DU and geriatric politicians

[Proud Public Servant]

Last edited Wed Jan 1, 2014, 12:01 PM - Edit history (1)

Trawl through DU discussions of 2016 and you see four names over and over:

Hillary Clinton (age 66)
Elizabeth Warren (age 64)
Bernie Sanders (age 72)
and, increasingly, Jerry Brown (age 75)

Edit (I initially posted this in a response below, but it belongs here): By contrast: Bill Clinton - 46 when he ran; Al Gore - 52 when he ran; Mike Dukakis - 55 when he ran; Walter Mondale - 56 when he ran; George McGovern - 50 when he ran. Also: Howard Dean - 56 when he ran; John Edwards (yeah, I know) - 53 when he ran. The leadership we're looking to now are 1-2.5 decades (or more) older that our past presidential hopefuls.

I know people like other politicians as well, but we keep coming back to these four, all of whom will be past the age to collect full Social Security benefits in 2014. What's up with that? We make fun of the GOP for having an aging base, but how did we end up as the party with a graying leadership?

[NV Whino]

1. We have plenty of younger people out there

We need to look past the big headliners and take advantage of them.

[no1uno]

2. Things that make you go hmmmm.....

Are we going back into the future and not trusting any one over the age of 30?

[MineralMan]

3. It takes a long career to get to the point where you are a serious

candidate for the Presidency. That's why presidents are mostly older. You don't get to just run for President most of the time. JFK and Barack Obama were unusual that way.

Age is not a disqualifying factor for a Presidential candidate, or for much of anything else, quite frankly.

[Proud Public Servant]

5. Not just JFK and Obama:

Bill Clinton - 46 when he ran; Al Gore - 52 when he ran; Mike Dukakis - 55 when he ran; Walter Mondale - 56 when he ran; George McGovern - 50 when he ran. Also: Howard Dean - 56 when he ran; John Edwards (yeah, I know) - 53 when he ran. Sure, Kerry was over 60, as was Hillary already on the last go-'round. But our presidential hopefuls have actually been younger in the past that the Full Social Security-ready crew under discussion today, and I wonder why that is.

Edit: and I'm not saying age is a disqualifier; I would support Warren against all comers. But I find the phenomenon odd.

[LiberalElite]

6. You're AARP ready

as soon as you hit 50. AARP-ready is too old? Too bad.

[Proud Public Servant]

7. I was just being colorful

I'll edit it.

[LiberalElite]

8. ok

[Le Taz Hot]

4. Oh, goody.

More ageism on DU 'cause we didn't have enough already. Divide and conquer! Btw, "discussions of 2016?"