That’s probably true, but I also feel that if Democrats continue to let the right-wing slag machine determine who they put up for nomination, then they will continue to be the abused housewives of the American political system for the foreseeable future.
Right wing media is going to demonize any Democratic nominee; next election will be extra special as trump has demonstrated they can just make up anything without any mooring to truth or facts - see the smearing of Mueller. It simply doesn’t matter. The key is if or when mainstream media outlets (NYT, CNN et al) start carrying their water - as they did with Gore, Kerry and especially Clinton (for whom they did so with extra turbo sauce.) It’s already happening with Kirsten Gillibrand.
Edit: This probably should go into the media thread, but just look at the deference with which the beltway media treats Nikki Haley (her “I don’t get confused” comment) vs the language used by that same media with regards to Pelosi, or Gillibrand, even Warren or (gasp) HRC. (I mean, look at Paul Ryan FFS, “serious policy wonk”, or the raging hard-on Politico had for Rubio during the Republican primaries.)
Just found this, from 2017.
There are big problems with this. The GOP Outrage Machine is like a big troll. If you feed it by giving in to its demands, then it grows bigger and bigger. When Obama and others give in to that machine, then the GOP keeps on testing the limits. If no one and nothing ever says No to them, those who operate the machine see that there are no limits to what the machine can get away with and do.
He’s currently 76 years old if anybody thinks thats an issue worth considering.
Oh…oh no…
I support him much much more as a VP candidate with someone younger, that wasn’t tainted by the awful 2016 disaster.
That’s him announcing his re-election bid for his senate seat. Which yeah. Hope he wins.
Oh whew, I missed that part, thanks. Senate, yes! Serve until he’s 100 - we need him doing what he does best.
Serious question… now that Senator Sanders has officially joined the Democratic party… will he be running under their banner or again as an Independent, of which his senate seat is currently aligned?
He quickly un-joined after November, 2016 and is running as an independent.
Sanders left the Democratic Party in July 2016, not November.
Heh. Kudos to him for not even trying to mask that opportunism then.
Thanks everyone for the correction and info.
I don’t begrudge anybody for joining a party to run in their primary when the alternative is a third party run that will never win them anything and also splits the votes of the people on the same side as you, spoiling the chances of the major party candidate.
Bernie Sanders running in 2016 as a third party would have been a cluster much worse than what actually happened.
I would like a (environment or other science) nerd to be president. Can be military, but has to be a nerd.
Unfortunately, Al Gore fit this mold pretty well, but was rejected by a lot of young people.
I’d like to say we’d be in a much better place on climate change if Gore had won, but I imagine the Republicans would have found a way to fuck it up.
Obama was a nerd, or at least an intellectual. He was great overall, but did have an unreasonable expectation that people would act in good faith. That worked against him a few times.
Yea, nerds are noted for being level headed, for working with others and for doing what is best for the greatest number.
I got on Kamila Harris’s mailing list because I signed some petition or another. Man she spams a whole lot of stuff, both electronically and via mail. And she’s not even running for anything! She must have a huge war chest.
She is on a fast track to someplace, and I doubt the US Senate was her final goal. I think she will be the VP candidate in either 2020 or 2024, and maybe the presidential ticket on 2024 depending on how things work out.