I have read recently that he is so business friendly that he is pro-fracking. That takes him off my list.
Hickenlooper won me over after a time as my state's governor, but certainly not with his brilliance as a communicator. His eloquence rarely captivates. But yes, "on paper" he seems great - and he and John Kasich would seem to be a great ticket in 2020. So with high hopes, I went to see Kasich speak at Colorado College last week and likewise, he doesn't wow even the friendliest of audiences. So I'm completely back to square one. Certainly, there MUST BE some great candidates somewhere out there that we are somehow overlooking??
I am a Democrat, and I completely agree with Kevin's comments. Hickenlooper has been an excellent governor. He is educated, intelligent and is a problem-solver. Not a flashy guy, but extremely competent and definitely with a "don't do anything stupid" kind of approach. It would be a huge relief to have him as president. Everyone might not agree with everything he does, but you can trust that he will consider the impact of what he does on the people he serves, a concept that seems to have been lost in recent times.
1
Your last sentence, absolutely said it all . . .
But purposely or not, he is actually dragging voters of all stripe out of bed on a certain Tuesday morning, and to the polls. I guess what we all need to light our fire is a 'common enemy', even if it is our present President.
Having read the comments here this morning, and the discussion of how a Democratic candidate can defeat Trump, not once have I read a comment that doesn't put Trump running again in 2020. We haven't gotten the Mueller Report yet, and right now Trump is appearing disgruntled and angry (to put it mildly) because of the mid-terms. I can see him blaming everyone, and everything in sight for treating him so badly, and not running again. Or his rage might cause him to stroke out. Who knows?
So we might want to keep in mind, that in 2020 it is possible the Democrats might be running against Pence, Cruz, or anyone of their gang. Maybe Kasich again.
As a Denver resident, I have suffered under Hick's non-leadership for over a decade.
1. When I saw the headline for this article, I knew it had to do with his Ivy League connections and not any real accomplishment as mayor of Denver or governor of Colorado (note: he opposed legalization of marijuana, can any non-Coloradan point to any signature achievement for the man?). In both roles he served as figure head only (see ribbon cutting ceremonies), not a chief executive.
2. "Fiscally conservative"? He has had no real role in city or state budgets given state constitutional constrictions. Colorado ranks #43 in funding education right alongside Appalachian states. Despite economic boom, we commuters are left to ponder "Colorado or the Congo?"
3. Here is how Dem "moderates" have fared recently:
a. 2016 - Hillary Clinton: lost to Donald Trump
b. 2018 - Claire McCaskill (MO senator): lost to Donald Trump
c. 2018 - Heidi Heitkamp (ND senator): lost to Donald Trump
d. 2018 - Phil Bredesen (TN for senate): lost to Donald Trump
4
The term "pro-business" should be banned from our political vernacular. If this is supposed to mean anti-regulation, then let's call a spade a spade. If "pro-business" means pro-jobs then it's meaningless as every candidate regardless of their political stripes is pro-jobs. I didn't really glean much from the article about what specifically make's Hickenlooper a centrist in this day and age other declaring himself that. One could just as easily consider Ronald Reagan a centrist in this day and age as well.
90
@JeffB Yes, nothing could be more pro-business (except for the health insurance industry) than universal healthcare, but no politician ever frames it that way.
17
Now that the super delegates are gone, the Dems have a better chance of finding someone with wide appeal. I think Beto is the one. After him, I don't know. As for me, I will vote for whoever the Dem is.
1
Maybe you should be worried about your own party. Democrats need to stay away from "centrists" and actually have an identity, centrism by Democrats is part of how we got where we are now (more of that is about the embrace of racial oppression by the GOP)
2
Hickenlooper is a fish of a different kettle,for sure. I am a Republican (not a Trump supporter though) and I voted for Hickenlooper twice. I was impressed with his ability to work with everyone. He holds all the socially liberal stands that Democrats generally like, believes in climate change and protecting the environment, but he tries to constructively engage with the business community to make sure policies are aligned correctly so that both the employer and employees all benefit. My view is he sort of follows the Obama don't do anything stupid school of thought. He came late to the political game after a career in geology and as an entrepreneur (restaurants,bars,some real estate), so he isn't running for any office to line his pockets or doesn't have an ego that needs to be stroked.To that end, I have run into people that worked for him and more than have a few have told me he gets upset if someone calls him Governor in a social setting after work.He corrects them that outside of work, please address him as John.Has anyone heard that often out of a politicians mouth. In my view,the down side that may knock him out in a Democratic primary, unlike NYC politicians as far as I know he hasn't pandered to Public Employees Unions for their support and passed the bill on to the tax payer. That would likely choke of any AFSCME support and dollars. IMO this guy is very competent and if he doesn't get the top spot, someone should pick him as a VP.
9
@Kevin I agree with everything you said.
@Kevin
On paper, Hickenlooper and Ohio’s U.S. Senator Brown are solid potential candidates with differing economic focuses. However, Trump is not a professional politician. He is a celebrity. He gets away with things most professionals in any field cannot get away with. I see Trump overwhelming these fine, intelligent, competent, plain vanilla, traditional politicians. This is why I favor exciting new, progressive stars, such as Kamala Harris and Beto O’Rourke, to take on Trump in 2020.
