Today's Democrat Party unreconizable

A party that moved past its elder statesmen

Clinton's milestone arrives at a moment when the Democratic Party he helped build looks almost nothing like the one he led. The centrist, business-friendly "New Democrat" brand that carried him to two terms has given way to an activist base that treats his legacy with ambivalence at best.

Clinton himself has acknowledged the tension. He once shrugged off the socialist surge in New York and insisted Democrats were "in good shape", a characterization that even sympathetic observers found generous given the party's internal fractures.

Those fractures have only widened. Figures from media commentators to Senate candidates have openly questioned whether the party's leftward drift has become a structural problem. Bill Maher declared Democrats were being "colonized" by socialists, and candidates in competitive races have echoed progressive rhetoric that would have been unrecognizable in the Clinton era.

Clinton's birthday leaves just one living current or former president under 80: Barack Obama, who turned 65 earlier in August. The other four, Joe Biden at 83, President Donald Trump and George W. Bush both at 80, have all crossed the threshold within weeks of one another, USA TODAY reported.

Jimmy Carter set the longevity record at 100 years and 89 days

Clinton and his fellow octogenarians have a long way to go before they approach the presidential longevity record. Jimmy Carter, who died in late 2024, lived to 100 years and 89 days, the longest-lived president in American history. George H.W. Bush came second at 94 years and 171 days. Gerald Ford was third at 93 years and 165 days.

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