No, Hillary Clinton is not too old to be president

[DonViejo]

No, Hillary Clinton is not too old to be president

Even some Democrats suggest she can't win the White House at 69. Here's why that's silly -- and maybe sexist

BY JOAN WALSH

Just in time for the most formidable female candidate in American history to run for president, it’s becoming conventional wisdom: The White House is no place for a senior citizen! Sure, we lived through eight years of Ronald Reagan and four years of his successor George H.W. Bush, who was 68 when he left office. But at 65, Hillary Clinton faces growing questions about whether she’s too old to run in 2016.

In December, Barbara Walters asked Clinton if her age was “a concern.” (She answered no.) Last month, after Clinton’s concussion scare, the Los Angeles Times’ Meghan Daum explained that while more rest might result in Clinton looking “less jowly,” she “cannot be presumed to maintain her past and current energy levels into her 70s.” Daum advised Clinton supporters to admit the “devastating” truth: “2008 was their one and only chance, and they missed it.”

The latest pundit to suggest Clinton’s age is a serious problem is my friend David Corn of Mother Jones. “I’m not convinced yet that Hillary is going to run because she’ll be 69,” he told Chris Matthews and me on “Hardball” Monday. “The last three presidents we’ve had have been 46, 54 and 47 when they took office. America has turned to younger, more vigorous people.” He predicted that if she ran, Clinton would get a primary challenge from someone “who will wonder if America is ready again to elect somebody that old.”

Lest anyone call him sexist, Corn pointed out that he thinks Vice President Joe Biden is likewise too old to win (though Biden is five years older than Clinton, and would be 82 at the end of a theoretical second term.) “Are you the Grim Reaper?” Matthews needled him. “Is that your new role here?”

more
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/27/no_hillary_clinton_is_not_too_old_to_be_president/

[Baitball Blogger]

1. She is right to take this time to rest up. Good move on her part to make

sure she is fit enough to make the run.

I just hope she learns from Bill's neo-liberalist policies. No matter how good they look on paper, no matter how efficiently Democrats can revitalize an urban area and transform it into something wonderful, when they bring on Republicans into the fold, as they do when they compromise, what they need to know is that Republican governments use these neo-liberal ideas to crap on constitutional rights to do whatever they want to do. Communities become graft cities, and the hurt and distrust lasts a lot longer than the infra-structure.

[patricia92243]

2. How high are they wanting to raise the retirement age? I think she would be under that age at least

to start.

[LiberalFighter]

3. By that logic Joe Biden will be too old at 74.

Hillary isn't a spry chicken anymore. But for the past 4 years she did a lot of traveling and that is not easy. If she can handle that she can handle being President.

[karynnj]

5. If she runs, the primaries will show if she has the stamina to win

In a way, the primaries are TOO tough a test of this. John Kerry, a very fit, life time athlete in 2008 when asked about Clinton and Obama gaffes ascribed them to the grueling nature of the campaign - saying that running for the Presidency was the most physically difficult thing he ever did.

It is an interesting argument that the job of SOS could be more draining than that of President. It is also true that we have seen the level of exhaustion that Clinton experienced more than we saw it with other SOSs. This may be because there was far less coverage of Rice, Powell or Albright.

For Hillary Clinton, actively campaigning as she would have to do even as she starts out a prohibitive favorite will likely not be easy. From 2008, you could see that she was often tired. She was not Bill Clinton who was energized by crowds. Time will tell if this has changed or if there were things in the dynamic of 2008 that caused the campaign to be as tough as it was.

If I had to pick a turning point in the 2008 campaign, it would be the Clintons reaction after she had difficulty with a question on Spitzer's program to allow illegal aliens to drive. It was not the two opposing answers at the debate that was the problem. It was that she immediately spoke of it as the "guys vs the girl" and Bill Clinton And Wes Clark spoke of it as swiftboating - a bizarre charge. Up until then, the dynamic was that Clinton was the inevitable, experienced, calm leader running against people at her level. They threw that away by the extreme defensiveness. In retrospect, imagine that she took time to give a speech on the complex (which it is) issues behind the question saying that you could not intelligently respond in the minute or two allowed. (a carefully worded position paper would have been an alternative.)