4
@Howard Gregory Assuming Trump doesn't get impeached and wants to run again, he has the Roy Cohn taught skills to demonize any of the newer high profile progressives with the exception of maybe Tulsi Gabbard, who can call him out on his heel spur deferments with the credibility of having served in a combat zone. Anyone else will likely get the Jeb Bush treatment or worse and he would just ridicule them in any debates.If Kamala Harris is the nominee, she will not only not get the crossover votes from Republicans and Independents that Obama received, I would suspect she would draw a lot less enthusiasm than Hillary did. Beto would likely draw more enthusiasm from voters of all persuasions, but he needs to hang around until 2024. Running before then and having a likely loss would put him in Marco Rubio level or irrelevance,so hopefully he will be patient and wait. If I was to propose a dream team to send Trump packing and make sure Pence is never heard from again, it would be Tulsi Gabbard and John Hickenlooper, and it wouldn't even matter in what order
I would take an actual rock over trump any hour of any day. If Hickenlooper wants to run, more power to him.
2
He and John Doe are very good friends. I rest my case.
To take down Trump, you need a true progressive. Someone who is unashamed --- as unashamed as Trump --- to speak his/her mind.
We are America. We are the land of the free and home of the brave where anything is possible. A progressive who can speak unabashedly to how they will aim America to new heights is what we need. Not someone who is going to tell us how we can boringly keep some moderate path that doesn't solve fundamental problems. We need someone who is going to take it straight to the establishment Wall Street bankers. Enough with the super wealthy who control every lever of power, both Republican and Democratic.
We need an eloquent, straight-talking, unabashed Progressive.
Who is ready to step up, without sticking their finger in the wind?
1
Actually, Jenny - the moderate wooze that has me all giddy is still-morphing make-up of our House of Latter-day Lords...
Am cheering for Espy and Nelson, simply to return to 51-49 – with the Flake Flake gone, Murkowski able to vote her conscience, and Collins to make another show of pretending to try...
Never had much use for Susan Rice – but as soon as the address for her Maine campaign office is available, will send some support...
There’re a lot of decent things about Kavanaugh – but same could be said for many of the segregationist SCOTUS judges of (dark) days past...
Having said that, am awaiting his seminal thoughts – as well as those of his clerks...
.....
I don’t think of the right to choose or LGBTQ rights in terms of tolerance – but as affirmative support of some of the most profound tragedies and triumphs, respectively, of the human condition...
Hickenlooper is like Beto in Texas- he actually likes people and believes in America- imagine that.
2
The Democratic Party will not nominate an old white guy. Currently in identity politics, that’s the most toxic category.
1
When you say moderate democrat, you mean a person who can be bought by corporate interests and who will work to drive the slaves just as hard as the fascist GOP. The only difference between a moderate democrat and a republican is that the moderate democrat won't whip you harder just because your gay. Better to have four more years of Trump and possibly complete failure of the economy. At least then perhaps a party will arise that represents the people over the wealthy and corporate interests.
1
if you stand for nothing what will you fall for
2
This piece would have worked back in the nineties. I signed up for and supported Bill Clinton's 'Third Way' because it was the only way to get a Democrat of any kind in the White House. No longer. If anything the recent midterms show clearly that the public wants a clear choice, not an echo.
No more RepubliCON Lite. We tried it their way and got nothing in return. The writers reference to President Obama's attempt to take a right wing health care idea to the national level shows that trying to placate the oligarch's on the right leads nowhere. You stick out your hand in friendship and all you get for your trouble is a bloody stump in return.
We are done with nice guys like Gov. Hikenlooper. The country wants an unabashed Liberal/Progressive program that is implemented not just talked about. The New Deal brought up to 21st century realities.
You won't get there by trying to placate people with no honor or ethics. No more Reagan/Trump lies. No more Nazis/dog whistles. No more tiered old white boy nonsense. Let's get the country moving again.
Sorry Governor. Your plan to go to the center will not have my support. Much better that center come to us. Keep resisting.
2
You don't get more 'centrist' and 'moderate' than Hillary Clinton. So no, America is not going to swoon over some moderate Democratic candidate 4 years later. The right is going to brand the Democratic candidate as a socialist/communist regardless. The left is going to view their moderation as a lack of will to do anything positive for working Americans, and find something else to do instead of standing in 4 to 10 hour Republican Jim Crow/Poll Tax lines.
How about the Democratic coastal states start breaking from the traditional norms, maybe it's time for DC, and PR statehood, maybe it's time to break up California, and NYC in to different states each with populations multiple times larger than MT, and WY. Let's start playing to win, instead of convincing racists idiots your ideas are better than a second rate reality TV personality.
1
This mini profile is too light on content to be so filled with adoration. Clearly Jennifer Finney Boylan has a big hearted agenda that has room for helping an old friend but these days, when human rights are under attack, journalists are being murdered, and children are kept in cages, any candidate who proudly claims of being 'apartisan' must have at least one foot in the muddy river.
