Photo/Illutration Sen. Bernie Sanders, left, and former Vice President Joe Biden participate in a Democratic Party presidential primary debate in Charleston, South Carolina, on Feb. 25. (AP Photo)

When 43-year-old John F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for the Democratic Party presidential nomination in 1960, his “youth and inexperience” was seen as a liability.

Even though he had served in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, his age still provided ammunition for his older, seasoned rivals.

But Kennedy took advantage of his own youth to promote himself as “an energetic and healthy young candidate with an easy smile,” according to “Kennedy,” a book by Hiroshi Tsuchida.

His wholesome image served him well in the televised presidential debates with the Republican opponent, Richard Nixon.

In more recent presidential elections, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama both capitalized on their youth as one of their assets.

But that now feels like history. 

The candidates still in the running for the upcoming U.S. presidential election are all in their 70s.

Pete Buttigieg, the 38-year-old former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has dropped out of the primaries. And things are not going well for Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, the youngest of the septuagenarian set at 70.

With the Super Tuesday just over, the Democratic Party nomination race has effectively become a duel between Joe Biden, 77, and Bernie Sanders, 78.

Their policies differ significantly, but both belong to the same category of “elderly white males.” And that’s where President Donald Trump also fits.

I thought that Americans attached value to youth. But apparently, that is no longer the case.

The expression “SuperAgers” refers to older seniors with cognitive faculties of people decades younger, and Biden and Sanders are sometimes seen as examples.

I would like to take this to mean that America has not lost its vigor.

Young people stand out among Sanders supporters, indicating that youth does not equal political apathy in the United States.

The present reality of this superpower is that people of all age groups support the elderly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 5

* * *

Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.