I don't think that Clinton over reaction to criticism has disappeared. She overreacted in an AFrican country when asked a (sexist) question of what Bill Clinton thought on an issue. I completely understand her annoyance, but her reaction was overkill - especially given that she was in a position of power and the young questioner was not.

The real question might be whether Clinton wants to be in the potentially vulnerable position of running for the Presidency where every word she says will be parsed or whether she will take the easier role of an elder statesman.

[Beacool]

7. No, she did not overreact in Africa.

She had been to Goma, against everyone's advice due to the risks involved (even the UN recommended not going). She saw there the appalling conditions of the women and children at the camp. She also heard their terrible stories about being raped repeatedly, tortured and in some cases having their babies killed.

She then makes a point of reaching out to young people (as she did in every country she visited) and has to hear someone ask, not her opinion on a deal with China, but her husband's?????

Please..........

As for 2016, if she runs, this time she wins. The left and the right be damned.

[karynnj]

8. To each his/her own opinion

I think she did a great thing in going there and it was great reaching out to young Africans. However, especially given her knowledge of the culture, it could have been a teaching moment that did not strike out at the young man, who did not seem to have been asking an intentionally negative question.

In fact, GIVEN all the things she saw there, it was a NIT - not a mountain - that he asked what her husband thought. (In fact, most of what she said could have been pleasantly said - Bill was outside the government and had no official role, while she, as SOS, would give the President her opinion, and the President would ultimately make the decision - possibly after getting the opinion of people like Max Baucus, chair of the Finance committee who would shepard it through the Senate for confirmation. ) The outrage might be understandable to some, but it was not a high point.

[Whisp]

12. I think the OP makes these many, many topics of this particular subject

just to see some fireworks.

and sit back and watch so I probably won't be participating as vigorously as I sometimes like to.

[DonViejo]

25. You think incorrectly...

I post OP's like this when I find them in publications that I read on a daily basis. Maybe I've been under the false impression this is a Democratic site, a place where Democrats come together to discuss Party policies. candidates and issues impacting the United States. If I have been under this false impression and understanding of the purpose for DemocraticUnderground, please feel free to send me an e-mail containing a list of Whisp approved topics for posting at DU.

[Beacool]

31. Bravo!!!

[Whisp]

11. i've heard a few times here and there - must be a Clinton surrogate meme-ograph...

that Hillary worked harder than the President.


Don't buy that swelled up can of goods

[karynnj]

14. I don't - but it likely is that she traveled far more

But even there the number of countries visited or the number of miles flown, are not the best metrics for either how hard one worked, how much one accomplishes, or how much good is done. Dr Rice actually flew more miles - and no one seems to be pushing she was an excellent SOS. (I personally think that Clinton was overhyped as a Senator, a Presidential candidate and as a SOS - but I do concede the power of the Clintons and their allies in the media to influence public opinion and the polls suggest they have.)

The President is, for all intents and purposes, working nearly every waking hour and always having to make the best decision he can quickly on one thing after another.

[Beacool]

21. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

To you people with CDS, Hillary just took many trips and did nothing more than have tea with foreign leaders.

Guess where I read something similar? On every RW site.

This place is sickening at times..........

[karynnj]

23. I did not say that - and you know that

I posted many times that from people I know one thing she was was a very good leader of the State Department. The trips she took were not to "have tea" any more than Kerry's were to have lunch.

While I think the "best SOS ever" stuff is hype, I think she did a solid, commendable job. Not everyone can have the impact of a George Marshall. I agreed with the prior poster that her job was NOT harder than that of the President - a meme that I have heard - and heard ONLY with regards to HRC. Have you ever seen anything suggesting that Madelaine Albright had a tougher job than Bill Clinton?

