Democratic Primaries
Related: About this forumSenator Michael Bennet of Colorado is quietly and seriously thinking about a run for president.
And another to welcome to the primaries
The Democrat Who Wants to Stop the Rage
Senator Michael Bennet of Colorado is quietly and seriously thinking about a run for president.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/03/senator-michael-bennet-weighing-run-president/583993/
Edward-Isaac Dovere
10:14 AM ET
Ed Andrieski / Associated Press
POLK CITY, IowaSitting under a framed ticket from an old Obama town hall meeting, down in the basement of a farmhouse surrounded by snowy fields of corn and soybeans, I tell Michael Bennet that an Iowa Democrat whod come to hear him speak compared him to pea soup. Good pea soup, hearty. But still pea soup, in a 2020 primary field that has sizzling fajitas and cake on the table.
Some politicians might have been be insulted. Bennet smiles. Theres something to that, he says.
The Colorado senator was here on the last stop of his tour through the northwest part of the state, feeling good about what he heard, and what he saw. What began two months ago as a vague notion about running for president had become a long and deliberate thought process. And now, after two and a half days on the ground, he was closer to getting in the race than when he landed.
Read: The delusions and realities of the immigration debate
Bennets not interested in an argument about progressives versus moderates, though he warns that Democrats shouldnt make it easy for Donald Trump to write them off as socialists (he jumped up and applauded when the president said America will never be a socialist country in his State of the Union address, realizing only later that Bernie Sanders was right behind him, scowling in his seat). To Bennet, the presidential race should be about taking stock of whats become of politics in the last 10 or 15 years and thinking about how to actually move forward, in a way that wont just destroy the country even more.
People are tired of the rage Olympics, he believes, and they know in their guts its not working. He thinks they want something else.If you promise people that you are going to give everybody in America Medicare, that you are not going to have to raise taxes, that youre not going to have to cut healthcare massively, that 180 million people, 80 percent of whom like their insurance are going to be willing to give it up, 20 million
Bennet says, trailing off. It is possible to write policy proposals that have no basis in reality, and you might as well call them candy. Thats what people want, as the song said, but I think thats not where people are, I dont think people believe that stuff. I think they want to see a serious approach to politics and a serious approach to policy.
The noisiest voices in the party want Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. They want to answer Mitch McConnells Merrick Garland blockade by packing the Supreme Court and getting rid of the filibuster entirely. Learn the lessons of dealing with Republicans in modern politics, they say. Stop showing up to gun fights waving copies of Roberts Rules of Order. Its the way, they say, to ensure Democrats keep losing even when they win............................
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)I'd put him in the "no chance but would boost public profile" category.
primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
Skidmore
(37,364 posts)as a decent, caring and hardworking man. A sharp contrast to Trump.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
DavidDvorkin
(19,479 posts)You're lucky you're there. Not that it was luck that got you there.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Autumn
(45,092 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided
UniteFightBack
(8,231 posts)17 people running and the vote getting so damn split.
primary today, I would vote for: Joe Biden
Nanjeanne
(4,960 posts)primary today, I would vote for: Undecided