“The world is very different now,” John F. Kennedy proclaimed in his inaugural address in 1961. “And yet the same revolutionary beliefs for which our forebears fought are still at issue.” After imploring his audience never to forget that “we are the heirs of that first revolution,” Kennedy added, “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans.”
More than ever before, the Democratic Party needs to heed Kennedy’s advice and transfer power from the gerontocracy in the White House, U.S. Senate, and House of Representatives to a new generation of leaders.
At age 79, President Biden is the oldest president in the history of the United States. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), the Speaker of the House, is 82. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) is 83. Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.) is 81. Pelosi has served in Congress since 1987; Hoyer since 1981 and Clyburn since 1993. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is 71; Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is 81. Schumer and Durbin have both served in Congress for over 40 years.
These leaders, to be sure, have had considerable success.
President Biden, who campaigned in 2020 as a healer, has restored democratic norms, honesty, and integrity to the Executive Branch. His pandemic policies have helped reduce hospitalizations and deaths. In a hyper-partisan political climate, and with razor-thin majorities in the House and Senate, he has managed to get Congress to pass a $1.9 trillion COVID relief package and a $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill that helped produce substantial increases in economic growth and reductions in unemployment. Biden also deserves considerable credit for the robust NATO response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
One of the most effective House Speakers in decades, Pelosi supplied the Democratic votes necessary to pass bills proposed by the George W. Bush and Obama administrations in 2008 and 2009 to avert a depression by rescuing financial institutions and automobile companies. She steered Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act through the House. More recently, Pelosi brought moderate and progressive Democrats together to produce majorities for the legislation proposed by Biden, some of which subsequently died in the 50-50 Senate.
Majority Leader of the Senate for only a year and a half, Schumer has won praise for his role in negotiations over the bi-partisan infrastructure bill.
That said, it seems clear to me (even though — or because — I am 72 years old) that it is time for a change. President Biden looks his age. His halting speech and frequent gaffes do not inspire confidence that he has a clear and compelling vision for the country or the ability to implement it. He has trouble remembering names.
As Mark Leibovich has recently written, the president’s advanced age serves as a “kind of proxy for the tired and hobbled state of his agenda and the state of the Democratic Party.” Nor are Pelosi and Schumer effective communicators on television or social media. With inflation surging and the distinct possibility of a recession, Biden’s approval ratings are tanking, a substantial majority of Americans do not want him to run again, and only 16 percent of Americans approve of the way Congress is doing its job. The 2022 midterm elections could be a debacle for Democrats.
A solid majority of Americans, it’s also worth noting, support mandatory retirement for elected officials — most say at age 70.
This summer President Biden should declare that he will not seek re-election in 2024. Pelosi (who in 2018 supported limiting senior leaders in the House to three terms), Hoyer, Clyburn, Schumer, and Durbin should indicate that they will relinquish their leadership positions in January 2023. Their announcements might well generate goodwill toward them and their party.
The torch can then be passed to, among others, the relatively young, articulate, more aggressive and media-savvy Democrats: Sen. Cory Booker (N.J.), Gov. Gretchen Whitmer (Mich.), Pete Buttigieg (Ind.), Julian Castro (Texas), Sen. Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Gov. Gavin Newsom (Calif.), Gov. Jared Polis (Colo.), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (N.Y.), Rep. Karen Bass (Calif.), Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.), and Kamala Harris (Calif.).
And Democrats could alter the political conversation.
They should run on a platform prioritizing state and federal legislation protecting reproductive rights; a ban on purchases of assault weapons; reducing greenhouse gases, and requiring wealthy individuals and corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. They should show how election-deniers, conspiracy theorists, ideological extremists, and their power-over-principle enablers have taken over the Republican Party.
They should identify the anti-democratic agenda these Republicans have already begun implementing: voter suppression; overturning the will of the people; scapegoating immigrants; undermining respect for facts and scientific expertise, freedom of speech and inquiry, common decency and common sense, by blocking enforcement of pandemic mitigation measures; removing books from libraries, and prohibiting public schools from discussing racism and gender identity.
In the summer and fall, as new and aspiring Democratic leaders reframe the issues, they could energize the traditional constituencies of their party and independents.
And then maybe, just maybe, in November 2022, Democrats will surprise pundits, pollsters, themselves, and lots of other Americans.
Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. He is the co-author (with Stuart Blumin) of “Rude Republic: Americans and Their Politics in the Nineteenth Century.”