Obama's Gone Gray Since Elected
By: Kim Vatis, WMAQ
Updated: March 6, 2009
Being the commander-in-chief is one of the toughest jobs in the country and it appears to be having an affect on President Obama. It looks like the new president is going gray.
At just 47 years old, Obama is one of our youngest presidents. He's known for his athleticism and fit physique. But are times so stressful, the plummeting economy and two wars, that Obama's already going gray, just six weeks into the job?
On the left the president in December. On the right the president now.
Studies have shown that presidents do age faster than other Americans perhaps twice as fast.
Michael Roizen, M.D., founder of RealAge.com, says "so if they're in the office eight years, a president ages 16 years. If they're in four years, they age eight years."
Look at Jimmy Carter after four years, worn down by the Iran hostage crisis. Nixon, ravaged by Watergate. A haggard post-impeachment Bill Clinton, at the end of his second term.
Michael Beschloss, Presidential Historian, says "it's amazing to remember people would talk about the young boy that was coming from Arkansas. You sure wouldn't have said that eight years later."
And President Bush, saltier himself, after weathering 911 and the war on terror.
Back to the baby-faced Obama. It's been two years since the then freshman senator braved the cold in Springfield to declare his candidacy for president. After a grueling primary some might say he's earned those gray hairs.
Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin says "as long as he keeps playing basketball and stays healthy despite the color of the hair he's gonna be just fine."







