When White House contender Nikki Haley called for a "new generation of leaders" this past February, the former South Carolina governor was no doubt referring to the age of not only former President Donald Trump (76), it turns out she’s been hatching a plan to put President Biden and a few other politicians out to pasture as well.
Since she threw her hat into the ring, Haley (51) has repeatedly called for making "mental competency tests" compulsory for politicians over 75. This week, she laid out the details in a Fox News Op-Ed.
"The test I’m proposing for Sen. Feinstein, President Biden and others is not complicated or difficult. The Montreal Cognitive Assessment Test (MoCA) is a widely used tool for detecting cognitive decline," Haley wrote.
Feinstein (D-Cal), who is turning 90 this coming June, has taken a leave from her job amid calls to resign.
"They should both take the test, along with every other politician over the age of 75 — Republican or Democrat, man or woman — and publish the results," Haley continued. "This is not a qualification for office. Failing a mental competency test would not result in removal. It is about transparency. Voters deserve to know whether those who are making major decisions about war and peace, taxation and budgets, schools and safety, can pass a very basic mental exam."
Trump, who took the MoCA test while in office, broadly bragged that he passed with flying colors when he was given five words and was able to repeat them after a five-minute lapse: person, woman, man, camera, TV.
When CNN asked Jill Biden in March whether her husband would agree to take a mental competency test, she seemed shocked. “We would never even discuss something like that.”
America Is Getting Older And So Is The Senate: How About Some Term Limits?
Indeed, the Senate is full of people in their 70s and 80s, such as Chuck Grassley (Iowa-R) who is three months younger than Feinstein and was just re-elected to his sixth term. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell is 81. We’ve had Senators who served into their 90s, such as Strom Thurmond who was 100 when he left office after 47 years and Ted Kennedy who also served for nearly 47 years.
Age aside, one wonders if term limits might be a good idea.
Washington Post columnist Phillip Bump took a close look at the upward climb in the age distribution of the Senate since 1982 when baby boomers were at least 30 years old.
“With an older America comes an older legislature,” Bump wrote. “And that means that elected officials might be expected to hit those limits more frequently — a challenge to any individual, but particularly a challenge to those who live their lives in the public eye.”
Again, term limits anyone?
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