Today's (July 22) Chicago Tribune has an op-ed column by Steven Calabresi, who is a professor at Northwestern University's Law School, a founding member of the Federalist Society, and a veteran of the Reagan and Bush Sr. administrations. He asserts that Barack Obama is too young to be president. I thought his column was so asinine that it called for a response. For understandable reasons of space limitations, the Tribune publishes only a small fraction of the letters submitted to the editor, and they are not likely to publish this one. In case anybody is interested, here is the link:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-oped0722youthjul22,0,6673380.story
Here is the letter I wrote to the Tribune:
As a Northwestern University law professor, Steven Calabresi must be a smart guy, but his guest column in the July 22 Tribune is one of the stupidest essays I have ever seen. He argues that Barack Obama is too young for the job of President of the United States. He gives two main reasons to support his claim.
First, the constitutional minimum age requirement of 35 came at a time when the average lifespan was only slightly over half of what it is today. Mr. Calabresi admits that the courts should not use that fact to decree a higher minimum age (which he obnoxiously suggests, without evidence, is the kind of thing the dreaded "liberal" Supreme Court justices would do), but he implies that a 47-year-old man such as Obama is equivalent to a 25-year-old in 1789... as if Senator Obama is still getting used to wearing long pants.
Second, he cites the three men who became president at a younger age than Obama would be next January - Teddy Roosevelt, Kennedy, and Clinton - as examples to be avoided. Teddy Roosevelt's image is on Mt. Rushmore, and he is usually regarded as a great, or near great, president by both Republicans and Democrats. Kennedy is favorably remembered by most Americans. Clinton, of course, is a very fresh memory and still controversial, but who I believe will be judged favorably by most future historians.
Of course, Mr. Calabresi also notes the usual claptrap about Obama's supposed flip flops and associations with a few controversial people, without acknowledging that the same charges apply equally to Senator McCain, and many other political leaders. Mr. Calabresi can make the case that Barack Obama is on the wrong side of too many issues, but his "too young to be President" argument is both false and poorly supported.
