Presidential Politics Not Always 20/20

Take a good look at the huge flock of presidential hopefuls: Democrat, Republicans, and other parties. They share markedly divergent opinions about the role of the federal government, foreign policy, the economy, homeland security - you name it.

Here's one thing that elicits unanimous consensus from the entire mob: "Don't wear any eyeglasses!"

Quick. Who was the last American president who routinely wore eyewear? You'll need to go back 40 years; it was Lyndon Johnson. By the end of his presidency he wore his bifocals everywhere, even on TV.

Campaign image consultants are down on eyewear. They claim it makes a candidate appear impaired, older than their age. Truth be told, some candidates might do better to appear a bit older.

Maybe they're all wearing multifocal contact lenses. That would be brutal given their 20-hour campaign days.

Back to the bifocals issue: since most candidates are age 50 or older they definitely need a little help reading the fine text. Okay, speeches today are delivered with the aid of a teleprompter with bright, JUMBO type. Skeptics will immediately pounce on this idea by claiming, "If the candidate is nearsighted (myopic) they can read for many extra years without needing bifocals!"

My response is that those applying for the most powerful job on earth are either seeing poorly at distance (can't get the big picture, can't see beyond their nose) - or - they may someday accidentally sign some blurry treaty or tiny-print legislation that could endager all of us. They can't have it both ways.

Oh, my bad!

They're politicians - of course they can!

Related Topics:

• WebMD Video: Age-Related Vision Loss
• WebMD Video: Permanent Contact Lens

Technorati Tags: vision, eyeglasses, eye care, bifocals, presidential candidates, health-and-wellness