I will be 70 in 2020 and will not support a Democratic Party Presidential candidate older than me. That immediately eliminates Bernie Sanders (79 on election day), Michael Bloomberg (78 on election day), Joe Biden (78 in November 2020), and Elizabeth Warren (she’ll be 71 when she takes office if elected). There are a lot of other reasons not to vote for this crew including arrogance, authoritarian personality, party switching, and political incompetence, but for me age is enough. Donald Trump will be 74. I want a candidate with some appeal who will defeat him.
Joe Biden either has foot-in-mouth disease or thinks everyone else suffers from memory loss. He has apologized for his mistreatment of Anita Hill when she testified before a Senate Committee and accused Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment. But just because he’s aged, doesn’t mean Biden can stop saying and doing inappropriate things. In Michigan during the 2018 mid-term elections, he praised a swing-district Republican candidate for Congress in exchange for a $200,000 “speaker’s fee.” Biden called the Republican, incumbent, who led the fight to repeal Obamacare, a champion in the fight against cancer — and “one of the finest guys I’ve ever worked with.” Beto O’Rourke, former Congressional Representative from Texas, apparently also has the same problem telling Democrats from Republicans.
If any of the Democratic Party elders are serious about promoting change, let them help build a progressive Democratic Party and find younger, more vibrant, and more winnable candidates to support. So far, the list of potential Democratic Party 2020 candidates is very unimpressive. These are my thoughts on some of them.
Cory Booker, Senator from New Jersey, is “Mr. Charter School Man.” As Mayor of Newark he worked with his friend Mark “Facebook” Zuckerberg to replace the city’s public schools with charter schools. The same week as Booker praised striking public school teachers in Los Angeles who are opposed to charter schools, he was a keynote speaker at a New Orleans charter school rally. With all of its scandals, being a friend of Marty Facebook should be enough to disqualify Booker from office.
Kirsten Gillibrand, Senator from New York is a “Fake Small Town Girl.” Her parents were lawyers from the state capital and even her grandmother was a political operative. She left the small town as soon as she could for private schools, Ivy League colleges, and a big city law firm. She only returned to run for office. When questioned about her earlier opposition to a citizenship path for undocumented immigrants and her support for making English the official national language, she begged her questioner to “look at my heart, see who I am.” She them promised to “fight for other people's kids as hard as I fight for my own,” saying “My heart has never changed.” It probably would be better if it had!
Kamala Harris, Senator from California, wants us to nominate her because her immigrant parents lived the American dream. She also wants us to forget that before being appointed to the Senate, she was a “Law and Order DA” with little sympathy for the people she now says she will champion. The other candidate running on his immigrant roots is Julian Castro, former Mayor of San Antonio, who had an inspiring Grandma. However she is ineligible to run.
Sherrod Brown, running as an ordinary guy, is a Senator from Ohio. Before speculation started that he would run for President, I never heard of him. Somehow Brown seems to figure that since he doesn’t stand for anything he can unify blue-collar workers and progressives. His campaign started with what he calls a "Dignity of Work" tour. However Mr. Ordinary Guy started his political career at age 22 after graduating from Yale University so he has never worked at a real job in his entire adult life. Brown is already 66 so he almost qualified for my over-the-hill gang, but not quite.
The Democrats have a long list of other stealth candidates no one ever heard of so they are difficult to evaluate. They include Senator Chris Murphy (Connecticut), Senator Jeff Merkley (Oregon), Governor Steve Bullock (Montana), Governor John Hickenlooper (Colorado), Governor Jay Inslee (Washington), Terry McAuliffe, a former Governor of Virginia, Representatives John Delaney (Maryland), and Tim Ryan (Ohio). Delany and Ryan seem unaware that the last sitting member of the House of Representatives to be elected President was James Polk in 1844.
Unfortunately, in some cases the unknowns are better than the knowns. Tulsi Gabbard, a member of the House from Hawaii was an outspoken homophobe (Important Note: Representative Gabbard has apologized for earlier positions and now supports gender equality). Bill de Blasio, my mayor in New York City, has some interesting ideas but is boring as hell and is an incompetent administrator. If you don’t believe me, ride the subway. Andrew Cuomo, New York’s Governor, has a reputation as “Mr. Mean and Nasty.” If he wasn’t from the same state as Trump, he could have been Trump’s Vice-Presidential candidate in 2016.
There are some potential Democratic Party candidates who I would like to know better, including Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Mayor Eric Garcetti of Los Angeles, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, but each already has some blemishes. Klobuchar was a corporate lawyer before entering politics, but I like her support for stricter gun control. Garcetti is wishy-washy on a number of issues including his lukewarm support for striking Los Angeles teachers. Holder, with a strong record on civil rights and gun control, was a corporate lawyer who defended drug companies and the National Football League and as Attorney General defended drone strikes. Schultz is a multi-billionaire, strike one, is soft on gun control, strike two, and his company has a reputation as anti-union, strike three.
I really enjoy Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (AOC) shake-them-up politics, but at 29, she is too young to run for President. AOC is pushing for a Green New Deal, an idea every potential Democratic Party candidate should respond to with specific and detailed proposals. Among other things, she calls for raising the tax on the highest income bracket to 70%, single-payer Medicare for All, tuition-free public college and trade schools, federal government job guarantees for everyone who wants to work, paid family leave, abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Bureau as part of comprehensive immigration reform, ending the privatization of prisons, strict gun control, and shifting energy policies to promote the use of 100% renewables. So far Ocasio-Cortez has not specifically addressed charter schools, but during the L.A. teachers strike she supported teachers opposed to what she called the “privatization” of education.
I definitely liked the way Nancy Pelosi stood up to Trump during his government shutdown and Mexican Wall temper tantrum, but a big part of the Democratic Party problem is that Pelosi (78) and Chuck Schumer (68) keep stepping in front of the television cameras blocking opportunities for potential Presidential candidates to get their ideas, if they have any, out to the public. Also, could someone please explain to Schumer about progressive lens so he does not have to walk around or appear on television with his reading glasses slipping off the tip of his nose.
To dispel rumors that I am seeking the Democratic Party nomination for President for myself, I paraphrase General William Tecumseh Sherman’s 1868 response. If drafted I will not run; if nominated I will not accept; and if elected I will not serve. But, hint-hint, I might accept Secretary of Education in a democratic socialist “Green New Deal” administration.
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