FDR(51) JFK(43) Carter(52) WJC(46) Obama(47)

[crazytown]

Last edited Sat Apr 6, 2019, 11:18 AM - Edit history (7)

The age of Democratic Presidents (on Inauguration) who ended Republican rule since WW1. No candidate over 52 has brought the Presidency back to the Democrats for more than 100 years.

The age (if inaugurated) of Democratic candidates who to failed to take back the Presidency from Republicans are

Stevenson(57) McGovern(50) Mondale(57) Dukakis(56) Kerry(61)

[Awsi Dooger]

1. I referenced that type of thing in a post last night

Early excellence is true and rare excellence, IMO. Anything later is generally more fraudulent and vulnerable.

There is nothing more limiting and sucker prone than a late blooming stiff. I use that term on the football sites and horse racing sites. Everyone hates it but the results pan out. A horse that blooms later than the Triple Crown races is not as freakish and dependable as the young freaks.

Rule above exceptions. If you rely on exceptions then suddenly you are a team of exceptions and regulating your own upside.

The average age of the above goes down if we are honest enough to concede that Jimmy Carter never wins in 1976 minus Watergate

[crazytown]

2. "A new hope"

Obama nailed what voters are looking for in Democrats after Republican Presidents. This also fits FDR to a tee.

Republicans ending Democratic Rule, Ike, Nixon, Reagan, W, Trump were Blasts from The Past.

[customerserviceguy]

4. Without Watergate

Jimmy Carter might not have even been nominated. After disgust with lying Nixon, Jimmy's perceived honesty won him the nomination.

[crazytown]

8. I think Carter was losing ground to Ford week by week.

Some DU’ers remember the race tightening sharply towards the end.

[customerserviceguy]

18. I do recall that

1976 was the first year I was seriously interested in politics. It's probably because that was the first presidential election I could vote in, but I have to give some credit to my college political science professor. I took his class in the spring of 1976, and he would give extra credit points for picking the first, second and third place finishers in next week's primary. That meant knowing something about the state, and something about the candidates. I managed to rack up enough extra points to drag a B+ up to an A- that quarter!

[crazytown]

19. Would you say Carter started as

“ A new hope who came out of nowhere” then started losing his shine. I wasn’t there. Always been a puzzle to me. I

[customerserviceguy]

25. He was certainly a fresh face

and after the stench of Watergate, that proved to be welcome to people. He was given a low chance of getting the nomination, given that some heavy hitters, like Jerry Brown, Frank Church, Sargent Shriver, and my favorite, Henry M. Jackson were also in the running. But, Carter did well in the South, and OK enough in the non-Southern heartland states to prevail. He just simply outlasted everybody else.

I think his experience has inspired a lot of people to jump in since, thinking they'll pull the same rabbit out of the hat. It was probably a unique set of circumstances that caused Carter to become president, the same thing will probably be said about Trump when all is said and done.

Jimmy Carter proved to be fairly popular at first, but then late-night comedians began taking potshots at his Southernisms. Even the "Doonsbury" comic strip got into the act. When Hollywood produced a TV show called, "Carter Country" that did not actually feature anybody from Jimmy Carter's family, but was instead a "let's laugh at hicks" sitcom, I knew that Jimmy Carter's presidency was in trouble.

A combination of things brought Carter down, the oil price shocks of the late 1970's cooked inflation up to the highest point in my lifetime, and the Iranian hostage crisis was a steady drumbeat of negativity that lasted all the way to Reagan's inauguration day. Having a primary challenge from Ted Kennedy didn't help Carter one bit, and Teddy's "the dream will never die" speech made Carter look less presidential than Kennedy.

I do remember when the Susan B. Anthony dollar coin came out in 1979, it was much closer in size to a twenty-five cent piece than a fifty cent piece, and was derisively called "the Carter quarter" to reflect the loss of purchasing power of a dollar during the Carter presidency.

[marylandblue]

33. Every election is unique.

Carter, though unpopular, was still favored to beat Reagan because Reagan was "too conservative," too dumb, and also would be the oldest person ever elected. But he was amiable and as an actor, knew how to use television. Turned out that's exactly what people wanted.

[KBlagburn]

9. 1976?

Stupid game to play. Without watergate, Nixon would be term limited and you have no idea who the two general election candidates would have been. Sorry but just stupid trying to second guess history. Would JFK won a 2nd term? Would Truman? Would carter without the hostage situation? we could play that game for a thousand years and it would be meaningless.

[crazytown]

10. The criterion was defeating the Republican nominee

during in the term of a Republican President - ie ending Republican rule.

No Democrat over 52 years has ended ongoing Republican Presidencies for 100 years. It is what it is.

If you want to argue that Carter was a fluke, that leaves
FDR(51) JFK(43) WJC(46) and Obama(47)

[dsc]

37. Pretty safe bet that Truman wouldn't have won a second term

He left office with ratings low enough that they weren't surpassed until Nixon and later by Bush 2. Even Carter had better numbers than he had.

[yardwork]

12. Ted Kennedy was what, 44 in 1976? Without Watergate he might have been elected.

[comradebillyboy]

22. If he hadn't left his girfriend to drown at Chappaquidic in 1969 he might have had a shot...

personally I could never understand why anyone would vote for Teddy.

