When Ageism Gets in the Way of Getting Things Done

I don’t typically write about political things. While I have firmly-held beliefs, I prefer to write from the position of sharing information rather than sharing opinion. For this week’s blog, however, I find that I am called to do both.

I watched in stunned silence as President Biden attempted to rebut the ageist comments found in Robert K. Hur’s Special Counsel report. On the one hand, the ageism in that report needs to be called out for what it is – prejudice and political mud-slinging! On the other hand, we Americans need to face our fears about getting old.

If you haven’t been following the news, President Biden and Former President Trump were both found to have kept government documents after they left office. Turns out, this is against the rules, and for good reason! In both cases, the Government asked for the documents to be returned. President Biden did as he was asked.

The problem was that some of the documents that were returned happened to be “classified”, which not only looks bad in terms of keeping secrets, but invites people to question just why those documents were kept in the first place. So, a Special Counsel was appointed to investigate and, if evidence was found, to bring charges.

Insufficient Evidence to Charge; But Findings Indicate Biden is “Elderly”

The goal of the investigation was to determine whether President Biden knowingly took government documents for his own use. In this charge, there was insufficient evidence to make a case. That should have been the end of the report.

Instead, Mr. Hur chose to share his thoughts on how a jury might be swayed not by the evidence, but by the defendant’s performance. I’ll let you read what Mr. Hur wrote:

“We have also considered that, at trial, Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory. Based on our direct interactions with and observations of him, he is someone for whom many jurors will want to identify reasonable doubt. It would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him-by then a former president well into his eighties-of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness.”

Qualifications to Assess Memory

Mr. Hur has an incredibly impressive resume for an attorney. He is 51-years old, has attended and graduated from some very prestigious schools (e.g., Stanford, Harvard, Cambridge (UK)), clerked for Supreme Court Justice Rehnquist, became a partner in a law firm and ventured in and out of public service. This guy is smart; no doubt!

But he has no standing as someone who can (or should) assess cognitive functioning. Nowhere in his vitae is there any indication that he has taken coursework in evaluation of memory or understands how memory works.

What Mr. Hur does have is an image that too many of us hold of how an old man acts and looks like. Unfortunately, he then uses this stereotype and cherry picks from five hours of testimony those instances where President Biden was unable to remember events or names. This is ageism.

Are You Just Getting Older?

You may have fallen victim to the stereotyping of what it means to age. You may, like so many, become anxious when you can’t remember a word, or forget where you put something. You may attribute this to “getting older”, but that would be wrong.

Too many of us believe that aging and memory decline go hand in hand. In truth, memory can be impacted by many different things at any age.

Just What is “Memory” Anyway?

There are many different types of memory. There is semantic (naming things), episodic (things that happened to us over time), working (a holding zone), autobiographic (who you are over time), procedural (how to do things in order), explicit (facts and events that happened others), long-term (stuff that is embedded), and short-term (stuff that slips away right away).

Memory is NOT like going into a file cabinet, searching through the files and pulling information out. It involves all areas of the brain, collaborating, connecting, and determining priorities simultaneously (laying down a memory) and then re-membering it — literally reconstructing it on demand. And this is a continual process that happens from birth to death.

Things that can interfere with re-membering in each memory type include stress, anxiety, poor sleep, diet, lack of exercise, medications, and substance use, environmental toxins and yes, cognitive impairment. Age, in and of itself, is not a variable.

Functional Standards of Aging Are Needed

We must become more adept at identifying functional standards of aging rather than depending on chronological age categories alone. This would mean assessing how someone makes decisions under stress or problem-solves, or synthesizes multiple sources of information and then initiates change, regardless of age. It does, however, need to include experience.

These skill sets require that all aspects of cognitive functioning be working optimally. And these better reflect what is called for in unique positions of power and authority, such as the presidency. Nowhere in Mr. Hur’s report does he refer to any of these standards.

Experience Makes a Difference

There is no doubt that Biden’s years of experience in politics are beneficial when it comes to shepherding policy and legislation. This is also true for his ability to bring folks to the table and negotiate compromise that will benefit us all.

These are aspects of aging that Mr. Hur chose to exclude from his characterization. I have to assume he did so because they are inconsistent with the picture of a doddering old man he was trying to paint.

Strategies for Managing High Cognitive Demand

Strategies for managing high cognitive demand in any job, would include taking regular breaks, making sure you get sufficient quality sleep, exercise and eating well. All of which I am sure President Biden is doing. These strategies are challenging to implement in the Office of the Presidency because of the varied nature of the job.

The fact that the President mixes up names or is unable to recall specific dates at times can be explained by the high cognitive demands of the office he holds. In short, there are other things his mind is paying attention to.

Unlike Mr. Hur, I believe that if Mr. Biden were to go before a jury, he would appear competent, trustworthy, accessible, and sympathetic. He would physically present as an elder – not “elder-ly”; someone worthy of respect, someone who is commanding, yet not frightening.

The Broader Issue

I will leave it to the pundits to sort out the political gamesmanship going on here. From my perspective as a trained clinical psychologist, with 30 plus years working with and evaluating aging adults, I will put my money on President Biden any day.

The broader issue, however, is how do we address the implicit and explicit ageism that characterizes older Americans as “slow”, “dependent”, “resource-sucking invalids” who will bankrupt the country using Medicare and Social Security benefits. Maybe we need to do something about that.