For the past several weeks I’ve been considering whether or not to write a diary detailing my list of preferences for Democratic nominee for President of the United States in 2020. It’s obvious that posting such a list is fraught because of the toxic atmosphere that seems to permeate Daily Kos during primary season. Regardless of the fact that our internal differences are microscopic compared to those outside Koslandia, we have a tendency to magnify those differences and to become vehement in our disagreements. I’m not excluding myself from that equation. I too can of course be very opinionated and can provoke or initiate flame wars.
The purpose for this post then is as much to sort out my own thinking here as it is to argue rationally for my preferences and to stimulate discussion. Discussion in this case doesn’t mean bullying or sneering and if it was up to me, I would discourage that but there’s no denying that this could draw some slings and arrows. It started out as a comment that I made on Greg’s Saturday APR but it was way down in the comments and it took too much time to type out not to be posted more prominently, so that made me finally decide to get off my rhetorical ass and post it as a diary.
If it’s popular, (or if it doesn’t draw too much scorn and start a pie fight), I’d like to return at least monthly to outline my ongoing thinking regarding this primary. Though I gave a very brief line of reasoning in the APR, I’ve fleshed them out a bit more here than in the original comment and have provided some links and citations. In the end, it’s up to each and every one of us to choose who we like best based on their merits and our priorities and just because somebody doesn’t favor your preferred candidate, it doesn’t make them a “hater” or mean that they are acting from pique or slavish devotion rather than from a place of reason.
Full disclosure: I didn’t t watch the debate on Thursday because it was going to go on until ten o’clock Central Time and while I get up at 4:00am every weekday, this week had been especially tough with one member of my team quitting without notice, another with an injured back and a third in training for the last two weeks, leaving my 59 year old self and my 66 year old co-worker to do our jobs plus the jobs of two men in their 30s and one in his early 50s. So I didn’t watch because losing that hour of sleep would have made a bad situation worse. I have watched clips and have read tweets and reporting from many various sources, so I am still calling this a post debate opinion piece though obviously everybody on this list wasn’t at the debate.
In the end, let us all pledge to vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who he or she is because four more years of Trump and Moscow Mitch is unacceptable.
I’m going to present this list in descending order, first to last. An argument can be made for ascending order but that’s just theatrics and I believe in this case that best to worst* makes the most sense. So without further introduction, my list of preferences for Democratic nominee in 2020:
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1) Kamala Devi Harris: (age 54. US Senator, former Attorney General of California, District Attorney of San Francisco) Harris has almost from the outset of this election season been my favorite Democratic candidate. That’s partly because I think that it’s time time for the United States to grow the fuck up and elect a woman to the highest office in the land. She’s smart, she’s accomplished, she has the chops to go toe to toe with the orange shitgibbon. No right wing mouthpiece can legitimately attack her law enforcement bona fides.
Strong on the environment and human rights, she has prosecuted violators of environmental laws while declining to defend California’s ban on marriage equality. She is one of a handful of Senators who signed a letter charging FEMA with failing hurricane victims in Puerto Rico as well as part of a small group of Senators who signed a letter in support of continued net neutrality on 2017.
If anything, her one major stumble has been her somewhat less than clear approach to the healthcare issue and that has cost her support that I hope and expect she can rebuild. She was able to adjust and be more firm this time around which shows an ability to adapt that is so necessary for the office she aspires to. Most of the criticism she took after this last debate stank of frustration from the fact that she didn’t repeat her previous mistakes. For example:
I like her preparedness, Meghan McCain. Because she doesn’t communicate in conniption fits and juvenile sulking is a good thing. Try it sometime.
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2) Elizabeth Ann Warren: (Age 70. US Senator from Massachusetts, former Special Adviser for the Consumer Financial protection Bureau and Chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel), she is a strong reformer and a peerless advocate for the consumer and the vulnerable. I continue to be impressed by Warren. A former Republican, Warren took a bit longer to eschew the Republican party than I did, (full disclosure: I never belonged to the party, I just voted for who I thought was best regardless of affiliation.) but she quit in 1996, shortly after Newtie became Speaker and the Republican party went full bore, proudly open crazy. She does well in debates and policy discussions because she has the knowledge to make informed decisions. The claim of Native American heritage has hurt her some but I think the subsequent stirring of those embers by releasing DNA results was self inflicted and unnecessary. In the end, that’s just the right wing trying to find dirt in an otherwise sterling character.
