Run if you must, but don't run down fellow democrats.....
It’s only the beginning of February and already the race for the Democratic nomination primaries for president is getting crowded. Seven candidates having already announced their intentions to run and ultimately as many as twice that number could also chose to join the race. There are some familiar names in the mix as well as some that are not at all well known. Together they span the entire range of views in the Democratic Party from very progressive to much more moderate.
I have a few favorites, but I am not close to choosing who I will ultimately support in the voting booth. I have only eliminated two potential candidates from my consideration. My thought there is that we need fresh faces with fresh ideas in order to defeat Trump. Ultimately however, I am going to be a huge supporter of whomever wins the Democratic nomination regardless of which candidate comes out on top, or whether I voted for him or her or not. I will donate and work for that person’s campaign and do whatever is in my power to get him or her elected.
Of equal importance, in the upcoming election against Donald Trump, we cannot afford to hold on to grudges which may build up during the long nomination process, so I will not be a part of that kind of self-destructive behavior. For that reason I will not even divulge on social media which candidate I ultimately chose to support before the nomination process is completed.
We cannot afford a repeat of the last Democratic nomination battle where throughout the process the most ardent supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders acted like they hated each other and constantly criticized and disparaged their favorite candidate’s opponent. With both candidates being constantly being attacked by the supporters of his/her opponent on social media, people on both sides grew very angry.
Early on it was apparent that regardless of who won the nomination, the biggest supporters of the losing candidate were going to feel embittered when it was over. At best they would have to “hold their noses” to even vote for the Democratic nominee if their favorite lost and certainly would not support the winner whole hardly. In point of fact, some “never Hillary” supporters Bernie Sanders voted 3rd party in the general elections.
With the possible reelection of Donald J. Trump looming in the gloom, that can’t be allowed to happen again. We need every Democrat and progressive independent totally focused on electing the Democratic nominee.
In my opinion, it all starts with the candidates themselves. It’s like people discussing controversial subjects on social media. In the heat of a nomination campaign it is far too easy for candidates to lose their focus on pointing out the positive aspects of their own proposals and emphasizing their ability to govern and degenerate into attacking the ideas of other candidates, and ultimately attacking their opponents as well. Unfortunately these negative tactics have been proven to work in the past, providing the attackers with political advantage.
Unfortunately, the use of such tactics will be a two edged sword if used in the Democratic primaries. When employed by one candidate, the other candidate(s) are likely to retaliate. Then the entire voting public will witness a verbal nasty war which diminishes the standings of the all of the Democratic candidates involved, thus cutting into electability of everyone concerned. It also encourages the supporters of the candidates to follow suit in person and on social media, eventually degenerating into the type of animosity between warring camps that helped put The Great Imposter in the White House.
In addition to the candidates waging positive campaigns, the Democratic National Committee must go out of its way to illustrate that it remains transparently above the fray. We cannot have a repeat of the last election where many of the supporters of Bernie Sanders came to believe that their candidate somehow was robbed of the nomination by the manipulation of the DMC, whether their accusations were correct or not. The DMC must not even give the slightest appearance of putting their fingers on the scale.
Right now Trump is weaker than he has ever been before. The economy has reached a turning point and the economic expansion is beginning to tatter about the edges. Trump’s shutdown of the government and his continuing trade fight with the Chinese is starting to have negative effects. As a result fiscally conservative Republicans are beginning to be convinced that he is totally unfit to serve. Even his most ardent supporters are beginning to doubt that he can keep his most basic campaign promise.
Recent polls indicate that a solid 56% of American voters refuse to even consider supporting Trump in his reelection bid. 33% of registered Republicans want their party to nominate someone else for president. Taken all together a very large percentage of Americans voters want to see someone else in the Oval Office after the 2020 elections. Let’s not blow this opportunity by fighting among ourselves.
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