I was inspired to ask this question based on
the recent diary by Egberto Willies on Democratic re-treads.
The Democratic Party has mostly the correct values. It has mostly the correct policies. What it is lacking is a broad bench for Americans to see.
The Republican Primary may turn out to be another exercise of free comedic entertainment. But their candidates look like America even as they articulate lunacy. They have the young and Latino in Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio. They have the Black man in Ben Carson. They have the woman in Carly Fiorina. They have the establishment middle-aged White guys in Rand Paul, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, and Scott Walker. And they have the religious fanatic in Mike Huckabee. Now that is diversity, not the one America needs philosophically, but visually.
Democrats should fear two things. The first is that the predictable Presidential surge will fail to materialize when all Democrats see are retreads. Secondly, a well defined narrative for Hillary Clinton could set in, a narrative that she could have problems shaking. There are many narratives that could come back and bite her as the Republicans jump on the income inequality train. Republicans know how to do that well especially for a flawed candidate.
So here is the question. Where is the Democratic bench? Are there any fresh candidates with great ideas ready to fill it? In today's politics the optics and semblance of what one will do is much more effective than a party's articulated platform.
He makes a very compelling point. Not to knock the qualifications of Hillary Clinton or, say, Bernie Sanders, but as a major party, the Democratic Party has a major platform in the form of the Presidential primaries that few other groups enjoy, giving it the power to showcase all sorts of things. While one of those things they should showcase is surely the best candidate we have for the next President, it can also be used to showcase important
achievements, shape the rhetoric of future policy and planks, and the up and coming class of our next generation's leaders.
How is it that the Republican Presidential field shows more diversity than the Democratic Party's? Are we really sure this won't be a detriment to our overall chances in the 2016 elections?
In fact, rather than being a moment of potential weakness, why don't we use the Democratic Primaries as a chance to showcase the Party's strength?
Let us also not forget that the Primaries are a key time to motivate the base and likewise get a feel for the motivation of the base. This is when we get people to volunteer, get them to donate, and generally get them to feel a bit more optimistic and active. In all these regards, I'm sure HRC will be quite effective at motivating Democratic voters; but I feel having a larger slate of fine potential candidates would be that much more effective.
In fact, the Democratic Primary is the perfect place to showcase our best and brightest young leaders. Free from the confines of Capitol Hill gridlock, without any necessity to shape rhetoric based on GOP talking points, the Democratic Primaries should be a time to highlight, celebrate, and yes, even put some inexperienced few through some trials-by-fire, the best candidates our Party has to offer, that represent the party, and actually makes it a better representation of the American public overall. Every Democrat, from Hillary on down, should be championing a strong, wide array of primary candidates.
Late last year Al Sharpton called for a march on Washington over the recent rash of brutal police shootings. While I agreed with the premise of the need for such a march, and acknowledge that Sharpton has been an amazing leader in the fight for civil rights, and continues to be, I couldn't help feeling that this should have been a moment to highlight the movement's next generation of leaders. From the young athletes who drew ire simply for wearing I Cant Breathe shirts or walking out with the hands in the air, to the students who have organized protests in cities throughout the country, to the vocal activists in social media who made sure dozens of these stories of injustice were not disappeared by a complacent mainstream, there should be no lack of potential candidates for new leaders to invigorate the debate. All they need are the platforms. While Sharpton's contribution to the civil rights movement cannot be overstated, what we really need to see are these fresh young faces with the collective spirit we need who will continue to lead us in the fight for equal rights, for decades to come.
I feel it is important for the Democratic Party to do the same. By investing in our youngest leaders, giving them an opportunity to showcase their strengths to as large an audience as possible, we ensure that the party will maintain a strong masthead through the darkest of electoral cycles, and that is something the Democratic Party should continue to dedicate itself to accomplishing.
So, here are some suggestions for additional people who could run in the Democratic Primaries, and bring some much-needed diversity, as well as refreshing platforms.
In no particular order:
Tammy Duckworth: Currently in US House of Representatives (IL-08). An Army veteran, Asian-American, and first disabled woman elected to the US House.
While she is a great supporter of veterans and the issues they face, unlike Republican pseudo-patriots, she is also quite critical of the war efforts that are the central issue of creating these veterans and their host of issues in the first place.
Duckworth was critical of the administration of President George W. Bush for its provision of veterans' care, and was chosen by the Democratic Party to give the September 30, 2006, response to President Bush's weekly radio address. Her strategic recommendations included requesting an immediate accounting by the U.S. Secretary of Defense of the readiness level and the training of the Iraqi forces, followed by aggressive benchmarks for progress and redeployment of U.S. troops linked to the stand-up of Iraqi troops, saying the U.S. should proceed by standing-down a defined number of U.S. units for every Iraqi battalion that can be properly trained and certified as combat-ready.
In 2006, The Sunday Times reported that Duckworth agreed with General Sir Richard Dannatt, the British Army chief, that the presence of coalition troops was exacerbating the conflict:
"We're attracting more people to terrorism than ever before. We really need to think about drawing down," she told The Sunday Times. "I want the Secretary of Defense to come before Congress and tell us how many Iraqis are fully trained. If two guys can do traffic control in Kirkuk, I want to bring two Americans home."