She has strong economic credentials as well as regulatory chops. She believes in aggressively addressing climate change and is a tireless supporter of equality and civil rights. As well as being an advocate for net neutrality, she has created a detailed M4A, (Medicare for All) plan though it needs more fleshing out.
She is second in my book only because of her age. Not “ageism”, I know she’s capable of doing the job but I prefer a younger vision this go-round. Still I would enthusiastically campaign for her in the General Election should she win our nomination.
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3) Robert Francis (Beto) O’Rourke: (Age 46. Three term former Representative for TX-16, [El Paso], Mayor pro tempore of El Paso, member of El Paso city council) I’ve made no secret that I like O’Rourke and so what if there’s a bit of regional pride in that opinion? He’s a musician and has a wonderful sense of humor, (not to mention being devastatingly handsome). Though not an attorney, he has similar legislative experience as some other past Presidents and I love his straightforward style. If Sanders moved the needle to the left, O’Rourke made it okay to point and laugh at the idiotic “both sides” media. Though he has a bit of a conservative voting record as a Congressman, he seems to have fully embraced progressive values after being on the road and talking to people. In so doing, he came within a hair’s breadth of defeating Ted Calgary Cruz in 2016. I also think he’d be a great choice for somebody’s VP.
Along with favoring the legalization of cannabis he has called for the mandatory buy back and subsequent outlawing of assault style weapons. He is strong on the environment and an early political action of his was working to stop the re-permitting of a copper smelter. Very socially liberal and very much pro equality. He’s for a modified version of M4A, which would allow anybody to buy into Medicare while attempting to preserve private insurance, which is my own knock against him, (as I think that discarding private insurers is preferable). I urge you to look at the front page of his website for some very straight talking about Trump.
He has come out for a mandatory buy back of assault weapons and that’s going to hurt him I fear. Though many of us here support the idea, it might be a tough sell. After a couple of ugly first debates, he performed well in this last one but what has re-energized his campaign the most was his “what the fuck” remarks when asked a stupid question after a mass shooting in his hometown. If for nothing else, we all owe him for making it okay to say “WTF” to the idiotic media. Thanks, Beto.
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4) Cory Anthony Booker: (Age 50. US Senator from New Jersey, former Mayor of Newark and former City Council member of Newark) I like Mr. Booker quite a bit too and he’s certainly qualified and also very handsome. Though I’ve heard people knock him as “too conservative” his voting record is rated as the third most liberal Senator. He’s a long time ally of the LGBTQ community and advocated for marriage equality while many Democrats were still hiding from it. His support for and from the pharmaceutical industry is problematic for me, though it doesn’t seem to have affected his legislative voting much. He’s not as strong on climate change as I would prefer. He, also would be a solid Veep choice. Even if this isn’t his year, I expect he’ll go on to do great things.
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5) Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg: (Age 37. Mayor of South Bend, Indiana.) It turns out that the two “g”s are both soft, who knew? I like the idea of an out representative of the LGBTQ community being recognized and running for the highest office. A Rhodes Scholar, he’s been in politics almost since his graduation. While volunteering for the Obama campaign, he was inspired to join the Navy and did seven months in Afghanistan as a Naval Intelligence Officer and as an armed driver.
Along with his thin qualifications, he’s lost two elections, once as State Treasurer and another as DNC Chair. In spite of this, he’s developed widespread support in the LGBTQ community and I think he could turn out some otherwise apathetic voters. Other Democrats should take note and mock that at their peril. But Pete, while you’re smart and capable, I don’t think Mayor of South Bend is especially qualifying. Racial problems in South Bend have been bad for years and he doesn’t seem to have helped that situation at all. On a personal note, I’m extremely reluctant to vote for somebody who wears his or her religion on their sleeve. Get some more experience, Pete. Then we’ll talk.
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6) Amy Jean Klobuchar: ( Age 59. US Senator from Minnesota, Ranking member of the Senate Rules Committee and former County Attorney for Hennepin County. Also just 9 days younger than me) Klobuchar is an attorney and worked as a corporate lawyer until a personal experience sent her into politics. She’s been one of the most prolific lawmakers in the Senate and she is very popular in her home state but I’m unhappy with reports of her temper and entitlement. She’s great on environment but lousy on M4A. While I prefer not to elect another Conservadem, I’m sure she would do a fine job, should she be nominated and then elected. I think she’d be an outstanding Democratic President….in 1992….