4
I'd say Hickenlooper doesn't have a snowball's chance in Hell of even getting through the primaries, but then again, isn't that what everyone said about Trump?
Regardless, the 'center' can't & won't hold us together anymore. Unfortunately, the unprecedented damage that Trump has done to this country in such a short period of time has rendered the viability of a warm and fuzzy 'nostalgia' candidate for president unthinkable as well as unworkable.
Hickenlooper should take his potential candidacy as far as he possibly can and I wish him nothing but the best. Yet we still need more than that.
1
"But now President Trump was gone, and nothing barred the way."
A description of a day in a Manhattan street, yes, but what a wonderful metaphor for 2020 and beyond!
We may always have extremists but I cannot think of a better day than the first of those following the departure of the rapacious man who parlayed disinformation into the Executive Office.
3
As someone who moved to NYC 3 years ago from Colorado, let me briefly summarize for my fellow residents of NY State the politician John Hickenlooper.
He’s 99% less shady than Cuomo, (what you see is what you get) but he’s also 100% the most pro-fracking oil and gas man that ever had a (D) by his name.
Hickenlooper supported multiple lawsuits against any municipality that banned fracking as Governor of Colorado. Cuomo is a lot of things, but he certainly made sure to keep us safe from ingesting fracking fluid and pollutants in our drinking water. Hickenlooper in Colorado? Not so much. He’s a gas man, plain and simple.
4
@William R
You are completely misinformed. Fracking does not contaminat drinking water. Look at the science. Also drinking water in Colorado is 90% surface water not groundwater.
1
Who actually cares for worker rights, and their upward mobility?
Many love chatting and writing - sporadically - about the ever-widening income gap.
The income gap is eating our democracy ----- no?
In actuality, its the domestic elephant in the room.
2
Mr. Hickenlooper sounds like a lovely man, but a social liberal and a fiscal conservative may be "centrist" these days, but it's too easy. Being a social liberal is just a matter of attitude whereas being a fiscal liberal (if there is such an animal; no-one likes to spend money or issue taxes that are unnecessary) requires taking out your wallet.
But if you believe, as I do, that without economic justice there is no justice, then this hybrid centrist doesn't do the trick. We need tax money for schools, services, etc. that help give a leg up to those who need it. I'm holding out for a real liberal.
2
"Quality of life starts with a good job."
What is a "good" job?
Is working in an Amazon warehouse a good job?
Does a coal miner have a good job?
Does a good job require that workers have more say in the workplace than our current system provides?
Does a "good" job provide good health insurance and a decent retirement?
A very simple statement, tossed off. But full of a lot of questions.
3
Climate change is our no. 1 issue.I didn't see any reference to it from this man. In two years, this issue will be even more important. We have to look to the future.
4
I hope he runs for president. Even if he doesn't get the nomination he would be a great vice president. Sensible like Harry Truman, intelligent, lover of life. I would feel very confident with someone like this as president or vice president.
5
I really like my former mayor.
I really like my current governor (until January).
But, John is too old.
The Democrats need to go with Xers. Time for the Boomers and Oldsters to leave the stage.
2
@davebarnes I completely agree. No more boomers!
All year I have heard moderate Democrats singing the praises of Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper and tapping him as our best hope to end the nightmare known as the Donald Trump Presidency based largely on his political moderation and geography.
So, I read the attached opinion piece and I went on YouTube to view an interview in an effort to determine if these Democrats who tout Hickenlooper’s chances at unseating Trump are accurate in their assessment. I attach the interview I reviewed.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CHd-9XBhBAM
With all due respect to well-meaning Democrats, I do not yet see a potential candidate who could beat Donald Trump. Hickenlooper is a nice, bright, competent, moderate, pragmatic state chief executive who hails from a purple Western state that has already gone blue in the past few presidential election cycles.
He is boring, nonconfrontational, and pleasant. He lacks passion for an issue that could capture the imagination of the national electorate. I did not see a great communicator. I did not see a person who is either strong or flexible enough to deal with Trump’s bombastic personality.
Hickenlooper may change my mind later. But the politician I saw would not go very far in the primary process. And if he did win the nomination, he would be defeated by Trump.
10
NO thank you to Governor Frackenlooper. We do NOT need another pro-business, pro-oil and gas "moderate". Hick was a decent mayor in Denver, but since first running for governor he has never once given a straight answer to any question that might mean he'd be on record as standing for something. He's Mr. Weasel Words to evade being pinned down on anything - because he wants to run for president. Give me a Beto any day of the week, someone who has beliefs and will stand up for them, not someone who focus-groups his answers and pretends to be so centrist he doesn't know his views!
14
I've written in these comments boxes before about Hickenlooper's potential as a Presidential candidate, as well as Amy Klobuchar's with her Minnesota nice and aisle-crossing.
