When comparing the potential Republican and Democrat fields for president in 2016, two things in particular absolutely jump off the page.
First, the staggering discrepancy in ages when you survey the two lists is startling. For the Democrats, however, age is not the only major problem facing their presidential prospects for both today and 2020. Their complete lack of bench depth is also something to worry about.
Let’s start with age. Senator Bernie Sanders is 73; Vice President Joe Biden is 72; Secretary of State John Kerry is 71; former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is 67; former Vice President Al Gore is 67; Senator Elizabeth Warren is 65; and former Governor Martin O’Malley, the only non-senior citizen, is the anomaly of the group at 52 years of age. The average age of these seven folks is an eye-popping 67. If you’re a liberal, let that number sink in for a while as you start to panic about how thin your party’s bench is for 2020 and beyond.
Now for the Republican field. I would argue that this is the strongest and most diverse field in GOP history. It’s also well balanced and full of promise. Several of these individuals will be part of prospective presidential fields for multiple election cycles to come. Governor Bobby Jindal is 43; Senator Marco Rubio is 43; Senator Ted Cruz is 44; Governor Scott Walker is 47; Governor Chris Christie is 52; former Senator Rick Santorum is 57; former Governor Mike Huckabee is 59; former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina is 60; former Governor Jeb Bush is 62; Dr. Ben Carson is 63; former Governor Rick Perry is 65; former UN Ambassador John Bolton is 66; and Mr. Donald Trump is the Dean of the group at 68 years of age. The average age of this Baker’s Dozen comes in more than a decade younger than the Democrats, at 56.
After considering this list of leaders, if you’re a conservative American, you’re feeling pretty good about the present and the future. The contrast in these two lists couldn’t be starker when considering age, depth, and, most importantly, strength.
It is a fact of politics that sometimes once-promising candidates miss their window due to unforeseen circumstances. This could very well be the case with former Secretary of State Clinton. Clinton’s unforeseen circumstance goes by the name of President Barack Obama. Obama, as we all know, was not supposed to defeat Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democrat presidential primary. That epic event upset history for the Democrat Party in a major way. With the youngster Obama cutting his place in line, so to speak, he forced Hillary, who is already 14 years his senior, to wait eight more years for her next chance, instead of the opposite. If Clinton had defeated Obama in 2008, Obama would have been re-elected to the U.S Senate in 2010 and in the process of bolstering his ultra-liberal resume to perfectly position himself for a 2016 run at the ideal age of 53.
Now the Democrats are faced with choosing from a flawed bunch of has-beens and never-will-bes. And if you’re a liberal looking for hope in 2020, take a look at the sitting Democrat Governors and Senators today. The only word that comes to mind is “Ugh.” As a conservative, I’m truly looking forward to helping nominate the next president of the United States in 2016 and getting America back on track.