She will get the most progress done as President. She will give us the broadest wins as the Nominee.
The two are of course closely interrelated. The way politics at the national level have developed we are at the mercy of the 50th, 60th or 40th most progressive or conservative Senator. On top of that is the fact that doing nothing is a lot less perilous for politicians then actually doing something. So underlying the general election will be the under tow of nothing happens. Of course that will be a big part of the Republican campaign. If only the meany Democrats had let us do things. But that is Klobuchar’s secret sauce. The “Senator of Small Things” has a mountain of them.
I really don’t expect to change any minds here right now all I want you to do take a hard look at Amy and really think about what a post Trump world will look like. Don’t only look at what the Republicans will be like but What the Democrats will be. Then I want you to think about who you want in the room plotting strategy with Pelosi and Schumer. Then I want you to remember Amy is a shark, those smiling teeth have a real bite.
So why will she get the most done?
Her policy positions are right in the center of the Democratic party. While we may decry that as lacking scope, they are designed to avoid much of the internal strife that hampered our last two Democratic Presidents at the start. We start the game much more united. I used Game for a reason as that is really how the current Republican party treats this. There is no one on the field or looming as a free agent who understands the modern game and all of the players as well.
Because her policy positions are right in the center of the Democratic party they are also broadly popular outside of it. As important however is that her policy thrusts are made up of building blocks that can in most cases be presented in different orders and combinations. There is also a emphasis on alternatives. A tremendous amount of built in flexibility. This allows her to box Republican opposition in.
But she also provides the option of executive action. Indeed she is more likely to mention that then any other candidate. Not just in one or two policy areas but in all of them.
All of this is actually thought out and designed to take advantage of Trump and the post Trump Washington.
You can actually see how this works in health care. First off she emphasizes prescription drug costs. This sets up a good enemy in Pharma against a major concern of most Americans. It is also something promised but never delivered. When talking about it she will talk about a bill she and Bernie have been working on for years (party unity), she will then mention several other bills (alternatives) adding Republican support for them (boxing) and finally will talk about executive waivers (executive action). This is the clearest example, but she has set up dozen’s of them. This is an important building block of any health care plan, but it is presented independently so as to put opposition on the defensive. With the tensions of a post Trump GOP, where a disappointed and angry base will be pushing for total resistance, but here is something even they want, it forces the Republicans to choose and there are no good choices for them because something is going to happen that will be hard to unwind later.
Lets face it the Media is poised to start calling penalties again, the Republicans will find their deficit spines and the recession is likely to hit. Stacking up a lot of early wins, while putting the focus on Republicans in disarray will be important. Especially as the government is rebuilt.
So why will she get us the broadest wins?
She has broad cross party appeal. While I’m sure that her statewide wins will be downplayed the fact is that she has indeed won every Statewide Race while carrying ever congressional district every time. Not only that she wins big each time out pacing every other statewide candidate by at least 10 points. Indeed that includes Obama. Statehouse chambers flip every time she is on the ballot. What ever reason you want to attribute that to she maximizes her opportunities. What she does, just like how she approaches legislation is to emphasize popular discreet parts of an overall vision. This is the flip side of what the Republicans have done to us over and over. Instead of them attacking a detail in an overall vision, she makes them defend against a popular detail in support of a vision. That is part of her strength she gets her jabs in but mainly lets her opponents overreach and beat themselves. Against other Democrats in a Democratic nomination fight that may not be the best, but against Trump ... OMG. There is just no way to make Amy look scary or incompetent or unprepared or corrupt. All his attacks will do is enrage the base and strip more support from himself.
So then we come to down ballot with Trump flailing. Every candidate in every district will find something to run with Amy. Drug prices or Rural broadband or whatever wherever. It will allow them to force the Republican opponents to stand with Trump and alienate those who are wary of another four years of chaos, or split with Trump on a popular issue that will alienate the base. This will take place in an environment where Trump is doubling down on attacks, it is what he does.
People argue that inspiration is lacking with Amy. That is fine. But this is Trump’s reelection and inspiration is not the path. Anger, determination and resolution are the attributes to push the base. You add the relief in the suburbs and rural America to that and you have a bigger coalition to start with then Obama. This gives us the possibility of shifting the congressional Overton window much farther to the left.
Just something to think about.