I don’t know what’s worse, that she might still run or the endless speculation that she might still run…
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I just don’t see her running…so why are peope pushing this? Clicks?
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Yep… I think that’s the reason. I’m just tired of hearing it, given how much real problems we have right now that need a fixin’.
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OK, so she’s not running. But what about Chelsea?
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Clicks, and the Clinton Derangement Syndrome.
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You mean that she won the popular vote and that we could lose the electoral college again?
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https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1191697923198914560?s=21
https://twitter.com/thewaywithanoa/status/1191700935485120514?s=21
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It is remarkable how Americans are capable of moving past old habits
Unless that habit is defending the rotten carcass of the for-profit health insurance industry by saying that what every other country in the world has built is fundamentally impossible here in America, the greatest bestest most richest country on Earth, hey-o.
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The general state of the race over the past couple of weeks has evinced the inevitable power of the back-to-normal narrative. There is a substantial portion of the electorate that just wants a break. Biden is that candidate, although Buttigieg is making a strong pitch for being the voice of that desire as well. It’s not showing up in any polls yet, but he’s clearly becoming the darling of the Morning Joe don’t-run-with-scissors crowd. Over the weekend in Iowa, he received considerable praise for comments that, on their own, are almost overpowering in their stunning banality.
The purpose of the presidency is not the glorification of the president, but the unification of the American people.
The purpose of the presidency is to see that the laws are faithfully executed, which includes obeying them yourself. Period. This is consultant-speak, West Wing pablum. And then there was this, on ABC on Sunday.
I think it [Medicare for All] could very well be the long-run destination, but I think there’s got to be some humility in our policy here.
No, I don’t know what “humility” has to do with anything, either. And, finally, there was this beauty, from a town hall in New Hampshire.
A new culture of belonging is the sort of thing that only the powers of the presidency can deliver. Not the legal powers; the symbolic, the cultural, the moral power of the office. Because the purpose of the presidency is not the glorification of the President, it is the unification and empowerment to the American people.
The presidency is meant to foster “a new culture of belonging”? And people say Marianne Williamson is the cosmic muffin of this campaign”
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One of the things that depresses me on a daily basis is that MLKs vision still hasn’t happened 50 years after his murder.
When that actually happens, maybe then we can talk about moving past old habits and prejudices. Not while fascists are viewed as part of polite discourse, while equality and mild social democracy are seen as radical and dangerous.
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The Buttigieg quotes aren’t too different from the rhetoric of every Democrat who has won in my lifetime. (OK, not LBJ.) From stump speeches:
Obama:
If we do all this, if we can be trusted to lead, this will not be a Democratic Agenda, it will be an American agenda. Because in the end, we may be proud Democrats, but we are prouder Americans. We’re tired of being divided, tired of running into ideological walls and partisan roadblocks, tired of appeals to our worst instincts and greatest fears. Americans everywhere are desperate for leadership. They are longing for direction. And they want to believe again.
Bill Clinton:
We cannot have a new covenant unless the president assumes the responsibility and insists that every American join in bringing this country back together, fighting against the politics of division and going into tomorrow as one. After all, that’s what’s special about America. Don’t you want to be part of a country that’s coming together instead of coming apart? Don’t you want to be part of a community where people look out for each other and not just for themselves? Wouldn’t it be nice to be part of a nation again that brings out the best in all of us instead of playing to the worst for personal advantage? Wouldn’t it be nice again to have a leader who really believed that the only limit to what we can do is what our leaders ask of us and what we expect of ourselves?
I just hope that the people who despise Buttigieg so vehemently aren’t too devastated if he wins. There are far worse people out there, even in the current Democratic lineup, and in any event the degree of positive change that the next administration can make will be heavily dependent on the makeup of the next Senate. We’r not going to see single-payer health care while Moscow Mitch is majority leader, regardless of who is POTUS.
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The dig on Pete is that the platitudes aren’t put in the service of big ideas and goals.
Instead of Yes We Can! - he’s saying That’s Too Hard!
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Charlie Pierce always comes up with the mot juste. The “Don’t-Run-With-Scissors Crowd” perfectly encapsulates the blind and patronising arrogance of the privileged white Boomer Dems who think the goal of this election is to return us all to 1998, when history had ended and neoliberalism was triumphant and when their baseline “easy mode” privilege was still guaranteed.
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Now, now - Pete’s not that old.
Though he’s old at heart.
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Yeah. I can’t call Pete a “young fogey”, like I would with someone like Ross Douthat or Ben Shapiro. But the guy’s been 45 years old since he was in high school.
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And the more mature Charles Pierce is evergreen.
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So by all means, let’s support the people promising the least amount of change to be president, just in case Mitch does get defeated in 2020 and Dems do take back the Senate.
Incrementalism!
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I like Pierce; I think we share a generational disappointment in the lost promise of the Democratic party of our youth after its hijacking in the 70s. I think he would be the first to agree that this rhetoric is neither more nor less vapid or self-directed than the same blather from other candidates in other years. He was almost as hard on Obama in 2008.
No, let’s not. But I don’t see any advantage to demonizing a candidate for adopting what has historically been an effective political technique. His policies are certainly fair game.
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