Joe Biden, you're a great Dem, you'd be a good president...but please don't run.

[Ken Burch]

Nothing against you as a person, but we need a clean break from the status quo.

We need a ticket who has a connection with the present, a sense of the future, and a willingness to defend our base WHILE connecting with those who COULD be part of that base.

We need someone NEW.

Especially if Trump doesn't run again(which is entirely possible)and the GOP nominates somebody twenty or even thirty years younger than you, which is a real possibility.

If we look like a party of the past in 2020, we will have no chance.

You've got many other roles to play, Joe(you and Hillary would both be excellent Supreme Court nominees), but, with full respect, this is not the best role you could play.

(And I say that to anyone else who has been a major Dem candidate in the recent past).

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Agreed.

Our party is very much stuck in the past, and is doing almost nothing to foster new, younger leadership. Too many of them are in their late 60's, 70's, and even 80's. Where are the 50 year olds? Better yet the 40 year olds? They are being held back by old people unwilling to give way, and that's a huge reason why Democrats have been losing elections. Look at the Republican leadership, look at how they've deliberately recruited candidates for elective office at every level. It's time the Democrats started doing the same.

And to those of you here on DU who are under 60, please give serious thought to running for office.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

4. I would prefer someone in their 40's or 50's... maybe early 60's.

70's is pretty old. People are generally on the decline in the 70's. Most people die in their 70's or 80's. That's just the way it is. It's kind of interesting that we have a minimum age set for president, but not a maximum age. I think we should have one. People scream age discrimination, but we've already been "discriminating" against people younger than 35, as if every single person younger than 35 is incompetent and incapable of being president. Not too many folks bitch about the minimum age requirement.

I think the problem is that good people can't run because they don't have the money. People in their 40's are typically raising kids and having a real tough time making it financially.

[LanternWaste]

2. I'd much rather see policy than simplistic commercial branding as a priority in choosing the nominee

I'd much rather see policy than simplistic commercial branding and superficial appeal as a priority in choosing the nominee.

However, I do understand the concept, and that same simplistic commercialism we hold so dear yet deny so loudly, certainly appeals to masses... hence, Reagan's elections.

[Ken Burch]

11. I'm not talking about simplistic commercial branding.

And I think we have plenty of possible candidates who have policy ideas.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

3. I like Joe too, but he is too old. He'd be 78 years old the next time around. n/t

[dalton99a]

5. Raise money and use it, but don't run.

[Ken Burch]

10. Yeah, that would help actually.

n/t.

[zipplewrath]

6. I don't disagree

But it does suggest the question; "Then who?".

[Ken Burch]

9. Not something we need to decide yet.

We shouldn't even be discussing presidential politics until after the 2018 campaign is over.

There are lots of Dems in governorships, congress, the Senate, even mayoralties, who are in their forties and fifties who are ready.

[Gothmog]

7. WOW

There is a pattern here

[Ken Burch]

8. No, there isn't. It's simply pointless to try to push anyone as a presidential candidate yet.

At this point we should be focusing solely on 2018.

[NurseJackie]

12. Puh-leeze! Many of us are smarter (and more observant) than you give us credit for...

... and this is one of those times.

[Gothmog]

13. There is a pattern that is obvious to people who live in the real world

[Ken Burch]

14. Please stop using that phrase.

Living in the real world doesn't mean accepting YOUR notion of the limits of the possible.

Your part of the real world is Texas, which has been a dead zone for the Democratic Party since 1994. It doesn't reflect the reality of MOST of the country, where the situation is in flux.

I respect the work you've done, but you don't need to malign others to try and win an argument.

We are all in reality...it's just that there are more realities than Texas.

If we based everything on YOUR real world, none of us would think winning was possible no matter how far to the right the party went.

You are just one person with one viewpoint...you are not the Gatekeeper of Reality.

[Gothmog]

15. Ken, you have made the same attack on Joe Biden in several threads

That is a pattern that is obvious to anyone living in the real world. I strongly disagree with your attacks on a good Democrat like Joe Biden and I would be happy to support Uncle Joe if he runs. Your reasons for disliking Joe over the years and in numerous threads are not persuasive and do not hold up when looked at.

It is up to Uncle Joe to make the decision if he wants to run. If does want to run, I will be there for Joe Biden if he runs. A large number of other Democrats will be there also.