I still think, though, that turnout--and it all hinges on turnout--is still very tribal, and that is why a person of color would need to be on the ticket--Kamala Harris (though I have reservations about some of her behavior as California Attorney General), Mazie Hirono, maybe even an Eric Holder.
The jackpot right now would probably be a Latinx woman with multilevel government experience. (Anyone talk to Catherine Cortez Masto yet?)
2
@Glenn Ribotsky
Eventually, America is going to have several governors, senators, and presidents of Latino-American origin from both major political parties. However, I have noticed a curious lack of support for solid Latino-American candidates in races that require statewide support. I am still surprised that Marco Rubio fared so poorly in the 2016 Republican presidential primary process. I am also surprised that Ted Cruz could not put away Donald Trump after the field was cleared. Latinos are members of a diverse ethnic group with a complicated history. I think they are suffering from a unique form of ethnic discrimination that continues to retard the electoral progress of their political candidates.
Thoughtful - well read -inquisitive - honest -competent -capable of objective analysis - sensitive -respectful of science and with positive core values and emotional equilibrium- Would be like going from Caligula to Pericles!
They love him in Colorado where's he's been a great Guv!
The trumpanzee conservatives won't trust or understand him and the left won't buy in BUT he just might build a coaltion of mainstream dems and independents and almost human conservatives?
He could become a uniter!
5
I'm glad you didn't leave seeing Hickenlooper with the same sense of wonder you'd had after meeting Obama. That means you didn't fall for the hustle. It's a subtle hustle, but like the Clintons, with Obama you heard a lot of dreamy progressive talk and then saw a lot of Rockefeller Republican, Reagan Restoration cementing walk. And let's not fall for the "centrist" seduction again.
As for Hickenlooper, he's got a pretty strong track record of being pro-fracking. I think we've had our fill of BigOil running the country. It's been over a century now. So count me a skeptic. Klobuchar-Bullock is my ticket now. In whatever order.
6
@Rocky Bullock? Who is Bullock?
A presidential candidate running for the Democratic nomination must be a member of the party, accept the Democratic nomination and “run and serve” as a member.
According to the rules, YES John Hickenlooper can enter the race.
1
My dream team. Kirsten Gillibrand and Beto O'Rourke.
I do like Hickenlooper as well.
2
I was going to make another long post about the hypocrisy and inefficacy of "centrism" in regards to the democratic party. But realistically, a dorky name like Hickenlooper has no chance of getting through a presidential election. You can stop right there.
2
Hickenlooper governs a bubble state. Colorado is a Rocky Mountain High, not nearly as agitated or distressed as the rest of the nation. It's a distillation of California vice and Texas virtue. Trump got 44% of the vote; Hillary won 48%. Obama got 54% and 51%.
Colorado was from 1920 to 2004 a stolid Republican state. Politically, it is a head severed from the body of the American experience.
Colorado was once in the tight grip of the Koch-like Coors clan, which bankrolled the Heritage Foundation and Ur-Republicans like Ann Gorsuch, Neil's mother, who resigned as head of Reagan's EPA after she was cited by Congress for contempt.
Moderate here means something different than the rest of the country. It means business first. Like Ann Gorsuch who founded the precursor Tea Party known as "The Crazies" when she was in Congress, pushing low taxes and deregulation because business could be trusted to do the right thing.
Democrats here are mostly wholesale Republicans who retail as Democrats. They are pro-business because -- despite the Rocky Mountain vistas -- the state flower, bird and persona are the same creature: business.
Hickenlooper is cut from the same bolt of denim as Gorsuch. Green is corporate cash as much as it is environment. They govern from their reality, not the reality of struggling Americans.
They share Trump's hubris and assume Muhammad's imperative: America comes to them, they don't come to America.
Maybe Interior Secretary but not President.
12
@Yuri Asian - I love your cogent analysis, but I do have one quibble: As a pro-fracking former oil-and-gas guy, the only way Hickenlooper is Interior Secretary is as a token Democrat in a Republican administration. Is that really what you want? Be careful what you wish for!
First off, I'm a Coloradoan and a centrist Democrat. I loved Hick as mayor of Denver, and I love him as governor. So if I'm not Hick's prime demographic, then I don't know who is. But believe me when I tell you, Hick is NOT the guy to take on Trump in 2020. Remember, this was a guy who LOST to Tim Kaine in the sweepstakes to be Hillary's running mate back when that still looked like a sure thing, and Tim Kaine was a VERY nice guy too. My take, it will take someone - whether Moderate or Progressive - with more fire in the belly than Hick has to successfully unseat a sitting POTUS who tends to make mincemeat out of nice guys. Hick should swallow his mild-mannered ego and run against Cory Gardner in the 2020 race for U.S. Senator from Colorado. He'd win in a landslide, and in the process, he'd do more good for the country contributing to re-taking the Senate from GOP control than he ever would as a presidential contender who ultimately ends up as an also-ran. Just one moderate Colorado Democrat's opinion: Ignore it at your peril, Governor.
