FDR and JFK--if they were alive today--would absolutely never win the White House...not because of health reasons, but because they would NEVER make it past the Democratic primaries. Heck, the fact that FDR was a former Sec of the Navy would be enough to disqualify him in the eyes of most Dem primary voters
They would be torn apart by their own party and FDR/JFK Democrats like myself would be driven away from the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party of the 1930s-1960s was run by adults.
Um...no, especially not in FDR's case. Most of the things FDR stood for are still very much in the mainstream of Democratic Party thought. In fact, I'd go so far as to say he's still the defining figure in the Democratic Party. Just think of the things he's associated with: the TVA/rural electrification, Social Security, the WPA, the NLRB, Court Justices staunchly opposed to the narrow construction of the Lochner Era...almost all of FDR's programs throughout the thirties are things I as a Democrat would strongly stand behind.
