SOUNDING OFF:

Now that their joint appearance at Saddleback Church is in the rear-view mirror, one thing is clear to me: The difference in the candidates’ ages — which some people argue is another word for experience — will become a defining issue in the 2008 presidential election.

On the one hand, you have Sen. John McCain, who turns 72 later this week. He was born long before the computer revolution. That is troubling to younger voters. On the other hand, you have Sen. Barack Obama who recently turned 47. He was born just a few years before the Beatles invaded America. That is equally troubling to older voters.

To this almost 60-something voter, age will not be my deciding factor in this year’s campaign for the White House. Judgment will be.

Maybe that’s because McCain basically is the same age as my two older brothers. Dave, the oldest, was born in 1935. John was born two years later. Both are in good health, active and interested in politics.

Despite having second homes in Arizona, or having attended college the same time McCain was at the Naval Academy, neither of my brothers will be supporting the GOP senator this fall.

Obama’s youth doesn’t bother me. There are hundreds of respected politicians, business leaders and scholars who were born in the early 1960s.

As a boy of 12, I shook the hand of a young Sen. John F. Kennedy three months before he was elected president.

Last month, I stood shoulder to shoulder with the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee for president at the Balboa Bay Club.

I wish my brothers could have been there with me.

Today, many from my generation are grandparents. After poisoning water wells with MTBE additives, spending billions on bridges to nowhere, or waiting for Detroit automakers to keep pace with hybrid technology, we often wonder what kind of world we will leave our children’s children. In order for Obama to win this fall, he has to continue addressing boomers’ concerns.

If you take tax policies off the table for a moment, it seems to me McCain’s view of the world is pessimistic while Barack Obama’s is optimistic.

Once in the Oval Office, the way each assesses a situation will be determined by four critical factors: his age, temperament, advisors and life experiences.

First, there’s no fudging McCain or Obama’s age. Second, their composure under fire is being tested every day on the campaign trail. Third, their picks for vice presidential running mates will send important signals to voters about the kinds of people each hopes to attract in his administration.

I’d rather have a youthful walrus than an older hound dog in the White House.

DENNY FREIDENRICH is the founder of First Strategies consulting in Laguna Beach.