I caught about 5 minutes of John McCain on Meet the Press just now, and was actually a little surprised by his performance. My surprise wasn't due to anything he said, which was predictable. What caught me a bit off guard was how old he seemed. Maybe I haven't seen him live on TV for awhile or something, but I was struck by the apparent lack of fire in his belly and the general slow-speaking tiredness that seems to have overtaken him. he spoke VERY quietly and deliberately, as if it took extra effort to string his thoughts together. His jokes fell flat, and he barely smiled.
One of the larger drawbacks to a McCain nomination IMO is his age. Sure, he's not exactly Reaganesque quite yet, but after 15 years of solid White House baby boomerage I'm not sure this country will be as keen to elect an older man as they once were. Reagan, for all his popularity, did give the elder statesman image a bad name with his pre-Alzheimers problems during his second term. McCain will be 72 in 08, and 76 if he were to win and run a second term, 80 when leaving office for good.
I think the folks (Indies, Dems) who have early interest in McCain remember him from the 2000 primaries, when he was vigorous and sharp. He seemed younger than his actual age in 2000, but now he seems older than his 70 years. As the primary season heats up leading into 08, I think many folks who haven't paid close attention to him, since '00 will be surprised to see this McCain. As time passes and McCain gets more national press, I am less and less doubtful about how he'll fare in the primaries. I am quite confident it will be 2000 redux, IF he even runs.
I know 72 is not old anymore. But compared to some of his older colleagues (Kennedy, Rangel, come to mind), John McCain just seems to have given up already, or has otherwise extinguished whatever fire he has in his belly.
Maybe it was just a bad morning for him on MTP, and to be fair I have not seen him live.
Whaddya think? Will ageism be in play in 08?