30
No no no. Another moderate dem who exudes no charisma and isn't tough is the last thing the dems need. Here's my idea for 2020. Beto and Stacy (if she actually loses). And then Beto and Andrew (Gillum not Cuomo). All three of these dems are charismatic, smart and most importantly seasoned as to how to take on Trumpian candidates. They've all been through the fire and came close to winning. They maintained their political discipline. Running nationally would be different than running in their respective states. Their charisma would make it possible to have a huge ground game all over the country. And since they're not pols who've been around since the dinosaurs, they'd have a great chance to win. Jeez, they almost won in red states. And they're not elitist dems who would ignore the middle of the country
19
He sounds like a great candidate. If he can win a purple state like Colorado, he has a chance of winning it all. We are not going to beat Trump with a far-left progressive. He would eat them up. My top goal is to defeat Trump, and I believe that will take moderation on the part of Dems, as hard as that will be for some to believe or agree with. Moderation worked in several House and Senate races this year. It's a winning formula.
5
@A Realist Colorado just turned blue during this last election. A far left progressive replaced the moderate in what used to be called the "hate state". You can't really use Colorado (which Bernie won) from two election cycles ago as an example because it's a very different place now.
7
Gee, who would have ever guessed that this op ed page -- sworn brother to the Democratic party establishment -- would throw in its lot with yet another "pro-business" centrist, and herald the alliance as vision and moral courage.
Is it not enough to point out that "you people", the comfortable ones -- the socially liberal Republicans dining out on privilege and tenure -- had your chance, in the person of Obama and Clinton? And failed the country so spectacularly, that it's a wonder you still expect people to listen? Or have the temerity to speak aloud?
7
@jrd Gee - If Clinton or Obama had presided over a major recession, or started a war that led to the needless deaths of thousands of US troops, would you like them then?
7
Normally I don't read further after seeing centrism associated with moderation in the title of a piece.
Is Hickenlooper in favor of doing away with competition in drug prices (no negotiation of prices for medicare, no drug importation from Canada, etc.). This corporate socialism is what we call "centrism" and "moderation" in America today.
No thanks. I'm hoping to make America great again with the competitive capitalist model espoused by Beto, Cortez and others, thanks.
19
@Excellency after 72 years I have pretty much determined that 'the competitive capitalist model' is destroying all the best parts of our society.
My journey has been one where I have seen that all my male friends that have won this game have pretty much turned into people I would not want to have marry my daughter or my son or to be a member of my family.
Winners I do not personally know include Fred Trump !
In my experience your model tends to produce selfish, vain and narrow men that seem oblivious to the reality of the life of most of our fellow citizens.
I doubt that our nation has the depth to elect someone like Hickenlooper but my hopes are high.
As to Beto - if you cannot knock off an awful person like Cruz I do not want you fighting for my family.
Enough of the big personality and more of the big mind and big heart please.
3
@Bill Wilson For Texas Beto did a great job against Cruz. After listening and watching Beto from afar, I'm fairly convinced he does have a "big mind and big heart". And he certainly has charisma.
What is the difference between a Democratic Centrist and a Democratic Socialist?
Colorado has been trying to get a state version of universal healthcare.
Is the difference merely they both believe in fixing healthcare with some kind of universal plan but the Socialist emphasizes it while the Centrist does not?
@Independent How about neither? These old categories are odious. How about a transcendant social democrat who can bring people together, who can refrain from divisiveness and calumny, who can negotiate and cooperate and cajole Congress effectively? Who can bend the arc of history, but in a more pro-active way rather than passive, airy rhetoric, and lead while letting people lead.
4
We need moderate Democrats like another hole in the head. It was the Democrats moderation in the face of 40 years of increasingly neo fascist behavior by Republican criminals that got us into the mess we are in today. We need Democrats who unapologetically believe in a Progressive agenda and are willing to fight for it, and to OPPOSE tooth and nail the Koch Brothers and their Republican stooges 40 year old program of reducing Americans to serfs. We need Democrats who in no uncertain terms are willing to go after business criminals, polluters, Republican liars, thieves and traitors and put them in JAIL where they have all long belonged. And if Democrats won't do it, be warned: we will find or form a political party that will.
23
Moderation? Moderation? Does anybody think that the Republican base, which will still be there. is going to be pining for moderation? The reason we have Trump is the Republican base. If he is disgraced or impeached does anyone really think that the base will repent? Unfortunately, Gov. Hickenlooper will simply be chum for the sharks circling the base. The blood lust the base will feel, will make moderation impossible.
8
Right now I propose a Hickenlooper - Merkley ticket for 2020. Democrats, of course. Two good guys, quiet and bright.
I almost feel selfish, hoping such an ordeal for them.
I'm sure he's a nice guy. I'm sure many of his policies are too free market for me. He's a Dem and he's not Trump. I'd vote for him in a heartbeat.
3
What a "great" idea. Another "moderate," pro-corporate, pro-establishment, charisma-free DNC dreamboat. Just like Mondale, Dukakis, Kerry, Gore, Clinton II...
YOU STILL DON'T GET IT?!
Then go ahead. Nominate another GOP-Lite technocrat. Trump will eat him alive, and you'll have thrown away an entire generation who will, justifiably, give up on the Democratic party.
