Time flies as they say. For example, Chelsea Clinton will be turning 28 within the month. It seemed just like yesterday, the charges of hypocrisy were flying over which grammar school she would attend. Then we see stories of how today she is supposedly being used to woo a junior at Marquette University who just happens to be a super-delegate to the Democratic Convention. Maybe this is just the way really old folks talk. Personally, when I was back in college, a women around 7 years my senior would be old. (I did exchange notes when I was 17 or so with a 23-year-old woman, so maybe I’m not so innocent.) Looking at 21-year-olds today, I see kids. When you consider that Hillary has begun her twilight years, you realize she didn’t have Chelsea until near her mid-30s, having married near age 28.
Going across the aisle we find Laura Bush marrying near 31. Four years later, she gave birth to her daughters. Prehaps this is a generational issue. Going back a long time ago, we have Eleanor Roosevelt. She was wed near 21 after having met her husband FDR at 17. Moving forward, Jackie Kennedy and Camelot did not begin until she was roughly 24. Going back again, Mary Todd Lincoln was wed at near 24 and had her first child almost exactly 9 months later. Going back to the beginning, Martha (Curtis) Washington started her married life at age 18 with a husband 2 decades her senior. After she became a widow, she eventually married George Washinton, and they raised the children from her first marriage without having any children of their own.
As for present candidates, Cindy McCain was near 26 at the time. She is John McCain’s second wife. Michelle Obama wed near 28 and had her first child 7 years later. To varying degrees each party doesn’t really care about family life. When you get up to the media elites in both parties, you find many who actually disdain family life. I wonder if this is because for so many of our country’s putative leaders, marriage and family life have truly been an afterthought. Although Obama is very much my senior, an odd coincidence is that we both had daughters named Natasha born in 2001.
Addendum: Since it has come up both here and privately, I am willing to concede that not all young folks are thwarting opportunities to wed before mid-life. I don’t recall making such a claim, but oh well. I have little sympathy for those attempting to argue we can tell nothing about a person’s beliefs by how they actually live. Having been married prior to my mid-twenties and being cognizant of marital statistics, I simply can’t empathize with the view that getting married is so extremely difficult. My advice on how to get married is “Just Do It!”, with apologizes to Nike. While I doubt I’ll get around to writing a column justifying the view, I pretty much believe marriage is for the ‘young.’ There are many factors working against those who wait until later in life to attempt marriage. In part you are dealing with more divorcees and people who otherwise have baggage. In part you are dealing with a winnowed field where many ideal mates have already been married. I’m not trying to depress anyone here. I’m trying to be honest. As for what this says about Presidential candidates, I think it is quite apparent that many of them married feminists.
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