Few revelations have driven home the reality that for some people, elected office is effectively an assisted living program, with the recent news about Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX) and President Joe Biden.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal published a comprehensive report that detailed the lengths to which officials in the Biden administration went to ensure that the mental and physical decline of the president were hidden, not only from public view but from government officials and members of his own party.
That report came days before another astonishing revelation from the Dallas Express, which found that Granger, who until April of this year was the chairwoman of the House appropriations committee, was suffering from dementia and was now living in an assisted living facility in Texas. The last time she appeared on the House floor to vote was in July, a full six months before her two-year term was set to expire.
There are some key differences between both cases. Granger had announced that she would not run for reelection in October 2023, while Biden was unceremoniously forced out of his stubborn bid for reelection after a humiliating June debate performance with now-president-elect Donald Trump that exposed his mental and physical decline for the world to see. Not to mention, the office of the presidency requires much more from its occupant than serving in the House of Representatives.
But in both cases, there is a common theme: a person who has spent decades in public service, who is now unquestionably physically diminished, but who for reasons of pride or vanity cannot fathom the notion that they are no longer as physically or mentally capable as they used to be, and thus do their constituents and their allies a disservice.
Age is a reality that is inescapable. We all grow old and eventually die, some sooner than others. But mental and physical decline varies from individual to individual, and thus so does the length of time someone is capable of maintaining their position and effectively serve.
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Trump is the oldest person ever elected president, besting Biden by a few months, but few can deny the difference in the two men’s physical and mental capacities. Older senators such as the 91-year-old Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and 83-year-old Bernie Sanders (I-VT) show a mental and physical acuity that stands in sharp contrast to the halting slowness of the 82-year-old Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) who recently suffered a fall, or the late Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), who died in office last year just months after turning 90 and was pushed in a wheelchair to cast votes on the Senate floor until hours before her death.
Being a true public servant also requires the humility to know when to step away. Granger and Biden are only the latest in a long line of public officials who refused to acknowledge that their abilities had diminished and they could no longer represent their constituents effectively. Both will now be remembered for their humiliating departures from office as much as their decades of service. It is a tragedy that other public officials who are in the twilight of their careers can choose to avoid.