20
@Kit
Makes you want to scream from the mountaintops, doesn't it ? - Oh wait !
We are on the cusp of truly transforming the Democratic party (and as an extension the country - world) by systematically, forcefully, and unequivocally demanding true Progressive policies, along with human rights for all.
No going back now ...
12
@FunkyIrishman
I don't know what it's going to take, Irish, to wake these so called "centrists" up. When we run GOP-Lite, corporatist DINOs, we lose. When we run candidates with leadership qualities and big ideas that will address real world, middle class concerns, and who aren't just parroting the corporate "moderation" line, we win.
In my darkest moments, I suspect that the "New Democrat" wing doesn't really care if they win; that it really doesn't matter if they get anything done so long as they don't offend the sort of people who pay six-figure speakers' fees, and who hand out fat PAC checks.
And those darkest moments are coming closer and closer together.
4
@Kit the only box unchecked by Obama is charisma-free, is it really what matters ?
" . . . . .people on both sides of the street spontaneously raised their arms and flipped our chief executive the bird."
How many past Presidents can say that their own citizens flipped them? Maybe a few; maybe those who started an unwanted war, or one who made an unpopular decision. And maybe only on a few occasions. But Trump is unique in that he will almost alway be flipped (even in red states), which is why he rarely steps outside his many campaign like events where he bathes in the adulaitions of his rabid base.
Bottom line: he is not the President of the USA, he is the leader of a ratpack.
19
You say he was an English major who became inspired by a geology course he took during his final semester.
"After graduation, he returned for an extra year as a special student."
According to his bio on Ballotpedia.org, he received his BA in 1974 and his MA in 1980, also from Weslyan. So he may have returned for as many as six extra years.
1
I just don't know who could handle Trump. Hickenlooper is dry, pragmatic and works within the political framework. Men in general are so threatened by Warren, Harris or Gillibrand that they will never win. The only response to 45 is silence or name calling. He traps people. He has crushed many opponents. Look how weak JEB looked. How and who can spring his trap so it snaps back at him? We need a Churchill, Roosevelt, LBJ type. Someone who can pull some kind of a sneaky ambush that makes 45 bait himself. Any ideas?
7
Cuomo
1
@carol goldstein We need Albany-style like a hole in the head.
3
@carol goldstein - I can't stand Andrew
Cuomo's voice.
2
Not interested in a Moderate. I want an actual, class-oriented Leftist. Socialism, please. Maybe don't call it Socialism, because abhorrently rich Capitalists (like the Koch Brothers) have done so much to taint the word that it is almost political suicide to self-identify as such. But the actual policies poll very popularly... Universal Healthcare... Universal Secondary School... Paternity/Maternity leave... Other policies that support the Worker...
It'd be really ing amazing if we could actually fix the problems that this country has. I'd love it. I'm sure everyone else would to.
18
@BB Denmark was rated No. 1 for business by Forbes not long ago, and is still in the top five. If Denmark can do it, surely the Exceptional Nation can do it. But we must throw off the shackles of our corporate ownership to do it. See how much of a struggle they're putting up in Florida and Georgia?
8
@BB Exactly!!!
"At last his motorcade appeared, and as it did, people on both sides of the street spontaneously raised their arms and flipped our chief executive the bird."
You can't help but love New Yorkers' for their veracity.
14
Nice linkage of Trump with and the traffic barriers put up for him!
But this guy Hickelooper, although SOUNDING different, is a total mystery to me.
What did he actually DO in Colorado, as opposed to what he philosophized about?
2
@Bryan Gave oil and gas big wet kisses and permission to frack away.
@Bryan My point precisely. No non-Coloradan can point to a specific achievement of Hick worthy of a POTUS nomination. As a matter of fact, no Coloradan can point to a specific achievement worthy of a POTUS nomination.
This country is mired in quicksand and a moderate is not going to pull us out. Moderates stand for too much incremental change and compromise with Republicans. Indeed, compromise with Republicans is never a win-win; it always comes out to Republicans getting their way and Democrats bragging about how they "compromised."
A pro-business moderate like Hickenlooper will not bring us universal healthcare, a big leap to renewable energy or take care of any of the other problems that have languished because of the meanness and stupidity of the Republicans and the Republican-lite Democrats who drone on about incremental change and compromise.
We need a tough guy or gal who knows what the American people want and what is truly best for the country and bring it home.
We are drowning. Someone needs to pull us out.
17
Nice won't win against Trump and his supporters. Ask John Kasich and JEB!
10
he's a nice guy who seems nice? there is not a word in here about policies or programs
10
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper is an intelligent, pragmatic, experienced, centrist state chief executive. In other words, he is an "electable" potential 2020 Democratic presidential nomination candidate.
As you not so subtly point out, he is utterly devoid of excitement. This may be his undoing in the impending race for the Democratic presidential nomination as he must prove to party activists and voters that he can defeat the human hurricane known as U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 general election. For months now, writers and readers of the Times have touted a potential Hickenlooper candidacy based largely on his moderation and geography.
