What’s the prime age for competency?

Firing her first official salvo in a presidential battle that’s scheduled to drag on for the next 20 months — but probably will seem a lot longer — Nikki Haley blasted away at an unexpected target last week:

Old people. In announcing her candidacy for the Republican nomination, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations proclaimed, “America is not past our prime. It’s just that our politicians are past theirs.

“In the America I see, the permanent politician will finally retire. We’ll have term limits for Congress, and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”

Reactions were mixed.

“I think it should be lower,” quipped South Carolina senator Lindsay Graham, 67. “Anybody dumb enough to run for president should have to take a test.”

In an ill-advised and possibly career-threatening rebuttal, CNN’s Don Lemon declared the 51-year-old Haley, “isn’t in her prime, sorry. A woman is considered to be in their prime in their 20s and 30s and maybe 40s.”

My reaction is that it’s just more stereotyping of old people, every bit as ageist as Lemon’s are sexist. Both of them probably should be censured, lose their jobs and be deleted from Twitter, which are the current penalties for anyone who says anything that anybody else declares is an “ism” of one kind or other.

I probably won’t be around 24 years from now to savor Haley’s reaction when someone declares it’s time for her competency to be tested, but I get where she’s coming from. When I was 21, I was convinced that competency tests needed to be taken by everyone over the age of 30. Now my favorite baseball cap displays the message, “It’s weird being the same age as old people.”

But why 75? Why not 70? Why not 60? Why not 51?

There are plenty of politicians of all ages who aren’t competent, never were and probably never will be, but they keep getting elected anyway. Maybe a better solution would be to test the competency of the people who voted for them.

Besides, what’s the definition of “prime?” And how do you know when you’ve passed it? I’m still waiting for mine. Or maybe I missed it; perhaps it happened one day last week during my afternoon nap. It’s even possible that I’m in it right now.

Whether a President Haley would be able to muster enough Congressional votes to pass competency test legislation is questionable; sixteen of the currents senators are 75 or older. As are 30 of the House members. So good luck with that.

Meanwhile, I’d be content if politicians just had to pass a decency test.