Bernie Sanders is the Democrats’ real 2020 frontrunner. I could not resist the headline. It has nothing to do with the fact that some people think I look like Bernie Sanders. After all, we are about the same age.
Most of the political class is ignoring the elephant in the room. Bernie Sanders is, by some measures the most popular politician in America, by far Democrats’ most in-demand public speaker, and the most prolific grassroots fundraiser in American history.
Sanders is building his team, is quietly moderating,
has a clear message is the point of the article.
His primary season demands to break up large banks, ban hydraulic fracturing nationwide, and impose a carbon tax are gone from the agenda. In the wake of the success of “Bernie Would Have Won” as a slogan, Sanders has deeply engaged his base using Medicare-for-all while reconfiguring other elements of his platform into something more moderate than the one he actually ran on and for which a much stronger electability argument can be made.
Is he too old? "Is Pope Francis too old?" would be my response.
If not him, who? NCR had an interesting article that might help us think about this
New Orleans Confederate Monuments Are Coming Down Under Mayor Landrieu. I was attracted to this article mainly because it was by Jason Berry. You might call it a "profile in courage" article to borrow Kennedy's book title. Could Landrieu be another "take on the establishment" candidate?
If not him, who?
ReplyDeleteAdam Schiff, Diane Feinstein, Jerry Brown?
I can't think of any Democrat strong enough to endure Trump's galeforce bulls**t and come out on top right now other than Elizabeth Warren and Uncle Joe Biden.
ReplyDeleteJerry Brown could do it to my satisfaction, but everybody thinks he's a nut for reasons unclear to me. Plus he hasn't been in great health.
If Bernie is the 2020 front-runner and actually nominated by the Democratic party, kiss 2020 and subsequent mid-term elections good-bye. Did anyone read this today? https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/06/opinion/center-democrats-identity-politics.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region&_r=0
DeleteOf course, The Bern doesn't agree: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/opinion/bernie-sanders-how-democrats-can-stop-losing-elections.html?action=click&contentCollection=Opinion&module=RelatedCoverage®ion=Marginalia&pgtype=article
DeleteJimmy, I think the NYT article you linked is right. It has been said of military people that they are always fighting the previous war. Same can be said of political strategists. There is too much of a tendency for people to think they have absorbed the lessons of the last election. "Populism, white voter frustration, the "left behind". Got it! We have to channel the "vote whisperer". I think the strategists need to pay more attention to what's happening right now. IMHO foreign policy is going to matter big time in the next election. We don't have a coherent foreign policy now, and it's going to bite us. Trump is tearing down the government from within. We're going to have to rebuild our civil service. We need to care about our reputation, right now the aim seems to be to be the big a**holes on the planet
DeleteI think Jerry Brown could do it. Why is he thought to be nuts? I sort of met him once, long ago when he was governor the first time, when we were both on a plane to LA :) He is a few years older than Bernie.
ReplyDeleteHe didn't live in the gov mansion and he dated Linda Ronstadt? Or maybe it's because he's from Californy? Who knows. Governor Moonbeam. Sad.
DeleteYeah, and he's Catholic and spent 3 years as a Jesuit novice :) But he's really smart and capable and he is scrappy too.
DeleteI need no convincing. I voted for him in at least one primary. But this is the Midwest, and anything Left Coast is considered goofy by default.
DeleteHe happens to attend the same health club that my hubby uses. I have seen him there a couple of times and made the mistake of addressing him once. He was one of the rudest SOBs I have ever encountered! ... and his wife (also with him at the time)wasn't any better. A true schmuck when it comes to interpersonal skills with people who can't do him a favor or help his agenda. No freaking thanks on him for POTUS!
DeleteJim, I had no idea he was like that. It can be so disillusioning to meet the people you might have thought well of from afar.
DeleteSounds like Trump. I still can't figure out how a jerk like him got elected. Both Reagan and Bill Clinton were flawed people, for different reasons. But part of what got them elected was personal charisma; charm, if you will.
DeleteTrump can be charming when he wants to be - just watched a video of him meeting Puton, where he said it was an honor.
