Whats Next for Arlen Specter?
In a classic “Saturday Night Live” skit, Molly Shannon plays Sally O’Malley, an aging would-be Rockette, whose audition involves prancing around the stage doing the Can-Can while shouting proudly, “I’m Fifty!” I’ve been thinking of Sally over the past few weeks as longtime senator Arlen Specter made his fierce but ultimately doomed bid for re-election. For O’Malley, age was a badge of honor. What interested me most about Arlen Specter’s “audition” to keep his Senate seat was the fact that the man is 80-years-old and, in his case, age wasn’t even an issue. Apparently, 80 is the new 50. If Specter had succeeded in his bid for re-election, he would have been approaching 90 by the end of his next term. Even at that age, he would not have been the oldest-serving Senator, or even close — you may remember that Strom Thurmond celebrated his hundredth birthday while still in office, though some would question his effectiveness at that point in his career. Not so many years have passed since de
