Posted by William Neikirk at 2:15 p.m. CDT
The big six-o has claimed President Bush as one of its own. According to news reports, this age thing has been bothering him for many weeks. But, as he turned 60 today, he appeared to have capitulated. "Just let me say this, it's a lot younger than you think," he said when Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper wished him happy birthday at a joint press conference.
If it's any solace to Bush, we have done a little research on what some presidents (and a few other prominent folks) have said about age, memories, time and their implications. Presidents, after all, help define our times. These are some of my favorites, both serious and funny. Maybe you have some favorites, too.
"Thomas Jefferson once said, 'We should never judge a president by his age, only by his works.' And ever since he told me that I stopped worrying."-- Ronald Reagan.
"Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt."--Herbert Hoover.
"I will not make age an issue in this campaign. I am not going to exploit for political purposes my opponent's youth and inexperience." Ronald Reagan, then 74, fending off 56-year-old Walter Mondale's suggestions he was too old to be re-elected.
"When our memories outweigh our dreams, we have grown old."--Bill Clinton.
"You know you are getting old when the candles cost more than the cake."--Bob Hope, comedian and friend of presidents.
"A statesman is a politician who's been dead for 10 or 15 years."--Harry S Truman.
"When I was young, poverty was so common that we didn't know that it had a name."--Lyndon B. Johnson.
"Things are more like they are now than they have ever been before."--Dwight D. Eisenhower.
"So when you are lean and mean and resourceful, you continue to walk on the edge of the precipice because you have become fascinated by how close you can walk without losing your balance."--Richard M. Nixon.
"Old age is no place for sissies."--Bette Davis, an actress who was no sissy.
"What makes him think that a middle-aged actor who's played with chimps could have a future in politics?"--Ronald Reagan, on actor Clint Eastwood's bid to become mayor of Carmel, Calif.
"We resent a philosophy of government that tells fairy tales in November and ghost stories in January."--Adlai Stevenson.
"Sometimes when I look at all my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian you should have stayed a virgin.'"--Lillian Carter, mother of President Carter.
"I seldom think of politics more than 18 hours a day."--Lyndon B. Johnson.
"The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone across this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature." Abraham Lincoln, first inaugural address.
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Comments
Nice of Daley to be Bush's election-year prop.
Posted by: bb | July 7, 2006 6:37 AM
It's amusing and a little frightening to think that President Bush and Burt Ward, who played Robin the Boy Wonder, both turned 60 on the same day!
Posted by: Bill Ellison | July 7, 2006 9:30 AM
Old age is being a curmudgeon and posting a Bush- bash at the end of a pleasant article.
Posted by: lz | July 7, 2006 10:03 AM
Old age is complaining about Bush-Bashing! So, now that we are in full campaigning mode, can we expect that even less actual presidential work and accomplishments lie ahead? Party on George!
Posted by: rj | July 7, 2006 10:36 AM
What's Dubya gonna do for his 61st?
Posted by: Bill Costley | July 7, 2006 6:54 PM
President Bush the trendsetter - first president to leave Washington and campaign for his party's canidates around the country.
Grow up
Posted by: Terry | July 7, 2006 6:59 PM