Dems' best: Elderly careerists, strikingly immature radicals

FPI / December 26, 2019

Analysis by Joe Schaeffer, LibertyNation.com

The 2019 circus portion of the Democratic presidential primary contest has starkly highlighted a major flaw that may handicap the party for another decade or more. The year drove home the disquieting fact that all of the real players within the Dem dynamic today are either rapidly aging career politicians or strikingly immature radicals. Given that an overwhelming percentage of the American people are beyond fatigued with Swamp lifers and every bit as put off by brash young socialists promoting revolutionary unrest, Democrats find themselves stuck between a wheezing rock and a wild-eyed hard place.

“He’s not a healthy guy,” Dr. David Scheiner, who served as Barack Obama’s personal physician for 22 years before the latter became president, stated after examining the medical records released by Joe Biden’s campaign. “He’s not in bad shape for his age, but I wouldn’t say he’s in outstanding health,” Scheiner told The Washington Examiner. “Could I guarantee he won’t have issues for the next four years? He has a lot of issues that are just sort of sitting there.”

Scheiner said the information provided on Biden’s medical records have him concerned that the 77-year-old former vice president is at a heightened risk for strokes, and the physician declared he would like to see an MRI or CT scan from Biden. The records also reveal Biden suffers from an irregular heartbeat and sleep apnea at his advanced age. “I had no idea Biden had such a history. My goodness gracious, he’s got a lot of history,” Scheiner told the paper.

This alarm from a respected doctor means Democrats feature two candidates atop their 2020 presidential nomination totem pole who are nearing 80 and are saddled with significant health issues. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) suffered a serious heart attack in the Fall, shortly after turning 78. These two fragile White House aspirants combine for some 80-odd years of time spent in elected office. Biden’s alleged appeal to moderates in the party is largely built around establishment standing accumulated from 40-plus years of sitting in a cozy chair in the Swamp.

It is certainly reasonable to ponder whether there may be a health component to Biden’s highly erratic behavior on the campaign trail. As Liberty Nation's Graham Noble aptly put it, “every one of Biden’s gaffes, bouts of amnesia, inappropriate statements, and uninvited physical interactions will not be cataloged here, but suffice it to say his antics, over the years, can variously be described as baffling, creepy, jaw dropping, and very often unintentionally hilarious.” Yes, his record on this score dates back to his disastrous 1988 presidential run, but Biden has exhibited all of these bizarre traits to an even more pronounced degree over the past few months.

Sanders, meanwhile, is eventually going to have to explain how holding down a political office nonstop (with one brief respite) since 1981 qualifies him as a change candidate. He will have to do so while reassuring potential voters that his precarious heart health will not be a liability in a strenuous general election campaign.

On the other edge of the party’s movers and shakers are the young radical firebrands. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) just turned 30. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is a bit older at 38. Both scare the daylights out of Heartland Americans with their revolutionary social justice stylings and socialist economic agenda. Yet Ocasio-Cortez went from bartender to leading voice of young Democrats overnight. The fact that she was able to instantly climb such a party pedestal is further evidence of the dearth of responsible and mature non-elderly Dems with real standing on the political landscape.

This points directly toward what is sizing up to be a lost generation of Dem leaders. The 2019 portion of the presidential campaign revealed with searing clarity just how devoid of gravitas the 40-55 age group of Dems has shown itself to be. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, 53, ran a shockingly lightweight campaign flavored with cheesy reality TV posturing instead of forthright policy positions. Trading dresses with drag queens in Des Moines and downing whiskeys on the campaign trail amazingly did not propel a pandering Gillibrand to the top of the heap.

Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) is 55. Thrust into a larger spotlight after a successful first debate performance, Harris instantly wilted, evincing a total inability to articulate a meaningful vision to potential voters.

From the very beginning of his nondescript run Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), 50, has tried to float by as a 2020 Obama, hoping that a minority face preaching a vague theme of “unity” would be enough to get him to the top. He has barely registered a pulse.

Former Housing Secretary Julian Castro is 45. He has focused far too much on racial grievance and stumping for illegal aliens. A nonentity in the polls, Castro has been most recently seen lecturing Iowans that they are too white to have the first opportunity to cast votes in the Dem primary race.

This was the heart of the middle-aged Dem presidential field. At an age where life and work experience should have cloaked them in an air of seriousness and heft, there was only pose and vacuity. The older but not quite yet elderly Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), 70, and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), 59, are sputtering in place as we head into 2020. It would seem that Democrats’ best shot to have a strong, sensible candidate able to do battle with the instinctively talented campaigner that is President Trump has been dashed due to the across-the-board weak performance put up by the forty- and fiftysomethings.

And so Dems are left with doddering geriatric career politicians and immature, inexperienced agitators as the tip of their political spear heading into a presidential election with an incumbent president armed with rock-solid support from his base. Dems like to portray themselves as the dynamic, progressive party of the future, but 2019 has revealed that they lack the combination of liveliness and stability needed to effectively connect with mainstream Americans. President Trump may be 73, but his energy and vitality more than make up for that. Democrats must be heading into the new year scratching their heads over what happened to their middle-aged hopefuls. Before push has even come close to shove, they have all melted away with nary a whimper.

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