Is Biden Our Konrad Adenauer?

No. He's Better than Der Alte. 

Adenauer, right, with French President de Gaulle in 1963.

Der Alte means "the old guy" in German. 

Konrad Adenauer led the new West German state during its period of reconstruction after World War II, serving as its chancellor from 1949 to 1963, leaving office at the age of 87. He wasn't perfect, but during his time as chancellor he and the German people took a fragment of the old Germany, rebuilt its shattered economy and whole cities that had been reduced to rubble, and changed it from a defunct totalitarian dictatorship to a thriving, stable democracy. In all this, the people saw Der Alte as their anchor. 

Born in 1876, Adenauer flourished as a politician in the period after World War I, becoming a leader of the Catholic Centre Party and serving as mayor of Cologne from 1917 to 1933. When the Nazis came to power in 1933, they fired him from his job as mayor, and his life focused mainly on survival until the end of World War II. It was a record that made him a good candidate to help lead the emerging West German state. The Nazis had even done him the favor of arresting him several times, and this of course played well in the new political environment. 

Adenauer was already in his seventies when he became chancellor. I think his performance in that job is evidence that old people are not necessarily useless relics. 

I understand the desire among many people for generational transfer of power. Younger people are interested in moving up to more senior positions, and it can be frustrating to see the older generation cling to the jobs at the top. But I would argue that wholesale dismissal of an age cohort is probably a bad idea.

In addition, the Dems have had a pretty good record on generational transfer in recent years. Barack Obama was 47 when he entered the office of president. Not too shabby. And Nancy Pelosi (currently 83) has stepped aside in favor of Hakeem Jeffries (currently 53). 

Meanwhile the Republicans still have Mitch McConnell (81) and the Former Guy (77), but it's just possible that the most powerful person in the Republican party right now is Matt Gaetz (41). He brings the chaos, and that's what the base wants (until their Social Security checks stop coming). 

Maybe quality should trump chronology.

Matt Gaetz, at left.

I've also toyed with comparing Biden to Dwight Eisenhower, who left the presidency at the relatively youthful age of 70. But let me suggest that Eisenhower's developing infirmities made him old before his time. He was a chain smoker from an early age, and he had his first heart attack in 1955; it kept him in the hospital for six weeks. He also had a mild stroke in 1957. By the time of his death in 1969, he had suffered seven heart attacks. 

Eisenhower was also noted for giving long, involved, basically impenetrable answers to questions at press conferences, leaving journalists scratching their heads as they wondered what, if anything, he had meant to say. The answer is that Eisenhower was a wily old soldier, and if he didn't want to answer a question he would avoid conflict by laying down a smokescreen. This tactic is sometimes called "talk a lot, say as little as possible." 

Eisenhower was a very popular president, and historians now regularly rank him among the top ten of our chief executives. Biden's popularity ratings are lower than Eisenhower's, but I think historians are going to wind up ranking him in the top ten. 

At the beginning of this story, Adenauer is pictured with French President Charles de Gaulle in 1963. In 1958, de Gaulle came out of retirement to extricate France from the morass of the Algerian war. He retired again in 1969, and died a year later at the age of 79. 

See also A Lesson From the Berlin Wall, The Real Parallels Are With Weimar, Hans Fallada and the White-Collar Proletariat, Humboldt on Education, A Teacher's Dilemma.