What's with all the Ageism in These Threads??

[delisen]

75. Every candidate I've observed struggled with endurance during presidential

campaigns. One possible exception was Ronald Reagan in 1980 who treated campaigning like an acting tour and seemed shallow - just kept playing the same role.

Obama got tired campaigning. Bill Clinton lost his voice and could hardly speak at some of his appearances.

Some candidates are less hands-on than others and think this makes a difference. Same as the presidency. The hands-on presidents carry a greater weight on their shoulders.

Carter was hands-on and warned Reagan about how grueling his schedule would be how early in the morning he would have to rise. Reagan laughed it off because he had no intention of getting up early of a daily briefing. He would rely on his staff to deal with many things.

If in choosing candidates we don't really know them it is because they don't have a long record of experience or have had media shape a false image. Kerry comes to mind. Everyone hard and read negatives about his wartime experience in Vietnam. So damaging were these stories that that the word "swift boating " is now used to describe the use of a false narrative to attack a political candidate.

I was recently surprised to read. about Kerry meeting with a Vietnamese soldier in 2017 and learn his actual combat experience:

the plan, the Vietnamese guerrilla told his former adversary (Kerry) on Saturday, was to use rifle and grenade fire to lure the heavily-armed American craft into range of a shoulder-held rocket launcher.
Kerry won a Silver Star for bravery for his actions during the guerrilla attack - he shot dead one Vietnamese fighter, and saved his crew from a counterattack
This tactic had paid off for the Viet Cong in the past but on this day Kerry made a dramatic decision, deliberately beaching his boat then storming ashore to pursue the operator.
Grabbing an M-16 rifle the then 26-year-old chased down the guerrilla and shot him dead, saving his crew from a counterattack.
Vo Ban Tam remembered the dead man, 24-year-old Ba Thanh, as a respected member of the Viet Cong's main force in Ca Mau province, trained to use the prized launcher.
'He was a good soldier,' he recalled, speaking through an interpreter on the banks of same river, shortly after Kerry re-visited the scene of the ambush for the first time.
Kerry had never before learned the name of the man he shot. During his unsuccessful 2004 White House campaign, opponents tarnished his war record by claiming he killed a teenager.

If we don't know our candidates because they are inexperienced - I would think it useful to give them time to get more experience.
If we don't know our candidates because their experience has been distorted by propaganda-that is a different problem to address.