Disappointing Democrats

With over 20 professed candidates for president, it is dismaying that the Democratic Party does not seem able to come up with a convincing opponent to Donald Trump. It should be so easy for a candidate to set themself up as a superior alternative, but almost every liberal voter I know is currently in a state of despair. That’s why my wife and I have jumped on the Mike Bloomberg bandwagon. Not only would he be a very good president, but at the moment he is our last, best hope to unite the opposition to Trump.

What has made me sick since the first Democratic debate is the way the candidates have spent their time attacking each other, rather than Trump. Who cares whose health plan is better; the point should be that they all have health care plans, while Trump doesn’t and is trying to destroy the popular plan currently in place. Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer have been the best at holding fire against other Democrats and speaking to the bigger picture, but they have largely been marginalized. Sanders, Warren, Biden, Buttigieg and even Klobuchar act like the prize is the Democratic nomination, when that means nothing – just ask Hilary Clinton. They should all be running, from the get-go, against Trump. They should all aim their attacks at the president and let the voters decide who will do the best job against him in the general election.

This is another reason to applaud Bloomberg. He is attacking Trump in his ads, not Sanders or Biden. My worries about his campaign, however, are two-fold. One, I fear the institutional Democratic Party will not abide giving the nomination to an outsider. I don’t know who this institutional party is or how effective they will be, but it’s generally felt that they were largely responsible for Hilary’s nomination. On the other hand, I was sure the institutional Republican party would reject Trump in 2016, and that couldn’t have been more wrong.

Second, I worry that the large wahoo element of the American electorate will not feel comfortable with the obviously intelligent and successful, but not very relatable, Bloomberg. They chose the obviously less competent George W. over Gore and Kerry because he was one of them, not a snooty Ivy Leaguer. That he is Jewish probably won’t help in some quarters, either. I am hoping that with his extraordinary organization and resources Bloomberg has figured out exactly which states he needs to win, and he sees a path to victory in those states. At this point it seems like a long shot, but it’s at least a reason to hope and to follow the polls and primary results for the next two months.

My earlier prediction of a Biden-Kamala Harris ticket is still the one I’d bet on. It’s the more conventional choice and one that I think, hope, has a chance of winning as one that all the non-Trumpers could coalesce around. But Bloomberg would be a better president.

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