from Amazon
Tuesday, September 09, 2008
Life Expectancy of a President
The CDC site (pdf) shows the life expectancy of people, throughout the century, by age. For example, a person born in 1900 was expected to live, at the time of his birth, for 47 more years. Weird. I presume wars and epidemics cut short many lives. A person born in 1950, at the time of his birth, was expected to live 68 years. A person born in 2005 is expected to live 78 years.
Now, what if you are already 65 years old? If you were that age in 1950, you had 13 years to go. Today, you have 19 years to go. And if you are 75 years old? In 1980, you had 10 years to go. In 2005, it’s 12 years to go.
So, when you compare McCain’s age, you need to do it based on the health of the times. I am presuming that someone who is 72 years old today has some 14 years to go. What was Reagan? 69 or so in 1980? He probably had some 13 years to go? McCain’s age is equivalent to Reagan’s age the first time Reagan was in office (presuming people of “average” health).
What I would like is for guys who have a passion for this to report the life expectancy for all the presidents, going back as far as you can. We’ll probably find that McCain isn’t in as bad shape as the mainstream is making it out to be. And, I would bet all those early presidents were in terrible shape.
No political commentary in this thread.