Eric Swalwell is "considering" running for President

[Renew Deal]

He just said it on MSNBC. He said he will make a decision after the holidays. He is also speaking in Iowa soon.

[sandensea]

1. He definitely has what it takes, but for one thing: his age

Most baby boomers, accustomed to gray-haired (and in some cases, senile) presidents as they are, are unlikely to stomach someone as youthful as Swalwell.

He's make a great running mate though. Perhaps that's his strategy.

[wasupaloopa]

7. How can you speak for "most baby boomers?" You are wrong.

We don’t vote for or against someone because of their age.

Like you we vote for who we feel is the best person for the job.

[sandensea]

8. I hope I am wrong.

He'd make a great president.

[Hortensis]

11. :) You are wrong about boomer attitudes.

The age noise, as opposed to the problem, is mainly but not entirely about the desire of younger politicians for a chance at power that's currently too concentrated in people who rose to it long ago and then didn't die off in the numbers they used to.

Some have stagnated, but others got very good at what they do. Combine that with being very good at holding onto their positions, and incumbency at the top is both a formidable fortress and a real structural problem that needs fixing. This is an old dynamic, but we've never, ever had so many healthy, vigorous septigenarians who aren't ready to retire and let other good people advance as they once did.

But it's certainly not that boomers don't understand this and won't vote for good people of any age likely to survive 8 years. Look at Obama. And who could have watched all those elders presiding over the Kavanaugh hearing and not been struck by it? Many of those on Judiciary during the Anita Hill hearing (partly because their predecessors had the decency to become decrepit) are still in senate leadership going on 30 years later, for god's sake. It's not supposed to be that way.

Btw, almost no one goes directly from either the house or the senate to the presidency. There is this notion, a collective wisdom, that serving on some committees as one of many legislators does not prepare one for the nation's largest administrative position, CiC of our military, director of foreign policy, etc. Ideally those of us old enough to be nervous about putting anyone in the oval office would like Swalwell's experience to also include maybe a couple terms as a governor of a semi-independent state wealthier than many nations, and perhaps a cabinet position?

[sandensea]

13. Perhaps I've been around too many Republicans

"Ethel! Come see this! Democrats are trying to take our burial plots!"

"No, Harold. They're trying to stop the Russian plot."

[Hortensis]

16. Lol. Republicans are ants compared to us. Their house

caucus has always (current split unusual) been run with the top-down authoritarian control they'd impose on the nation if they could. We have no Tom "The Hammer" DeLays.

Hostile media are always characterizing our independence of thought as dysfunctional strife, and for those who are hive types themselves it may even sort of look like that. What's dysfunctional, of course, is too much concentration of power at the top. We need both enough concentration to get things done and maintain stability and enough diffusion to stimulate a vital and dynamic body full of enthusiastic doers. We have a current brain drain as too many good people serve and leave, some to make more money but others out of dissatisfaction.

Every change includes all kinds of consequences, but I'd love a chance to see what'd happen (maybe in computerized simulations first!) if we added another 150 or more districts so they were all smaller and more representative. We all know that, all by itself, it would lessen though not eliminate the effects of hostile gerrymandering, which are strongest in urban areas.

[Garrett78]

15. Age is a factor, and the vast majority of presidents have been 60 or younger.

More than half have been 55 or younger. The average age of the last 5 Democratic presidents, upon taking office, was 48.6.

It's a fact of life that with age comes physical and mental deterioration.

[MuseRider]

14. I disagree as a boomer!

Most of us wonder where these asshole boomers came from, after all most of us were not all about screwing others over and making tons of money. Anyway, other than my friends who will never ever ever let go of the Clintons (there are so many boomers who just love them) and a few who will never let go of Bernie (sorry folks, there are very few of those but there are some) all the rest of my boomer friends are sick to death at what our generation produced and we want younger, multi racial and multi anything other than old white men. I know that sounds like we are asking to push old white men out and we are, it is not like y'all did not have your turn and look where we are. We need different ideas and choices.

I see quite a few younger people who are thinking of running or just legislating who are just amazing to me. I do not really know what kind of platform Swalwell has but I sure do like when he is on and speaking. If he gets serious I will be checking him out seriously BUT I really really really want a woman. That is where my first serious looks will be. NOT Hillary and really I hate to say it but Warren is also too old, although I certainly could vote for her because we need a woman. I don't know if anything would change with a woman in charge. I would love to believe it would, I think it would but of course it depends on so much else.