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7) Julián Castro: ( Age 44, Former HUD Secretary, former Mayor of San Antonio and former City Council member of San Antonio) I like Mr. Castro, he’s been a fierce advocate not just for immigrants but for many poor and voiceless persons. He attended Stanford and then Harvard law, where he graduated as a Juris Doctor. Castro is unfortunately one of those people who thinks a balanced budget is more important than most other economic considerations. He somewhat anomalously advocates for fossil fuel jobs while voicing support for The Green new Deal. Despite being a devout Catholic, he supports choice and LGBTQ rights and reinstatement of the assault weapons bam. More qualified than Buttigieg perhaps not not by enough to make any difference in my book. Castro needs to run for elected office statewide or perhaps nationwide before entertaining the idea of being President.
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8) Bernard Sanders: (Age 78. US Senator from Vermont, former Representative for Vermont’s At Large House District, former Mayor of Burlington) It is undeniable that Sanders has moved the needle to the left and that is a positive thing. Sanders wrote the book, “Our revolution: A Future to Believe In” and changed the conversation that had grown so stale with “both sides” and right leaning framing. He hasn’t sponsored or co-sponsored much legislation that became law but he has been a long time political activist and union supporter. In 2016 he seemed to be focused on economic inequality to the exclusion of everything else though he seems to have branched out a bit since then and that’s all to the good.
My biggest knock against Sanders are the people he surrounds himself with and some of his surrogates. David Sirota, Jeff Weaver, Nina Turner, Briahna Joy, none of these people acquitted themselves well in 2016 and they seem to have picked up exactly where they left off. Sanders’ is the only campaign which seems to think that bullying, badmouthing, smearing and sneering are effective tools of persuasion and that attitude has largely infected a great deal of his base. Couple that with the fact that he’s already beyond an average human life expectancy for a man in this country and would be a whopping 87 years old if he survived to serve two terms. While some people remain vigorous into their 90s, it is exceptionally rare and there is no guarantee that Mr. Sanders will be around for even one full term. This is a fact and though we at Daily Kos are very conscious of ageism, I assure you that most voters are not. it is going to be a factor, like it or not. Sanders is in the top three in the polling right now but I think his base is so close to his ceiling that they are all but indistinguishable.
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9) Wayne Martin Messam: (Age 45. Mayor of Miramar, Florida, former member of Miramar City Commission) Former NFL player, I like what he says but Mayor of a tiny city of less than 130,000 people just doesn’t impress me. The only reason that he’s in my top ten at all is because he brings more diversity that is otherwise unrepresented to the conversation. Heck even his wiki page is incredibly thin. This candidate is subject to be the next one to fall off my radar. Gain some more experience and I’ll be happy to reconsider.
Donate (his website is down. Yikes. Really amateur hour. I think he just lost several spaces.)
10) Stephen Clark Bullock: (Age 53. Governor of Montana, former Attorney general of Montana) As Attorney General he pushed for stronger drunk driving laws and tougher penalties for abusing prescription drugs, though he doesn’t seem to have pushed for better treatment for prescription drug abusers. He unsuccessfully challenged the Citizens United decision. He is pro death penalty and and is only a very recent convert to very modest gun control measures. He did expand Medicaid as Governor but he opposes any kind of single payer plan. He likes labor unions and supports net neutrality. Though he is a very mixed bag, he rounds out my top ten only because though he’s also a Conservadem, he is strong on the environment and climate change.
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11) Joseph Robinette Biden Jr.: (Age 76. Former Vice President of the United States, former US Senator from Delaware, former member of New Castle County Council) What can be said about Uncle Joe? Strongly pro labor, he was one of the “poorest” members of the US Senate until he resigned to become Vice President under Obama. He believes in anthropogenic climate change but doesn’t seem to have any plans to deal with it, outside remaining in the Paris Climate Agreement. Biden has been a solid ally to labor and the “little guy” throughout his career but he is hopelessly mired in a past that is gone. He seems to be hopelessly wedded to the idea that there are still Republicans who remain uncorrupted and amenable to reason.