I do agree that SOS is one more item on her resume and it makes it better.

[Beacool]

32. No, you didn't say that.

Instead, you called her "overrated". Same difference..............

No one is saying that her job was harder than Obama's. What people have been saying is that traveling that much is physically harder. The constant jet lag is brutal.

[karynnj]

34. Not "same difference"

Given that you and others have been calling her the best SOS, she IS over rated - though I said over hyped. Their were no accomplishments that she had that come close to justifying that. Consider the impact of George Marshall's MARSHALL PLAN. Note that "over rated" does not mean mediocre or poor, just not a++ which is how you and others rated her.

No one is saying that she did not travel a huge amount or that it is easy. However, the job of being President is as difficult and never ending. The mental burden is enormous.

[Beacool]

36. No one is going to be the next "George Marshall" for quite a while.

The world circumstances are quite different. Also, I have not said that she was the best SOS in history, but she has been a damn good one.

[Auntie Bush]

28. Yup, sickening place too many times. nt

[Beacool]

29. You said it!!!

[antigop]

4. Joan, Joan, Joan -- you are just too funny! Keep it up, Joan. nt

[Beacool]

6. I don't have a problem with her age.

I even didn't have a problem with Regan's age and I was a teenager at the time. What I didn't like about Reagan were his policies.

Besides, anyone who knows Hillary can tell you that she outlasts staff who are half her age. The woman is a dynamo, she has tremendous quantities of stamina. Also, if we go by her family history, her mom died in her 90s and was still as sharp and funny as ever.

Did anyone watch the PBS documentary last night on the women's movement? Age was commonly used in the past to keep women down. Well, if she does choose to run, it won't keep down this woman.

[DougRees]

9. She's Not Too Old But...

She's not too old to be President. Just too establishment.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

27. We don't need Republican lite. Joe would be a terrific follow up to Obama.

[RussBLib]

10. Neither is Al Gore

Al is about the closest thing this country has to a "statesman."

[BlueStater]

13. Reagan never should have been president.

Bad example as a defense.

[TwilightGardener]

15. I don't want Joe to run--he really is too old. 70 at the time of

inauguration is about my maximum comfort zone for Presidents.

[totodeinhere]

16. She is not too old. And I initially supported her in 2008. But...

I hope we don't have a Hillary Clinton coronation in the Democratic Party. We need a healthy and vigorous primary campaign featuring several good candidates.

[SpartanDem]

17. Like it or nor her age is going be an issue in a campaign

it'll be one for one be Joe too, just like it was like was McCain. The fact is they are at the extreme end in age of where we tend to elect Presidents

[Rowdyboy]

18. They can try to make it an issue...Good luck with that....She and Bill are an unbeatable team.....

But they can try.

[NPolitics1979]

19. If Hillary runs for President in 2016 and wins the Democratic Primary and General Election

Bubba will become the nations first First Gentleman at the age 70.
Bubba and Hillary will leave the White House in 2025 at the age of 77/78.
They will be the same age as the Gipper was when he entered and left office.

[Beacool]

20. Yeah, but they'll still be ten times smarter than the Gipper.

[NPolitics1979]

35. Agreed with that statement.

I would go further and say they are ten times as nicer than the Gipper.

[ThomThom]

22. or she could also make a boat load of money

book deals, speaking, on boards, not that they really need more money

[Sunlei]

24. I don't think Mrs. Clinton will run for President but lets keep the Cons in wonderland for years

Mrs Clinton Governor of Texas 2014, that would be a dream come true She could two team this State with President Clinton

[Beacool]

30. You still pushing that?

[Jackpine Radical]

26. No, but

she's old enough to know better.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

33. Hillary is just a 'spring chicken'

of course she is not too old to run! I hope that she can rest up after her intense job as SOS.