Former President Jimmy Carter doubted he would have had the stamina to assume the burdens of the presidency when he was 80 years old, and joked that there should be an age limit for the office.
Carter, 94, who earlier this year surpassed former President George H.W. Bush as the longest-living president in American history, reflected to an annual audience at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia, that some people might just be too old to lead. “I hope there’s an age limit,” Carter said regarding whether he would consider a 2020 run. “If I were just 80 years old, if I was 15 years younger, I don’t believe I could undertake the duties that I experienced when I was president.”
“For one thing, you have to be very flexible with your mind,” Carter explained. “You have to be able to go from one subject to another and concentrate on each one adequately, and then put them all together in a comprehensive way, like I did between Begin and Sadat with the peace agreement.”
A president must also be open to adopt new ideas, Carter said, who will turn 95 on Oct. 1. He left office in 1981 at the age of 56 after losing to Ronald Reagan.
Among the 2020 Democratic front-runners, former Vice President Joe Biden would be the oldest president ever, finishing out his first term at 82. Biden has raised questions of his fitness throughout his time on the campaign trail, as he has repeatedly flubbed lines, confused locations, mistaken events, mixed up times, and even suffered physical complications. Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders is even older than Biden, and would complete his first term at 83. Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren would clock in at 75 by the end of her first term.
President Trump presently holds the record for oldest president, having been inaugurated at 70.
