Vanity Isn’t Fair to the Voters

I made my attempt to cull the crowd in yesterday’s post. From 10 down to 3 (Mayor Pete, Liz Warren and Bernie) was a decent start for me. Now we need to take a hard look at the other half of those that qualified for the ‘debate.’ It’s past time for the vanity candidates to help the voters make their decisions by dropping out.

To be fair, I should qualify my use of the term vanity. Some of those I designate as such are serious, qualified candidates. They just have no chance of breaking out of the pack. Getting out before doing too much damage to their reputation would make them suitable for consideration as a running-mate. Others are, to me unsuitable, regardless of how high they might be in the polls at this moment. Despite my disdain for some of these, it is a truism that any would be preferable to Little Donnie.

The easiest choices for removal are those addicted to the corporate trough. Biden, Booker, Gabbard, Gillibrand and Harris lead that parade. Also, they can be characterized as Republican lite. If those who should be running in the Republican primaries were to transfer, that field would be more numerous that those remaining in the Democratic race.

I haven’t checked but I am under the impression that Bennet is not so dependent on corporate largess but is either a Blue Dog Democrat or a Republican lite. Neither category is likely to inspire the Democratic base to turn out in the numbers we need, not just for the presidency but for all of those down-ballot races that we tend to undervalue.

Though I like the remaining four on last night’s panel, I don’t see Inslee and de Blasio as capable of building the necessary support to be a contender. Andrew Yang has somehow been able to meet the qualifications for the debates so far but, as a political outsider, I don’t see much potential growth of support for his bid. Castro has met the donations requirement but is still a bit short in the polls to qualify for the next debate. I’m a little surprised at that but it might be attributable to a weak staff.

I think that eliminates all of that lineup.

From the first night, second set, the 3 remaining are, as listed in the initial sentence: Mayor Pete, Liz Warren and Bernie. Bernie and Liz are in the same lane. Only one of them can survive. Bernie got screwed in 2016 by the DNC. That’s bad and sad but it doesn’t mean that he is automatically awarded the key. Americans fear the word socialism. Bernie bears that ‘Mark of Cain.’ Warren avoided that problem. It is far too early to make predictions that are engraved in stone, so my musings here are likely based more on my preferences than prescience based on deep analysis. That will come in due time but for now I’m looking at Mayor Pete and Liz Warren as the Democratic finalists. I could certainly live with that ticket.

I am concerned that intramural squabbles are taking precedence over the primary mission. They argue about who and what is socialistic.  Not a single candidate can accurately define socialism — not even Bernie, the Democratic Socialist. Neither he nor any of the others qualifies as a socialist under the real definition. Just stop throwing that term around as though they knew what it meant. It would be nice if they learned the definition before Trump and his bomb-throwers really get seriously into campaign mode.

The other problem is that now is not the time to argue about specifics on healthcare and other complicated issues. We just need to proclaim our commitment to a goal of medical coverage (of some sort) for all while Trump is cutting Medicare, Medicaid and everything else he can. We need to remind people that even if they are happy with their present work-based health coverage, we need to have programs in place to cover them if they lose their job to automation or Chinese or because some financial vultures buy their employer just to suck it dry, break it up and sell or bankrupt what remains. We need to tell them we aren’t going to take anything away — that’s why Republicans still exist.

Bernie is correct that it makes more sense and is cheaper were private insurance removed from the picture entirely but that scares people. Also, every other country that has universal coverage also allows for private insurance. All that and similar problems with other issues can be worked out without scaring off voters that we need.

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Tagged as: Bernie, Booker, Castro, de Blasio, debate, democrat, Gillibrand, Health, insurance, Kamala, medicare, republican, socialist, trump, Warren Mayor Pete