Ready for 2028? Is that a trick question?

Posted 28 weeks 4 days ago by Ben

Perusing the The Washington Post today, I happened upon one of those light Sunday features that usually appear either just before or just after a presidential election.

"Never Mind This Year's Election. Meet Six Locals Who Might Be Ready To Run for the White House Two Decades From Now."

It's a charming piece, really, not at all serious, although I was disappointed at the absence of any reference to flying cars. And who knows? Maybe one of the four liberals and two nominal Republicans that the article highlights will be in the hunt for the Oval Office in two decades' time. But I guess what bothered me about the piece was the underlying certainty of progress.

Eugene Resnick, who aspires to be the first Jewish, openly gay, non-native born president of the United States, thinks nothing of changing the Constitution to achieve his goal: "By 2028, I'll have been living here for about 35 years. By that point our country will have progressed so much in terms of multiculturalism and integrating immigrants into society that I think it would probably be out of the Constitution."

Really? I don't think Americans would have trouble electing an openly gay, Jewish man (or woman) president someday. But that constitutional hurdle might be bigger than young Resnick would like to think.

Update: Mark Steyn at the Corner notes that Mr. Resnick sounds awfully old-fashioned for the candidate of the future.

So it's heartening to see that the Post's candidate for the 2028 election - America's first Jewish, first gay and first foreign-born president rolled into one - is, even at the tender age of 19, already singing the same old songs:

Pro-choice... stricter gun laws... persistence of racism when considering affirmative action.

Gee, he sounds awfully middle-aged for a college sophomore. That's the exciting new platform for 2028? Why don't they just run him now?