DeleteI'm a senior citizen myself so I don't want to rain on Bernie's parade on account of his age. Same with Biden or Warren. However reality is that 79 isn't the new 59, however much we'd like to believe that it is. Are we trying to re-enact the movie "Second Hand Lion" or something? At the very least, the choice of a vice presidential candidate becomes very important, not to mention a clean bill of health. Having said that though, I'd vote for any of the people I named against Trump in a heartbeat.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, if the majority is hell-bent on letting the country go to hell, trying to fly a Stearman through a barn is a pretty good way to go. Comparatively. Like compared to dying in a hospital on Ryan rations.
DeleteKatherine, I'm 63, and that is not the new 43. In my case, it's not even the new 63. My grandmothers at 63 could run rings around my sorry butt.
DeleteIt's not the mental acuity so much as the lack of stamina.
Tom, what ARE you talking about? You mist be WAY older than me. :-)
Jean, Spoiler Alert! The Stearman (a two-seater biplane) is in the opening and closing scenes of "Second Hand Lions." Further explanation might wreck a spoil a movie you'd love.
DeleteI saw that movie, but I guess I forgot it all except that Michael Caine cannot do a Southern accent.
DeleteMaybe Jerry brown for president, with Kamala Harris or Adam Schiff as VP. I don't think there's anything wrong with being old, aside from the increased chance of croaking.
ReplyDelete"...aside from the increased chance of croaking." Yeah, that would be the fear. And I'm not sure that Ronnie Reagan wasn't in early Alzheimer's during his second term.
DeleteIt's amazing how many people stay healthy and sane no matter how old they get. I saw an interview with Warren Buffett on the PBS Newshour. He's 86 and still firing on all cylinders ... link
ReplyDeleteGotta hand it to Warren Buffet for aging gracefully. Hope I can do as well if I live that long.
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Deletesorry, Crystal, but Jerry will be perceived, on average, as a twinkie. I don't know how Kamala would be perceived by the trumpoids, but this hetero old fool worships the dirt under her feet. To quote from a Seinfeld episode, "anything you say, lady". Any republican who disses her must be a closeted ED. I'm in love, unrequited, of course.
ReplyDeleteDo not make the same mistake with Kamala as was made with Obama. He needed more senatorial seasoning and so does she. I'll admit, thought, that she appears to know how to play the legislative BS game much better than did Barack.
DeleteJimmy, interesting. Had Obama had more seasoning, how do you think things would have been different?
DeleteTom Daschle, Obama's mentor urged him to run young while he was still squeaky clean. No scandals.
Sen. Harris has a long career in law and as California's AG. She opposes the death penalty. NARAL loves her. She seems extremely knowledgeable about how the justice system works (and doesn't). She has actual ideas and some of her ideas about law enforcement changes got traction in Cali.
I don't know much about her clout in the Senate. Does she have power? Or is she largely ornamental at this point?
She risks being branded as a liberal elite, the child of two academic intellectuals. There's no "regular guy who overcomes great adversity narrative," which Democrats love.
P.S. I think it would be great to have an ebony goddess as president in the stead of an orange orangutan.
ReplyDeleteKamala Harris got a lot of criticism from Republicans for her questioning of Sessions and Rosenstain - they termed her "hysterical". But Jerry Brown has a good reputation as governor of California in standing up to Trump and his energy and immigration policies.
ReplyDeleteDo these people even know how they sound? "Hysterical"? She "persisted"? Jeez Louise. Next they'll be giving Susan Collins a bracing slap in the face to get her to "see reason" on that Senate health care bill.
DeleteMaybe a new generation of Kennedy. The kids didn't have what their elders had, but maybe the grandkids do. Joe Kennedy III is only 36, but he is very well spoken. He would be barely 40 in the next election cycle, but it's time to look to the young instead of hanging on to the old folk. By 2016 he will have 8 years in Congress. Macron is 39. What do you think of Joe?
ReplyDeleteTalking health care bill in Congress -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsZvU9EpGGk
Addressing a group of religious leaders -
https://sojo.net/articles/rep-joe-kennedy-faith-leaders-we-are-locked-battle-over-character-our-country
Recent pictures of Obama showed him in the Anchorage airport holding an adorable baby girl. I had my policy differences with Obama, such as his continuance of the Democratic sellout to Wall Street, but it was nice to see hus kind human face as a break from nasty, hateful and predatory Squinty McPoochface. I don't really trust Kamala to be progressive enough to return to the New Deal but it would be like salve for the eyes after four years of It.
ReplyDeleteYes, Obama is a decent human being, which is more than we can say about present leadership. I shouldn't judge his heart but as scripture says, by their fruits you shall know them.
Delete