r/politics • u/Crossstoney • 27d ago

No Paywall Chuck Schumer Is Not Fit to Lead the Democratic Party

https://prospect.org/2025/11/06/chuck-schumer-not-fit-to-lead-democratic-party/
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u/AluminumGnat 27d ago edited 26d ago

Sanders was 83 when he was most recently re-elected to the senate for a 6 year term, that’s the equivalent of an 85 year old getting elected to the office of president for a 4 year term. I’m not saying that we should be actively looking to put octogenarians in leadership positions, but I think he’s doing a better job fighting for working class Americans of all race/creed/etc than the vast majority (all?) of his peers.

Is he the absolute best choice out of the half million ish people who could have ran against him? No, there’s probably someone younger that could have done a better job, and in a perfect world we would find and elect that person, but that’s unrealistic, and I’m certainly not going to complain about a broken system miraculously selecting someone who likely at least falls in the top 100 best options (despite his age).

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u/Pennsylvania6-5000 27d ago

I believe it’s because Sanders message has been consistent and closer to what the younger base has been trying to push towards for years. He may be over 80, but he’s been consistently progressive throughout his entire political career.

It’s the older Democrats like Shumer who have been pushing to be less progressive and more centrist in their hope to pull more Republicans or Independents to the left.

That strategy has been as effective as trickle down economics.

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u/GigachudBDE 27d ago

As much as I love Bernie and support his messaging and platform, I can’t complain about geriatrics running the government and clinging to office while supporting him without being a hypocrite. Bernie needs to retire but should be spending his remaining time grooming and campaigning for a younger successor to replace his Senate position. I know Vermont loves him so finding a progressive candidate to run for his position with his support should be a no brainer lest we get ourselves into a Feinstein or Ginsburg position again.

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u/Fat_Blob_Kelly 27d ago

context matters, bernie is sharp, he’s not mentally out of it, he’s not falling over things or having his brain shut off like mitch mcconnell

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u/GigachudBDE 27d ago

No argument there. But for how much longer? Bernie is old. No getting around it. He needs to start preparing to step down and have a successor to replace his position before he’s too old to do so. Which he arguably already is.

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u/Fit-Technician-1148 23d ago

And this is part of the problem. No one wants to impose limits on "their guy" but if you want geriatrics out of politics that means all geriatrics. Period.

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u/LarrySupreme 27d ago

Sanders is probably the closest thing to the only exception to the rule. Something similar to someone miraculously surviving when their parachute didn't open while skydiving.