See Sanders above for my complaints about his age but throw in the fact that he’s also a Conservadem and has the worst case of fumblemouth since Tank McNamara and he’s way down in my preferences. Undeniably qualified but not desirable*.
I think that if we nominate either Sanders or Biden we lose, strictly because of the age factor. Biden has already run in two of his own Presidential campaigns and lost badly both times and Sanders once before and I have no reason to expect that they will do any better this time. Biden might as well have held a nail gun against his own foot and pulled the trigger when he scoffed and mugged when asked about reparations. Retire, Joe and enjoy the laurels you’ve already earned.*
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12) Michael Farrand Bennet: (Age 54. US Senator from Colorado, Chair of the DSCC, former Superintendent of Public Schools) Strong on the environment and weak on gun control, Bennet was appointed to his Senate seat before winning election to it in 2010. He’s good on LGBTQ issues and was an original co-sponsor of The Equality Act. He opposes Medicare for All in favor of a more incremental approach but his fatal flaw* is his support and sponsorship of the deeply problematic Israel Anti-Boycott Act. It smacks strongly of undermining free speech and free association. All told, Bennett is a Conservadem who doesn’t have a chance in hell of attracting more liberal votes.
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13) Joseph Ambrose Sestak Jr.: (Age 67. US Representative PA-7, Vice Admiral in the US Navy), I remember supporting him when he ran for the US Senate nomination against incumbent Arlen Specter, even though I’ve never even been in Pennsylvania. Though a Conservadem, Sestak has a 100% rating from NARAL Pro Choice America and a 0% Rating from the National Right to Life Committee. He unfortunately supports offsetting new spending with cuts elsewhere but he did support the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Strong on the environment and gun control though he’s very much a Centrist when it comes to healthcare. Sestak doesn’t seem to be able to get a lot of traction but that might be because he isn’t a particularly inspiring speaker.
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14) Bill de Blasio: (Age 58. Mayor of New York City, former 3rd Public Advocate of New York City and former City Council Member) Okay, let’s just say it: Mayors should not be running for President. No matter how large, no matter how big or small the budget, the office of Mayor is by definition a local office. One should have at least statewide if not nationwide experience to run for President.
De Blasio got elected by riding a wave of hope and anti over-policing sentiments among the Democrats of New York City, I remember reading about it 1,800 miles away. I even sent the man money but he’s apparently had very mixed reviews. He’s long been an advocate for affordable housing and has created avenues for immigrants in NYC to be able to legally function and he first ran largely on repeal of the infamous “stop and frisk” policy, (which was eventually ruled unconstitutional). He has had some other famous disagreements with the NYPD and he supports a Green New Deal. I don’t especially like de Blasio but he's better than the rest of who follows on this list. I’d have hoped that he would have run for a seat in Congress before he ran for President.
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15) Andrew Yang: (Age 44.) Andrew Yang has the distinction of being on this list first among non prior office holders. While the last thing that I think we need is another unqualified populist, I like some things that Mr. Yang says. For example I love the idea of a universal basic income. He also supports Medicare for All but in my opinion, Yang approaches policies that affect health and welfare in a very Capitalist way. In other words, he’s treating human workers almost as commodities and resources. From an economic perspective it might make sense but humans are feeling creatures, not ounces of gold. He’s great on LGBTQ issues and I’ve always been a big fan of science and technology but he might have killed his campaign when his horrible answer to the question regarding climate change.
Go home, Mr. Yang. Either that or get some experience before presenting yourself as the next huge Presidential failure.
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16) Timothy John Ryan: (Age 46. Representative OH-13 and former member of the State Senate). Voting against the act that created the national Do Not Call Registry and voting for the abominable Stupak Amendment, Ryan is FAR too conservative for a District that Clinton won by 6 points and he was a member of the band that tried to overthrow Pelosi as Speaker in order to elect a more conservative Democrat. He is a dyed in the wool Centrist who is like Joe Biden in that he seems to be still pretending that the relationship between Republicans and Democrats in this country remains unchanged. Really, Mr. Ryan? After everything, you think that more of the same is the road to salvation? Believing that absurd fiction automatically disqualifies you*, sir.
Pass.