[shanny]

26. I don't think Watergate was his problem.

[customerserviceguy]

3. So you're saying

that this is "No Country for Old Men"?

[crazytown]

5. I'm presenting the facts

No Democrat over 52 has toppled a Republican nominee with a sitting Republican President for 100 years.

[customerserviceguy]

6. I was trying

to have a little fun here. Hoping for a DUzy award.

But, your point is well taken. However, before Drumpf, no one had ever acceded to the presidency without at least working at a government job. And before Obama, all presidents were white. And so far, all have been male.

Records (and patterns) are made to be broken.

[crazytown]

7. Sorry.

I agree. The future is what we make of it.

I wrote earlier about Republicans where there was a change of power:- Ike, Nixon, Reagan, W, Trump-

All these represented in some way, A Blast from The Past.
All the Democrats represented A New Hope.

I’m not wanting to push O’Rourke, but I have to add, JFK, Carter and Obama had big smiles.

[Tom Rinaldo]

11. All of them aside from Obama had been full if not multi-term Governors before running for President

Obama had been a State Senator and then a U.S. Senator. It is not only a matter of age, experience at some point comes into the picture also.

[crazytown]

13. JFK was a Senator

not a Governor.

[Tom Rinaldo]

14. Yeah, I realized thqat error later, but didn't have time to update on the way out the door

Very true. JFK had served more years in the U.S. Senate than Obama had when he was elected.

[crazytown]

15. And the House before that.

Experience is very important IMO. Obama’s lack of experience showed up early in his Presidency.

BTW. I am not a cheerleader for O’Rouke. The future is what we make of it.

[McCamy Taylor]

16. Kerry won. He just lost the concession by not fighting the way Gore fought.

[crazytown]

17. FDR, JFK, WJC & Obama won handsomely.

Like Gore, Kerry’s margin was so thin, the election could be stolen.

[StevieM]

20. No matter what the media claims, Hillary had the race won handily until Comey intervened.

And if you take out Putin and his lies than she would have won quite decisively.

Take out that ridiculous July press conference and it would have been a landslide.

[crazytown]

21. Right. This isn't About Hillary at all

Hillary was running to continue the Democratic Presidency. These are candidates who were running to take the Presidency back from the Republicans.

Infact Hillary had a more difficult task, to secure a further term for the Democrats. After two terms the American people like a change. Humphrey failed, Gore failed. You have to go back to Truman in 1948, and he was running as a sitting President.

The GOP has done better at three terms: 1900-12, 1920-32 and 1980-92.

[BlueStater]

23. Mondale was 56 in 1984. n/t

[crazytown]

24. Than you. Corrected.

Would have been 57 on Inauguration Day.

[LongtimeAZDem]

27. So, you're giving up on Warren(70)?

[crazytown]

29. No!

I’m impressed with Warren’s policies. & BTW I agree with you, Biden is the strongest strongest of the ‘older’ candidates.

[happybird]

28. Very interesting, never thought about that before

The other thing they have in common is an optimistic message. What a stark contrast a younger, vibrant, positive President would be to the Dotard. I'd love for that to happen.

On the other hand, I think Biden would have a great calming effect on the nation. His experience, along with his personality, are a big part of his appeal. Combined with his age, that makes him very trustworthy. He could pull a lot of center right and harder R voters (the ones totally fed up with the Dotard). He's steady and familiar. We might need that to fix the damage that has been done.
The current situation is not normal.

We are so lucky to have a wealth of great candidates.

[crazytown]

30. I agree.

Biden is a strong candidate. I think this time, more than the others, we have to see what the people are looking for. What I want is break em, jail em and justice.

If people want anther ‘new hope’ they will choose Beto, who dorsn’t go negative. I prefer the plain speaking gal from the plains.

[happybird]

31. I adore Elizabeth Warren

She's definitely on my short list. But I worry about her being able to win against Dump. She already hasn't handed his past bs attacks well.

Actually, I worry about all of our strong woman being able to win the general. The misogyny in the US runs much deeper than I thought. The amount of irrational hatred directed at HRC proved that.

I really hope I am wrong. I want to elect the first woman President.

Warren has the best plans of all the candidates, imho, and she would hit the ground running. Her priorities for the people mirror my own. I hope she gains more support as the months go by.

[crazytown]

32. Kicking

[JI7]

34. There was also the economic situation which mattered more

for FDR Clinton and Obama. and Carter was after Watergate send Nixon resignation.

[crazytown]

35. Obama would have won without the 2008 meltdown.

As I remember it, W’s administration had racked up so much garbage, people wanted out. Nominating a ‘Maverick ‘ was a Hail Mary pass. The GOP was on the nose.

[nsd]

39. Hillary Clinton would have won too in 2008. /nt

[crazytown]

40. Yes HRC would have won.

And how many endless bitter debates were there on DU about which one was more electable? It’s worth remembering this time around I think.

[Exotiki]

36. I like FDR too

He overcame many challenges for himself and America.

[Polybius]

38. Well then it's time to change that

We need to run an win with someone over 65. Why should the Republicans have all of the fun? We have much better seniors.

[crazytown]

41. Reagan and Trump

fun is not the word I’d use. Our guys would make us proud, not ashamed.

[Polybius]

42. Trump likely isn't any fun

But Tip O'Neill thought Reagan was, as they always got beers together. But that's besides my point, which is we need our own old President.