Light starts to dim on the oldie goldies' era of American politics

Photo by Eduardo Barrios on Unsplash

The election of 57-year-old Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the US House of Representatives returns the spotlight in the American political firmament to teenyboppers, metaphorically speaking.

The sun started to go down on the governing gerontocracy -President Joe Biden (80), Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (72) and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (82)- several weeks ago. When Ms Pelosi announced she was stepping down from her role and 52-year-old Hakeem Jeffries was elected instead, it signalled the beginning of the end for the oldie goldies of American politics.

Mr Biden claims he is minded to run for office again (he shouldn’t) but that’s up in the air, as are his prospects for re-election. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, 80, is also still in post too but he too faced a job challenge this time round. Though it wasn’t terribly serious, it was a sign of the times.

That is why it’s fair to say that the passing of the baton has begun and the oldie g…