Kyrsten Sinema: Currently in US House of Representatives (AR-09). The country's first openly bisexual person elected to Congress.
Sinema has worked for the adoption of the DREAM Act and has campaigned against Propositions 107 and 102, two voter referendums to ban the recognition of same-sex marriage and civil unions in Arizona. Initially noted for her "liberal record," she has since moved towards the center and "carved a more bipartisan path."
Although its her sexual orientation that invariably draws the most attention, what makes her a genuinely solid candidate is her ability to empathize with
the plight of many struggling Americans.
She was born in Tucson and moved to Florida after her parents went through what she describes as “a tough divorce.” Her mother later married the vice principal at her elementary school. They were middle class for a time, but her stepfather, the man she still refers to as Mr. Howard, lost his job, and Sinema says the family became “homeless.” For more than two years — starting when she was in third grade — they squatted in an abandoned gas station outside the town of Defuniak Springs on the Florida Panhandle, she says.
They had no electricity and no running water, she says, but, “we had a toilet.” How that toilet was flushed with no running water, she wouldn’t say. They showered in an uncle’s trailer “down the road,” she says, and her clothes were hand-me-downs from a girl named Monyca — that’s Monyca with a “y,” she says — who attended the same Mormon church as her family.
A large, old-fashioned chalkboard sufficed as a makeshift wall for the makeshift bedroom that she shared with her sister, she says. How did they prepare food? Sinema hesitates. “You know, you could make fires,” she says. “There are lots of people like that in this country. We don’t talk about it, but it’s true.”
Deval Patrick: Currently in the private sector. Twice-elected Governor of Massachusetts, its first African-American Governor.
Under his governorship, he has overseen the implementation of the state's 2006 health care reform program which had been enacted under Mitt Romney, increased funding to education and life sciences, won a federal Race to the Top education grant, passed an overhaul of governance of the state transportation function, signing a law to create the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, and increased the state sales tax from 5% to 6.25%. Under Patrick, Massachusetts joined the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the planned introduction of casinos in Massachusetts.
Also noteworthy: last year, he took efforts to get his state to take in many of
the border crossing children that swept up a mediastorm.
“My inclination is to remember what happened when a ship full of Jewish children tried to come to the United States in 1939 and the United States turned them away, and many of them went to their deaths in Nazi concentration camps,” Patrick said when a reporter asked how he viewed the border crisis. “I think we are a bigger-hearted people than that as Americans, and certainly as residents of Massachusetts.”
“There’s a humanitarian reason to try to find a solution, try to find a way to help,” he said Wednesday. “These are children, coming from incredibly dangerous places. And we have to do something sensible and humane while we process them for whatever the next step is.”
Wendy Davis: Previously Texas State Senator. Ran for Governor of Texas in 2014 but lost to Greg Abbott.
Upon examining Davis' voting record over her three terms in the Texas Senate, Mark P. Jones, the Chairman of the Department of Political Science at Rice University in Houston, concluded that Davis was the fourth-most liberal senator out of the 31 state senators (including Davis) that served in at least two of the three terms Davis had served in. Jones found that she was "significantly more liberal" than John Whitmire, Juan Hinojosa, Carlos Uresti, and Eddie Lucio, Jr., who represent the centrist wing of the Texas Senate Democrats, "significantly more conservative" than José R. Rodríguez, the most liberal Texas Senate Democrat, and "statistically indistinguishable" from the other six Texas Senate Democrats
As a single mother, Davis represents a large demographic of Americans that is constantly asked to juggle while facing the challenges of navigating a judgmental patriarchal society.
“I am pro-life,” Davis said during a campaign stop at the University of Texas at Brownsville, according to the Valley Morning Star.
“I care about the life of every child: every child that goes to bed hungry, every child that goes to bed without a proper education, every child that goes to bed without being able to be a part of the Texas dream, every woman and man who worry about their children’s future and their ability to provide for that future," Davis said. "I care about life and I have a record of fighting for people above all else.”
Davis said the battle over women's rights is "not a battle I chose."
“When I believe women’s health is in danger, I’m going to stand and fight to protect that," Davis said.
Now, I'm sure there are readers who can find many faults with each and every one of these candidates I suggest. As I'm sure can also be done for Hillary, Sanders, and pretty much everyone on the Republican slate. And for every person I mention, there are probably five other strong Democrats out there who are just as representative of the diversity I champion. And as a presidential run often brings with it a lot of additional scrutiny any one of these candidates might likely prefer to avoid, perhaps most of these would not realistically consider running in 2016.
But my point is this: the Democratic Primary can be a weak point, but it also has a lot of strategic value as a strong selling point, but only if we capitalize on that value.
Our next generation of leaders are out there. They are the ones who will invigorate the base, and draw solid supporters for decades to come. And they might not look and sound exactly like us, but they bring some great minds to the table, and only serve to strengthen the party with their inclusion. Which is not to say Clinton and Sanders and even Elizabeth Warren lose at this in any way to any of the examples above, but that having other great leaders around only serves to show the Democratic Party is the real representative party of America.
Let us remember that even though those of us in this party are united by some great central Progressive values, there are also many things that make us unique and individual and unlike each other. Let us not just acknowledge our diversities, but make them a strength.