DISPATCHES FROM THE ICE FLOE: Dianne Feinstein and the Cult of Indispensability.

Dianne Feinstein is incapable of doing the most elemental part of her job, but she’s still adept at discrediting my work. Back in January, I wrote a defense of gerontocracy, occasioned by the end of Nancy Pelosi’s long run as speaker of the House. I argued that oldsters just do it better, because nobody is born to effectively wield power; it’s a learned skill. My primary evidence was the trio of senior citizens—not just Pelosi but also Joe Biden and Chuck Schumer—that orchestrated the two most fertile years of legislation in recent memory.But the 89-year-old Feinstein, who is out with shingles, is making a compelling counterargument: Octogenarian politicians sometimes behave like grandparents refusing to hand over the keys to the car. They stop in traffic for no apparent reason and never accelerate above 20, but they’re under the delusion that they’re still good drivers.

I understand that acknowledging this may make some uncomfortable. All of us, if we are lucky, face the indignities of aging. In other circumstances, the fact that Feinstein can’t cast votes in the Senate might not be terribly meaningful for the country. But the Senate is evenly divided—and when she is out of pocket, the Democrats can’t prevail on a party-line vote. Because she sits on the Senate Judiciary Committee—and Republicans refuse to let her trade the assignment with a colleague physically fit for the job—Democrats are unable to send any of their nominees to the bench to the floor of the Senate.

This isn’t a trivial part of Feinstein’s job. Without a majority in the House, it is more or less the entirety of it. A more liberal bench is the only lasting achievement available to her party, and she’s preventing its realization. This is a fleeting opportunity, moreover: Even if Biden wins reelection, the political map nearly guarantees a Republican majority in two years’ time. These next few months are the narrow window for Democrats to aggressively erode the GOP’s capture of the judiciary.

Ed Morrissey adds, “A reasonable question, but in [Franklin] Foer’s telling, the answer is: only when it interferes with Democrats’ agenda. It’s not just a gerontological issue either, given John Fetterman’s obvious impairments. Both parties have been guilty of refusing to let go of impaired pols, but for now this is clearly a Democrat issue — especially in the White House.”

Flashback: The Democratic Party’s Ice Floe Politics.