[written in 2010] I certainly understand the collective whine coming from us progressives over the loss of Senators Dodd and Dorgen. But look, both of them have birthdays in May: Dodd will be 66 and Dorgan 68. When are these guys
supposed to retire?
We ve got the oldest US Senate in the history of forever. Forty-eight US Senators are over sixty-five, and twenty-seven of those are over seventy. [The current number shows 31 Senators over 70.]
I don t want anyone to think I m being ageist here, though I actually think it s an ageist thing on the part of boomers to keep these (pardon the expression) fossils in office. One always feels younger if the leadership of your country is older than you. A large part of the susceptibility of seniors to distrust Obama has to do with him being in his forties, I m sure.