Don’t get me wrong, I like Hillary Clinton and I love Bernie Sanders but either of them would be a weak nomination going into the General Election. Hillary has too much baggage, even though I don’t think she deserves it and Bernie will be a hard sell to independents and Democratic moderates.
Still, Vice President Joe Biden is waiting way too long to get into the race, if he’s going to do so. And, if he gets into the race, he needs a strong liberal and a woman to win the nomination. Perhaps it’s already too late for him to enter. Perhaps he doesn’t feel up to it and if so, it may be a bad idea. Saying all that, the perfect ticket and a winning ticket would be a Joe Biden/Elizabeth Warren ticket.
I do know as a nation, we have way too much to lose no matter who wins the Republican nomination. The top candidate, Donald Trump is the worse of them all but the rest of them aren’t much better. Governor John Kasich of Ohio is probably the best of the lot and would do the less damage if he managed to win but that’s not likely from current projections. Even he would be too conservative for a nation ready to move forward toward a more progressive future.
A nightmare scenario would that Donald Trump manages to get the Republican nomination and Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination, and then, all hell breaks loose and Hillary ends up facing charges related to her email scandal. They may be only trumped (no pun intended) up charges but enough to sway many independents not to vote for her and enough Democrats to sit out the 2016 election, to put the presidency in the hands of The Donald. (Shiver at the thought!)
I know that many just cannot see that happening but then, many of us didn’t see Trump getting this far in the Republican nomination race. We don’t need any surprise wins by Donald Trump. If somehow he managed to get into the White House, we may think the country is divided now but he will show us all that it can go a lot further. Undocumented Hispanics face being treated like the Jews were during the Holocaust, and believe me; the right-wing Tea Party does not know how to separate undocumented Hispanics from real Hispanic American citizens, just as many right-wingers can’t separate moderate Muslims from Islamic terrorist.
Fear will rule, no matter what Republican candidate manages to get the nomination because it is the most important tool in the Republican Party’s toolshed for staying viable in a nation that is growing more progressive as time goes by even as the GOP insist on holding onto the same old ideology and platform that has sustained it for the last 30 years. Most certainly, special interests that make their profit by America being in a perpetual war, will use their influence to get us into a war with Iran, even if the rest of Western Civilization is against it.
President Obama has taken this nation in the right direction and under his leadership – no matter how much Republicans try to show otherwise – has recovered us from a financial meltdown and improved our standing in the world. He has done this against great opposition, ignorance and bigotry coming from the right. As far as I’m concerned, his legacy will be great. Republicans are always quick to remind us how great Ronald Reagan was – not in my book – but Reagan’s legacy will be dimmed by the legacy of our first African-American president, as time will tell. Trump may claim he’s going to be great – over and over again by the way – but then, Obama already is a great president.
We cannot have all that Obama has accomplished since entering the White House torn down by the destructiveness of the GOP. Its legislative members have had nothing to offer during the last several years in helping this nation grow and become a better country, only criticism and obstruction toward the hard work of the current president and the Democratic lawmakers who have worked diligently with him to improve this nation’s economy, the equality of its citizens and its standing in the world.
I pray that Joe Biden will step up to the plate and take another run for the nomination to be president. This very well could be his moment. I know right now he still suffers from the loss of his son Beau and he has needed time to heal, but the nation needs him more than ever to assure the Democratic Party its best candidate possible. Perhaps either Hillary or even Bernie will win the nomination after all and if that is so, then at least if Joe enters the race, we know we as a party had a choice to make.
Along with Joe Biden, we also need a strong populist who has gained a lot of respect from progressives because of the importance that economic equality is for this particular presidential race. There is no better person, outside of Bernie Sanders, than Elizabeth Warren to take up that mantle as a running mate.
Average working Americans, like myself, deserve a raise as we have stood by and watched as Wall Street has made record profits. We also need financial protection for our entitlement programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, from deep cuts made by Republican lawmakers bent on cutting even more taxes for the wealthy and for Wall Street bankers. Senator Warren’s strong stand on those issues is a plus for any ticket for the Democratic nomination, even on another ticket besides Biden.
So Joe, we need you, and if she’s willing, bring Elizabeth along with you. Let’s hold onto the White House for yet another term and build on what Obama has gone through the fiery fires of Republican opposition to gain for us; economic and national security and equality for all.