Why I Am Not Running for President (And You Shouldn’t Either)
It was a busy weekend for 2020 Presidential wannabes. California Senator Kamala Harris held a rally in Oakland to jump start her campaign. Former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz raised his profile through a publicity blitz, suggesting he was considering making a run as an independent. Senator Bernie Sanders is on the cusp of making his candidacy public.
There are people who I’d never heard of saying they want to run, like author and spiritual teacher Marianne Williamson, who’s staging a big (probable announcement) event tonight at the Saban Theater in Los Angeles. Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay mayor of South Bend, Indiana, launched his campaign for president with a video message promising to bring a "fresh start" to the White House. Entrepreneur Andrew Yang is touring primary states pitching a Universal Basic Income for every citizen.
Other declared candidates include former San Antonio mayor Julian Castro, Maryland Congressman John Delany, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Entrepreneur Andrew Yang
Ballotpedia lists three dozen or so other people said to be considering running as Democrats including former Vice President Joe Biden, former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, and former Texas Representative Beto O’Rourke.
I could run down the entire list and give a reason or three why each and every one of these humans should not get your support.
The wags, nags, and trolls on social media make it all too easy, since they generally exist in a silo where nuance and context don’t count. Taken to its extreme, I suppose this means any candidate who’s ever eaten meat could be called a mass murderer.
And she ain’t running. Period.
https://twitter.com/aseitzwald/status/1089931629030711296
To be honest, the bar has been set pretty low for what many Democrats would accept as a candidate, namely anybody who’s not nuts and can demonstrate a modicum of empathy. Just about any candidate with a “D” behind their name will get a moment in the sun if they’re running against Donald “J as in genius” Trump.
Personally, I’m open to persuasion when it comes down to supporting a candidate. I’d like to know more, and I hope readers of this column will feel the same way. After the natural winnowing out process over the next nine months I’ll start sharing my research and observations about the remaining candidates.
There are a couple of categories of candidates I don’t want to see, namely billionaires and “third way” types.
We don’t need a non-Trump who promises to smile as he/she tweaks social programs and promises trickle down in return. The open wounds left by hate mongers need to be --at a minimum-- triaged, not glossed over with promises of civility. And failure to recognize the environmental crisis as an existential threat is a non-starter.
https://twitter.com/JesseLehrich/status/1089730074637750272
If anybody’s going to beat Donald Trump (who has already raised $100 million) in 2020, they’re going to need the resources and the networks of the Democratic Party. Outside groups will have an influence in so far as they get voters to the polls, but when it comes down to the nitty gritty of running a national effort, there’s only one choice.
The research on so-called independent voters as the largest bloc of voters (39% vs 34%D & 25%) doesn’t mean there is a growing consensus about starting a third party. It’s an identity question (mostly “not Republican” at this point) rather than a predictor of how people vote. And any candidate who thinks they can run for national office outside the partisan duopoly hasn’t bothered to do their homework on electoral laws in the states. (Which should be changed, but won’t be in the next two years.)
https://twitter.com/markos/status/1089931197394763776
I’ve decided not to run for President. It appears as though we’re gonna have plenty of choices, and, frankly, the job and the application process just aren’t attractive to me..
I don’t think you should run for President, either. At least not in 2020. But there sure are a lot of interim steps worthy of your consideration, right here in San Diego County.
Everybody has to start somewhere, and there are opportunities awaiting.
https://twitter.com/lucasoconnor/status/1089731950816841729
https://twitter.com/lucasoconnor/status/1089738564185640960
If I were chair of the local Democratic Party, I’d go out and raise the few thousand dollars it would take to pay the filing fees on all those non-competitive and/or unfilled slots, advertise their availability, and make training convenient for those who are interested.
In the coming months I’ll explore some of those possibilities. After all, a good farm system makes for a winning team.