That went way over the actual topic, sorry but I will leave it because this boomer who is turning 65 in one week is thrilled with the thought of younger voices and ideas running things. If I have to vote for an old person like me it will not be because I want to vote for them. We need the youth and we have them so lets get them moving to the top.

[Garrett78]

2. Half a dozen Californians alone are considering it.

I like Swalwell, but he's far from being my first choice and I don't see him getting nominated. He and others will boost their public profile and angle for VP or a cabinet post.

[Power 2 the People]

12. +1

[Charlotte Little]

3. Swalwell would be a great VP

Although, with that said, I'd vote for him as a POTUS candidate in a red hot minute.

[notdarkyet]

5. Me too. I like him. As for age; out with the old-in with the new. He's almost forty. How old

Was Kennedy. Time to retire the oldsters. They’ve had their time.

[Charlotte Little]

6. He'll be forty in 2020, just after the election

So, yes. Old enough!

[Garrett78]

9. Kennedy was 43 when he took office. The age of the last 5 Democratic presidents were as follows:

47, 46, 52, 55 and 43

Only 3 of the 45 presidents (Harrison, Reagan and Trump) have been over 65 when taking office. One died shortly after taking office. Another developed alzheimer's in office. And Trump, who holds the record at 70 years and 220 days, is nuttier than squirrel shit.

Sanders would be 79. Biden would be 78. Kerry would be 76. Warren would be approaching 72. Holder would be 70. Inslee would be just shy of 70. Hickenlooper would be approaching 70. Brown would be 68.

The vast majority of presidents have been 60 or younger when taking office.

Harris would be 56. Garcetti would be on the verge of turning 50. Klobuchar would be 60. Booker would be 51. O'Rourke would be 48. Gillibrand would be 53. Kennedy, like Swalwell, would be 40. Buttigieg would be 39. Murphy would be 47. Landrieu would be 60. Schiff would be 60. O'Malley would be 58. Bullock would be 54. Delaney would be 57. Julián Castro would be 46.

The in-betweens: Kaine (nearly 63), Merkley (64), Patrick (64), McAuliffe (nearly 64), Tester (64), Cooper (63)

At this time, my preference is for a Harris-O'Rourke or Harris-Landrieu ticket. With O'Rourke getting nominated in 2028.

[Renew Deal]

17. Buttigieg?

I can't guess who this is.

BTW, thanks for the breakdown!

[Garrett78]

18. Mayor of South Bend, IN. Considered to be a rising star.

Rhodes Scholar and Harvard grad. Veteran of the uncalled for invasion of Afghanistan.

I doubt he'll seek the nomination and can't imagine he'd get nominated if he did, but his name's been floated. Mayor to POTUS is quite a leap, even if one is mayor of Los Angeles or New York.

I'm really hoping that a lot of the folks I listed don't seek the nomination. It may be unrealistic to hope that our field will be less than 20 strong, but I'm hoping nonetheless (with the additional hope that the field will be down to 5 or 6 at most by the time the Iowa caucus concludes). I'm also hoping they focus on their strengths and not on attacking one another, but egos often get in the way of doing what's best.

[elocs]

10. I'm a boomer who will vote in the Democratic primary

here in Wisconsin and age will be a consideration for me because at age 66, I'm not voting for anybody older than me. I'm certain I'll have a wide variety of qualified Democratic candidates to choose from.

[grantcart]

21. Better yet Attorney General

[Golden Raisin]

4. Representative Swalwell has been one of the

voices keeping me semi-sane and with controllable blood pressure during the ongoing, horrifying Trump/Complicit Republican nightmare. He is intelligent, articulate, calm, quietly strong and has a backbone. I'm a baby boomer who would happily vote for him and who thinks we Democrats could benefit from new faces and younger leadership. Given his relative youth he may be angling for a V.P. slot which would also be fine with me.

[phleshdef]

19. I like him but I don't think he is the one.

[BannonsLiver]

20. I'm a fan and hope he runs

Unlike a lot of posters here I welcome a big field and don’t think I am the sole arbiter of whether or not someone should run. Except for Bernie. I don’t like him, and hope he doesn’t run.