| HylianSwordsman said: Obama's charm is wearing off of Joe, and it's showing. I'm hoping for a debate bomb too, and it seems possible. The guy is all hot air and no vision, running because he thinks he's great and it would be fun to be president. Not all that different from who we already have. I think you underestimate how conservative Joe is though. Pete isn't in his lane. Pete is establishment friendly, but there are a lot of people in the establishment that want him to work his way up to stardom, so they won't let him win. Kamala Harris would be the establishment favorite if Joe's star fades, because she's fairly close to the establishment's wants and has a bit of charm to her, like Obama did. Would've maybe been O'Rourke but his star is already fading and he's nearing irrelevance, or Castro, if he ever catches fire and becomes flavor of the month, which he might after the debate. If you remember me, you'll know I'm a Bernie guy, but Warren is a very close second for me. If momentum truly shifts her way and she's the best chance to beat Creepy Uncle Joe, I'll happily fall in behind her. She'd be exciting to vote for in 2020. If she doesn't win, the eventual nominee would be foolish to not have her either as a running mate or in his eventual cabinet. She'd be the best damn secretary of labor this country ever had, but she'd be amazing in most cabinet positions. |
Given his ongoing support for Medicare-for-all, I get what you're saying about "Mayor Pete" being an imperfect match for the politics of neoliberalism, but the essential defining factor as to whether one qualifies as being essentially in that lane or else as a progressive in the current world-historic context is one's position on the Green New Deal. That recent report on the pace of global warming has transformed the politics of the left worldwide of late such that we can now see (e.g. not only in the ascendancy of the Sunrise movement in this country, but also in the growth of support for Green parties, for instance, in the recent EU elections) that environmentalism is a top priority issue on the minds of most sincerely left-leaning voters today. The fact that Pete Buttigieg lacks a serious plan in this area akin to AOC's ideas tells you a lot about where he lands at the end of the day. Candidates like yes, Kamala Harris seem more serious about these things to me.
Kamala Harris is running on the Green New Deal, Medicare-for-all, impeachment, slavery reparations...the kind of politics that resulted in a couple of billionaires threatening independent presidential runs earlier this year, which they may well follow through on should someone like Harris, or even more especially Sanders or Warren, become the Democratic nominee. I don't think you'd see a similar billionaire revolt if say Pete Buttigieg became the nominee and that's the point I'm trying to make in connection to him. It's not as if the party establishment is incapable of switching their support from one candidate to another should their first option prove too weak for the job. I've seen that happen already in 2004 when they switched from initially backing Joe Lieberman to backing John Kerry and in 2008 when they switched from backing Hillary Clinton initially to clearly switching to the Obama camp well before the Iowa Caucus. It's not difficult for me to imagine the DNC going from backing Joe Biden to backing Pete Buttigieg down the way. These things happen. But there are always certain candidates whom they would never support; candidates who are too far outside their control, and to that end I find it impossible to imagine the DNC ever supporting Elizabeth Warren, Bernie Sanders, or even realistically Kamala Harris (given what she's currently running on anyway).
The thing about Kamala Harris to me is that she's a former prosecutor who, for my taste anyway, brings too many of those qualities to her presidential run. She's too lawlerly; too careful and cautious about precisely what she says and how she says it and too slow to produce a lot of clear and definite policy proposals. She'd be more than acceptable to me were she to become the nominee, but I'm not sure she's fully what America needs right now. I would like more decisive leadership than what she offers.
Last edited by Jaicee - on 12 June 2019
