All those pundits saying the Iowa caucus fiasco suddenly makes the Democrats weak for the fall election against President Trump are wrong — there was nothing sudden about their weakness at all.
Even before Iowa, this Democratic field was embarrassingly weak. It is woefully lacking in stature, accomplishments, competence, and salable political philosophy. Most of its major contenders are either too old or too young. And now, the national party infrastructure’s obvious disarray only exacerbates these problems.
Consider front-runner Bernie Sanders. His popularity with historically illiterate, willfully ignorant millennials aside, he would be a joke as a general election candidate in any other year. He’s not just a “social democrat” — he’s spent decades as an open sympathizer for communist causes. One small improvement for veterans aside, his legislative achievements in 30 years are nearly nil. By Election Day, he’ll be 79 years old and a recent heart attack survivor.
Really, no one older than 75 should ever be elected to a first term as president: The chances for destabilizing health problems are just too great. Joe Biden (now 77) and Michael Bloomberg (78 next week) also are too old. Biden has had intermittent health problems (once nearly deadly) for more than 30 years. He also is fated never to escape ethics questions about his failure to recuse himself from policy involving Ukraine. Bloomberg has had heart irregularities.
Aside from age and health, Bloomberg’s nanny-state extremism and $5 trillion tax hike plan will make him anathema to Middle America. Elizabeth Warren is a serial fibber proposing to kill private health insurance and a cheap-shot artist to boot. Amy Klobuchar was little-known nationally until — well, she’s still little-known, let’s be honest. For all of her apparent advantages over the others, she seems to have serious impulse-control issues: Her reportedly abusive treatment of employees has resulted in the single highest rate of staff turnover in the Senate.
Meanwhile, the very idea of Pete Buttigieg as president is ludicrous. He looks like he’s 38 going on 19. He is the failed mayor of Indiana’s fourth-largest city, having been elected to that position with fewer votes than many student government officers at state universities. Radically left on social issues (abortion up to the moment of natural birth, for example), dishonestly shape-shifting on healthcare, and as prone to cheap shots as Warren is, Mayor Pete is a pathetic poseur.
This is not an impressive crew.
There was a time when the presidential fields for both major parties were full of people both age-appropriate and widely known for governmental or military leadership. The 1984 Democratic field included Walter Mondale, a former vice president; John Glenn, a longtime senator and space-program hero; George McGovern, a former House representative and senator; and Fritz Hollings, a respected former governor and three-term senator with many accomplishments to his name. Even Jesse Jackson, who wasn’t really fit for the presidency, was still a nationally known leader and a symbol of black advancement. And Gary Hart was a brainy wunderkind perhaps less known to the general public than others but who still enjoyed considerable esteem among national political pros.
The field in 1972 was similarly accomplished, including Hubert Humphrey, McGovern, Edmund Muskie, Eugene McCarthy, and Scoop Jackson. In 1988, Hart, Jackson, Biden, Al Gore, Bruce Babbitt, Dick Gephardt, and Paul Simon all had reputations significantly outstripping anyone in today’s field (except Biden). Michael Dukakis, the eventual nominee, had already been elected three times as governor of Massachusetts.
In comparison, nearly all of this year’s candidates are pygmies, and Biden, if he stays in much longer, is really too old to serve. If Democrats want victory, they need a galvanizing new entrant in the race.
