C.S. Lewis once said, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” The presidential aspirants in the Democrat Party seem to have taken that as a challenge.
Last week, 68-year-old former Senator Jim Webb joined the field of potential Democrat Presidential candidates by announcing the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. While it could be the case that the apparent certainty of success for the senescent Hillary Clinton, 67, is keeping many younger would-be candidates away, the emerging field is filling up almost entirely with Medicare beneficiaries. In fact, this superannuated group boasts an average age of 66, and it’s only that young thanks to the spry, tax-loving Martin O’Malley, 51, the sole potential candidate not born during the antediluvian FDR/Truman era. Without his relative juvenility, the average age jumps to 69.
As noted by David Frum, if and when Democrats nominate the 1969 Wellesley grad (or just about anyone else on their list), they’ll break the record currently held by Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan for number of years older a Party’s nominee is than his/her predecessor. Breaking records like this is symptomatic of a Party that has stopped thinking about tomorrow.
Compare and contrast with the potential candidates of the Republican Party. As the Democrats resolve to cross their bridge back to the 20th Century, every Republican considering a run is younger than even the youngest non-O’Malley Democrat. They average a full dozen years younger.
Republicans are gearing up to run as the Party of ideas and innovation against a Democrat Party intent on nominating a relic of a bygone era. Expect the candidates to look the part.