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17) John Kevin Delaney: (Age 56. Congressman MD-06) He also has similar experience to past Presidents, some very successful. He, like Ryan is FAR too conservative for a District won by Clinton, in this case by 16(!) points. A member of the New Democrat Coalition, he’s basically a DLC throwback, in spite of his expressions of support for progressive ideas. His economic policies are much more aligned with the conservative wing of the party while his social and human rights policies are very progressive. Unfortunately he too thinks that we can just shrug out collective shoulders, let bygones be bygones and move on trying to work with a fatally damaged Republican Party which is hell bent on taking us down with them. As evidenced by his being rude and annoying with his constant interruptions in a previous debate, he doesn’t strike me as a great communicator.
Double Pass.
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18) Thomas Fahr Steyer: (Age 62. Hedge Fund Manager) Good grief, what fresh hell is this? Did we really need a Democratic Donald Trump? Even though he makes all of the right noises and he legitimately seems to be a Billionaire, (unlike a certain orange someone), haven’t we proven yet how colossally stupid it is to elect a rich, entitled white guy? I mean unarguably he would be better than what’s squatting in the White House right now but that is a enormously low bar. Probably the lowest bar in the history of bars. I’m sure that you think you’re a decent fellow, sir but sorry. We’ve been there and done that.
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19) Marianne Deborah Williamson: (Age 67. Author, “Spiritual Adviser”, activist, etc.) It was a really tough choice between 19 and 20 and it comes down to the fact that Williamson genuinely seems to want to help. But all of the woo and new age crap turns me the fuck off. She’s from my own hometown of Houston, she is definitely a compassionate person and she seems to be an aging hippie who found God and wrote some books about that along with some pretty outlandish theories about health and well being. Not being a watcher of talk shows, I missed her appearances on that circuit so I didn’t know who she was until after she announced. I liked a lot of what she said but when her background became clear, she dropped the fastest and furthest on my list than anyone else to date. Sorry, you only beat my dead last choice because you have never been actively malevolent.
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20) Tulsi Gabbard: (Age 38. US Representative HI-02, former member of The Honolulu City Council, former member of the Hawaiian State House.) She is a decorated member of the Army National Guard and has done several tours overseas and in war zones and one has to respect that. But here again we have a Representative who is far too conservative for the District that she represents. HI-02 voted for Clinton by a whopping 31%! She has defended Trump, blamed “both sides” when “both sides” are clearly not to blame, gone onto the program of an avowed white Supremacist over and over and over again, sometimes with the express purpose of criticizing Democrats, (hmmm, can you think of another presidential candidate who did that?) and is the darling of right wing political websites like Brietbart.
I hope and expect that I will never be forced to vote for Tulsi Gabbard. Between her very problematic history regarding LGBTQ issues and her constantly running not just to FOX but the worst white supremacist on FOX to complain about other Democrats, no, just no. If I wanted to vote for a defender of Trump and somebody who goes on FOX “News” to bash Democrats, I’d be Republican. I know that she has her loyal fans here and I respect that but she has done nothing to win me over.
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Well that’s the roundup as of 9/15/2019. Though I strongly dislike some of the candidates, I am very pleased with the overall field. It looks much more like America than any other presidential field, ever. I’m particularly gratified that both my first and last choices are represented by women of color. These picks are solely my opinion, based on my knowledge and my own sense of priorities and are not meant to indicate that anything is immutable. My opinion is subject to change depending on relevant data. I’ve tried and I think have reasonably succeeded in not being hateful but I did very much base my judgments on, well, my subjective judgment. ALL candidates have admirable attributes, as well as negative aspects, everyone brings something unique to the table, while sharing the most important common denominator of all: wanting to replace Donald Trump as President of the United States.
I’ve been putting off creating this diary because I’ve been hoping that some of these people who stand no chance of winning would drop out. This is a very long post and my crappy typing skills make it incredibly laborious. Eventually I look forward to attrition making this task easier but for now the Democrats still have 20 official candidates in the race and I have tried to be fair. I have linked to their wikipedia page at the top of each candidate and to their campaign sites at the bottom. I encourage each of you who can afford to do so to donate to the candidate(s) of your choice.
I’ve included a poll at the bottom so people can weigh in on whether or not this should be a regular election season series. So feel free to vote and thanks for reading.
*in my own opinion of course
