer or bust? No, leaders like Biden and Trump should know when to bow out

During the Cold War, the Soviet Union was ruled by a gerontocracy so marked that US president Ronald Reagan – himself a no-spring-chicken septuagenarian – complained that he was having trouble negotiating with the Soviets because “they keep dying on me”.

Leonid Brezhnev, whose 18-year-term as general secretary was second only to Joseph Stalin’s in its duration, had a debilitating stroke in 1975, but he remained in power until 1982. It’s been reported that Brezhnev’s doctors, on hand around the clock, brought him back from near-death a few times.

Reagan went on to negotiate an end to the Cold War with the young and vital Mikhail Gorbachev, a stripling in his 50s. During a debate in 1984 against his Democratic challenger Walter Mondale, the moderator reminded then-73 year old Reagan he was the oldest president in history (at that time). “I want you to know that also I will not make age an issue in this campaign,” Reagan replied. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience.”

Since the US presidential debate last month, discussions of the dangers of gerontocracy have moved from the abstract to the horribly real. As Biden stuttered his way through the debate, and visibly lost his thoughts, rendering him unable to hold his opponent even vaguely to account, the realisation dropped like an axe.

This was an old man who has exploited the advantages of incumbency to convince the world he was fit to win against Trump, and govern for a second term. Clearly, he was not. He is not.

It reminded me of the Ernest Hemingway quip from The Sun Also Rises: “How did you go bankrupt?” one character asks another. “Two ways,” comes the response. “Gradually, then suddenly.” Biden’s doctor declared him “fit for duty” as recently as February but one wonders about the objectivity of these presidential doctors.

Getting a doctor’s public endorsement seems a bit like nominating referees for a job interview – you’re only going to choose the ones who say nice things about you.

In 2018, Trump’s presidential physician declared his patient had “incredibly good genes and it’s just the way God made him”, and that Trump could live to “200 years old” if he had adopted a better diet.

Biden’s descent into dodderiness has happened before our eyes, and should come as no surprise. But still, it took a high-stakes debate, weeks away from the official nomination of the presidential candidate, to shake the Democrats from their collective denial.

Magical thinking had led them to the false conclusion that Biden was fit to lead. The logic, such as it was, seemed to be that the other guy was so bad that Biden’s innate decency and his record of service would be enough.

Donald Trump is a convicted felon so actively awful, so intent on dismantling democratic conventions and so bizarre in his own speech (only this week he suggested that electric planes would be unable to fly if it was cloudy), that an honourable man like Biden could serve as his antidote.

Biden has plenty of decency, but his failures now supersede it. He now looks a lot like he’s lying about his fitness for office. The lie may come from a place of genuine denial, but it still stands. He can’t be the integrity candidate given his evident reluctance to accept the physical limitations of his stage of life.

If he was an antidote candidate to Trump, it was because he was the guy who would not pull the wool over voters’ eyes, the straight shooter who would never hoodwink them. Biden stood for authenticity where Trump represented fraudulence. Biden told the truth where Trump told lies. Biden had the rectitude to put the American people first. Trump would always put himself first.

But now that formulation doesn’t add up. Biden is being accused of hubris and egotism for refusing to stand aside and make way for a younger, more winning candidate. The stakes couldn’t be higher – it is not overblown to say that the health of American democracy and even global stability are in the balance at the presidential election in November.

But it is not just the high stakes that made Biden’s poor performance and ensuing criticism so poignant. Biden’s situation is compellingly horrible because it goes to the heart of human frailty.

It is a large-scale version of anyone who has ever tried to convince an elderly loved one that they have to give up their driver’s licence, robbing them of their sovereignty and independence. It forces us to ask questions about loyalty versus pragmatism, and, as Reagan put it, age versus experience.

When does conviction turn into rigidity? When does fealty fall over the line into stupidity? How much should we trust the self-belief of others?

In Australia, we don’t have the same problem at the political top – Anthony Albanese is a spry 61, and Peter Dutton a mere 53. But many of our economic and tax policies are skewed towards the geriatric end. Superannuation tax breaks are one glaring example.

Older age groups also benefit disproportionately from negative gearing and capital gains tax concessions on property investments, along with other tax perks like franking credits received on investment dividends.

It is a truism that we get the leaders we deserve. With younger generations infantilised for long periods of their youth, their transition to adulthood slowed by the inflated costs of education and house prices, it is unsurprising we have a surplus of old men who are clinging to power and influence well past their prime.

Something to keep in mind next time we deride a young female leader – former New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern or Finland’s former prime minister Sanna Marin – for being too young and green.

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