For just as long, I have argued that my justifiably anxious and well-meaning ideological siblings have forgotten one of the biggest lessons of past presidential election cycles: electability is a losing campaign strategy.
This is because a candidate must capture the imagination of large groups of the American electorate to win the Presidency. Pragmatic concerns, such as ideology, geography, race, and gender, never prove decisive unless a biographical part of a warm personality who can sell an agenda to the national electorate.
Remember that inexperienced, radical, left-wing African-American inner-city community organizer from liberal Chicago who won two elections for the U.S. Presidency, in 2008 and 2012, respectively?
25
@Howard Gregory I think what we're hoping for is that the voters get a little more intelligent in the future.
@barbara jackson
Democrats that do not comprehend the cult of Trump likely do not understand how the Republican Party came to dominate the heart of the country and become the majority political party, or how George W. Bush twice won election to the presidency, or why Ronald Reagan is a saint to so many working-class whites.
Over the past fifty years, economic anxiety caused by declining living standards sowed the seeds of the white working-class’s long flight from the Democratic Party and its landing in the Republican Party. The Southern strategy, with its social resentment of people of color and liberal elites in Washington and in the media, was the plane the white working-class jumped on to get there.
I am confounded by the naïveté of my fellow-Democrats who in large numbers continue to exhibit a condescending attitude toward white working-class voters for supporting Republican politicians, such as Trump. They are doing so because they feel justifiably alienated and mystified by American politics, and the Republicans’ solutions, as wrong as they are, make sense to them.
As much as I disagree with the Republican Party’s agenda and campaign tactics, their professionals have done a superior job of messaging in recent decades that has allowed them to successfully woo many Americans in the white working-class whose economic interests would be better addressed by the Democratic Party’s fiscal platform.
2
@Howard Gregory I can totally understand the sentiment among working class and middle class whites. They feel the Republican party are them and the democrats are the others. Those are the intellectual elite, the brown-skinned people, the ones who don't share their past and don't have anything in common with them. Theirs' is a feeling not an intellectually arrived-at conclusion of what is best for them. They admire the rich and aspire to their position, they don't have empathy for those different from them. It would take enlightenment, education, information, for these people to see that rich Republicans don't care about them or their financial or educational advancement, that would probably distance some of them from the party. Their only value is to be the base, who feel this belonging because they are white, and old-fashioned and share a heritage.
A lot of people with political views I abhor are nice to hang out with. That really tells me nothing. And in fact, I haven't learned any more about Hickenlooper than before except from the comments. One thing seems clear: after graduating with a liberal arts degree, Hickenlooper decided to take some more practical courses, perhaps to improve his job prospects. As an English major myself, I'm not sure what to take from that, but there it is.
3
Optimistic and pro-business? Reading this I thought of Ronald Reagan. I don't expect any candidate to be anti-business but enough is enough. I like Senator Amy Klobuchar but I could not consider Senator Kirsten Hillibrand, not after what she did to Al Franken, not even allowing the investigation he requested, that was plain wrong. We Dems might be better off not selecting a candidate from either coast for 2020, not that the candidates are not good because they are but we do have the west and mid-west to consider.
9
Frankenstein is bold and has charisma. I would consider voting for him and I think he would be appealing. Hickenlooper as well. Exciting about new generation of Democrats
1
@dlb
No one but Al Franken made Al Franken harass and humiliate females. And taxpayers ought not be forced to pay the salaries of any men who act with no shame or character like a 12-year-old boy locked in obnoxious puberty.
4
I'm so happy other people can't stand Gillibrand because of her trashing of Franken. I would never vote for her. especially because she got her job after david Patterson got rid of Carolyn Kennedy. he is blind in more ways than one. I am a native new Yorker. now of New Jersey so I couldn't vote against her in ny. but the USA is another matter. sometimes I think these hungry for power folks are blinded by their hunger. get real, kirsten
What a delightful article! I like the ending the best - "But now President Trump was gone, and nothing barred the way." Yes, presuming we can survive all of this, it's fun to imagine how we can capitalize on our journey through President Trump to "make America great again"—and hopefully even greater than it has been.
Like Ms. Boylan, I also think it's a bit early to pronounce Gov. Hickenlooper to be our next president. We have lots of interesting Democratic choices, and I think the whole process will work better if we get a couple of Republican choices also. But for now it's fun to think about this stuff, and the Governor is a fascinating guy.
But the best part of the story was buried within, that little inspirational tale for kids with learning disabilities and their parents. Hey, we're all a little different or odd in some way, and we all have something that could hold us back if we let it. But take advantage of the opportunities life gives you and the cool people you meet along the way, and you could become the Governor of Colorado—or, maybe, the President of the United States!
3
Hickenlooper is exactly what the country needs in 2020 and what the Democratic party needs to win. His moderation and proven executive experience - two terms as governor of a purple state - stand in contrast to senators with no executive experience and often with partisan positions coming from blue states. Hickenlooper can relate to those who voted for Obama then switched to Trump. He will pick up many disaffected Republicans who are fed up with the chaos, drama and incompetence of the Trump administration.
