this is now the third round of primary battles I have been through here at Daily Kos, having registered in December of 2003 and posted my first diary in January of the following year.
In that cycle I was a Dean man, having learned about this place while volunteering for Dean in Laconia NH over Thanksgiving weekend 2003.
In 2008 my first two choices, Russ Feingold and Al Gore, did not run. I supported my acquaintance Tom Vilsack, but he pulled out early. Then I supported John Edwards because (a) he was speaking about poverty, and (b) of the candidates in the race he was the one making the most sense on education. When I finally came around to supporting Obama, my FIFTH choice that cycle, I posted this diary, which actually by its title scared a number of people.
So what do I have to contribute to the discussion now?
I am not supporting anyone. In fact, the biggest thing on my plate, now that (a) the house survived the tree falling on it, and (b) that our elderly cat LionEl may be deaf and with cataracts and having survived a cat stroke, nevertheless he seems likely to stay with us a bit longer, is attempting to find a teaching job for the Fall (nothing current, but a couple of possibilities working). And of course I have 5 more days of teaching my kids at the Center for Talented Youth at Dickinson College.
In 2007 at Netroots Nation I went to the breakout session with Clinton. I heard both her and Obama at the 2008 Virginia Jeff-Jack Dinner. I went to a Don Beyer event with Sanders about a month ago.
I will vote for either in the general election.
Unlike kos, I can see a path for Bernie to the nomination, and it does not require a Clinton scandal. But it requires him to win Iowa. If he does that, he will win NH, and then all bets are off. If not, then the fact he could still win NH will be discounted.
I do not underestimate Hillary. Morever, I actually think that, regardless of how she might campaign to get the nomination, as President she might well be more progressive than Obama.
Please keep readingh.
There are legitimate economic reasons not to raise a NATIONAL minimum wage to $15/hour. At $10/hour it will create more jobs than it will lose. In current economics, the crossover point is aroundd $11.50/hour. At $15/hour it is NATIONALLY counterproductive.
That said, I think the solution is not to have a NATIONAL minimum wage, but rather one tied to the different areas. The Federal government already does this with the adjustment for federal pay, with per diems for federal employees, with some Government transfers flr those in poverty. Realistically it should do so for all federal benefits, including BTW Social Security and Medicare. The costs simply vary greatly by region. The house we own in Arlington, with a market value 5X what we paid for it 31 years ago, would be worth only 40% of what it is where it is in Omaha or Caspar Wyoming. I think the American people could grasp that.
Further, Hillary so far is the only candidate I have ever heard note as she did in 2008 that perhaps there should be a relationship between minimum wage and say Congressional pay. Here I argue that if Congress raises its pay, or that of federal employees, it should raise the minimum wage by the same amount.
I have been around politics in some way or another for more than half a century. My mother decided to be active in the Republican party in Mamaroneck NY because the Republican primary was the entire game. She never voted a straight ticket in her life, even if she voted for all the candidates of the same party (which in the privacy of the voting booth would have been all Democrats - she had worked in the OPA with Nixon and could not stand him, and once told me that if Kennedy as a Catholic could not get elected in 1960 what hope would there ever be for a Jew?).
Success politicians are rarely purists, because politics, if it is going to be effective, is the art of the possible, not the expression of theological truths.
I have volunteered for politicians with whom I disagreed on some important issues, most notably Jim Webb when he ran for the US Senate in 2006, but also Chap Peterson in VA when he ran for the Virginia State Senate, Don Beyer in the primary to replace Jim Moran as my Congressman, Howard Dean in 2004, Michael Dukakis in 1988, Bill Clinton in 1992, Fritz Hollings in 1984. I did so because I believe in their basic integrity,and because they were far better than the alternative.
In many things, even though I am in many ways also an idealist, I recognize that the perfect is often a very destructive enemy of the good.
I see arguments for Sanders.
I see arguments for Clinton.
I actually think either one would beat any Republican in the electoral college. There is no doubt Hillary would do so, whether or not Trump runs 3rd party (that is, if he does not manage to get the Republican nomination, which is not something which at this point I am prepared to rule out). But I actually think should Bernie upset Hillary to get the nomination,even though then almost all the Wall Street Money supporting Hillary would flow to his Republican opponent, there would actually be a swell of support for Bernie, precisely because he is enough unlike traditional politicians despite his long career in various elective offices, and because most people would believe him to be basically honest unlike what they think of most politicians, that he would outperform significantly his current general election poll numbers.
Yes, I know some criticize Bernie for coming across as angry. But the American people are angry, and he speaks to their anger.
Hillary recognizes this. Her recent attacks on Bush illustrate that understanding.
So let me cycle back - there have been too many pie fights here in the primaries for the 2004 and 2008 nominations.
That does little to advance the overall goal of keeping the presidency away from the Rethuglican party. And yes, I was just nasty in my writing, which is not my normal style.
Right now the contest in the Republican party is how far crazy right they can go. By contrast, the contest on our side is how far left to go. American politics is not, despite many pundits, tilted to the right. If anything it is tilted towards populism.
There are two kinds of populism. One gives rise to the nativist and at times hateful rhetoric we are seeing on the other side.
The other, which includes some elements of the Tea Party, is anti-elistist.
That is the opportunity for the Democrats this cycle, if we do not eat our young in primary battles.
I titled this "not that it matters to anyone but" for a reason.
I do not expect this to receive a positive response from the community.
That is never why I post here.
I strongly believe that we can vigorously advocate for our champion without demeaning the Democratic primary opposition.
I am tire of the attempt to "gotcha" the opponent of one's champion.
I remind people that the first person to raise Willie Horton, without name in the 1988 (this is corrected from 1998, a typo) cycle, was Al Gore. Ponder that for a moment, and then consider the impact of what you write and post here.
Yes, I know that oppo will find out "everything" and supposedly it is far better to "vet" things in the primary cycle so that we do not wind up with a "fatally flawed" candidate.
Trust me, that is NOT what the American people want.
On New Year's eve in 1975 I predicted that Jimmy Carter would become president, at a time when he was at about 3% in the polls in Iowa. He was telling the American people that he would never lie to them, and in the aftermath of Watergate that resonated.
What resonates with the American people now is that they are getting screwed, hosed, cheated... the candidates who can with CREDIBILITY speak to than will find support that does not show up in ordinary polling, nor fit the thinking of the punditocracy.
Despite barriers to voting, people are angry enough that they will turn out for the candidate(s) they think will address the issues that matter to them.
So everyone take a deep breath.
Remember that in your advocacy do not lose site of the long term goal.
Do not be the American officer in Vietnam who said that in order to save the village we had to destroy it.
Peace.