Waiting For a Star To Fall

Whenever you hear about "rising stars" in American politics, the media always seem to be talking about Republicans.  Paul Ryan is a rising star in the U.S. House.  Kelly Ayotte is a rising star in the U.S. Senate.  Scott Walker is a rising star among governors.  And so on, until you realize that there isn't a single Democrat among those mentioned as "rising stars," and there are certainly no Democrats mentioned even among the "ones to watch."

So what happened to the rising Democratic stars?  Simple - they got beaten by Tea Partiers in the 2010 elections.  Don't expect them to come back either - they're toast.  They lost once, which for Democrats is one time too many.  I remember Chris Matthews saying that Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, after having lost the 2010 U.S. Senate election in Kentucky to Ron Paul's son, would go on to better things in the future, which I guess made Conway "one to watch." Watch me not think so.

The Democrats simply don't have anyone up and coming.  What else can you say about a party whose biggest winner in the 2010 gubernatorial elections was a former California governor getting his old job back and whose biggest winner in the 2010 U.S. Senate elections was a Connecticut attorney general who had been well-known in his home state for the previous twenty years?  Nothing against Jerry Brown or Richard Blumenthal, but they're not exactly fresh faces.

That may explain in part why Hillary Clinton is suddenly the front runner for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination -with Vice President Joseph Biden being considered a second choice.  (Mrs. Clinton will be 69 in 2016; Biden will be 74.)  That's how deeply are Democrats stuck in the past?  If any new names are mentioned for 2016 at all, the name you hear most is . . . Martin O'Malley.

Who? Exactly.  Martin O'Malley is the governor of Maryland.  Not exactly an auspicious office from which to start a campaign for national office when you remember that the Maryland governor who made it farthest in American politics was Spiro Agnew.  

So who will be the likely Democratic presidential nominee in 2016? An "up-and comer" we haven't heard about yet? Or a grizzled veteran? My guess is that there won't be a Democratic Party in 2016, so the question is moot.

Which brings me to the unpleasant topic of shooting stars . . .