The only question is whether the Democratic party - the party that tried to shove Hillary down our throats - is competent enough to recognize these facts. Go Hickenlooper !
6
Short answer: No. John Hickenlooper cannot not win the presidency as an optimistic, pro-business, pragmatic centrist. He's uninspiring and appeals to no one. More importantly though, he has a funny last name.
I know the detail seems trivial but 2020 elections involve Trump supporters. The name "Hickenlooper" is going to get absolutely butchered by Trump and the right-wing media. Laugh now if you will. However, understand you will certainly get laughed at later.
We could wish American elections weren't decided on such juvenile pretenses. I'd be lying to you if I said they weren't though. John Hickenlooper will never be president.
7
@Andy Barack Hussein Obama was a funny name, too. There were those who thought anyone with the middle name "Hussein" would not be elected president.
8
@SC Certain
The name itself is irrelevant. Trump foremost among others was first to attack the *associations* attached to Obama's name. I'm talking about the actual *sound* of Hickenlooper's name.
I don't mean to dive too deeply into linguistic anthropology. However, I ask you to name one US president with a last name over three syllables. O-Ba-Ma. Number 44 past the test with flying colors. The vowel sounds are even repetitive in appealing.
Hickenlooper can climb the ladder but basic human psychology is working against him.
3
When you talk about HHH, I think 2 things. He was an 'old' Democrat, not a 'new' Democrat, like Clinton & Obama. That was the side that appealed to me. However, tho I'd always voted for a Democrat, I couldn't vote for Humphrey because he vowed to continue America's unjust war against Viet Nam. Apparently, lots of Democrats agreed with that sentiment. So we got Nixon, who, unfortunately was a scheming paranoid.
8
@Jenifer Wolf, yes, what a tragic story. HHH would have been a wonderful president, and I think he would have gotten us out of Vietnam much sooner. But people voting in 1968 wanted either or both of two things, out of Vietnam and a return to stability. HHH was too tied to LBJ, which hurt him on both counts, and so we got Richard Nixon.
4
@Jenifer Wolf
America in 1968 was not led by the fringe left or the fringe right, it was partisan but politically populated with moderate statesmen. The reality is that most adult Democrats and Republicans supported the Vietnam Conflict. The Greatest Generation and the Silent Generation were firmly in the driver's seat of policy and society.
Neither Bobby Kennedy nor Hubert Humphrey could've won in 1968 after Lyndon Johnson's wholesale war machine was put into action, along with the Democrat's costly Great Society that upended fiscal good governance, eroded immigration laws, and failed to make much of any headway in the crime rate spiraling out of control. Johnson created the opening for Nixon.
“Trump was gone and nothing barred the way.” Wow, what a great final sentence to a hopeful column.
7
Hickenlooper also likes giving a day to celebrate lobbyists for Saudi Arabia . Murdering journalists foes not get in the way of business for some moderates apparently.
And Democrats arent going to get in bed with Johm Kaisach. The way that The two governors would lov le to.
Any person who doesnt think that the Democratic coalition isnt the place to start building a government, who at this point doesn’t understand that they shouldnt br attacking the party under ehich they run, doesnt deserve my or any other democrats vote.
As a resident of Colorado, I am happy Hickenlooper was term limited. The new Governor jared polis likes capitalism but doesnt disfain Democrats. He is the future, Hickenlooper is the past.
5
@Edward Brennan Give Polis about two years and Colorado residents will be sure they elected someone who won't work across the aisle and much like Bill De Blasio is under the mistaken impression that the investiture ceremony he participated in was for the office of Pope.
Whoever the Dems decide to support and prop up in 2020 they better be darn sure that they're seasoned or well experienced.
No special flavours of the month or spring lambs, please.
We need someone who can play as fast and hard and maybe gets a bit dirty in the sandbox.
11
I love my governor John Hickenlooper... he would probably make a great President... but unfortunately he just isn't great in front of the camera.
2
One of the faults I believe led to our loss in 2016 was a lack of good qualified primary candidates. HRC was the anointed one, and with the exception of Bernie Sanders running hard, it was almost a waste of time watching the debates. the more the merrier, I say.
Mr. Hickenlooper would be a great addition to the Presidential candidates for 2020, along with any other moderates, centrists, left, or left of left.
Let the voters decide who they wish to represent them.
3
Hickenlooper seems like a nice guy, but he comes across as ineffectual. He lacks the "it" factor. It's hard to imagine him being passionate about the issues that will motivate Democrats to vote for him.
8
@Jim H. That's because he isn't. I've never seen him passionate about anything, not in 16 years of him being in politics. Either he has no real beliefs or he pretends he doesn't so as not to offend anyone. Either way that makes him a loser in my book. He seemed more progressive when he was first elected but he faked us out, and was only reelected because the alternative was worse.
3
Democrats should not get enraptured with labels like centrists or progressive or moderate or liberal. Let candidates be true to themselves and talk like human beings and they will do well regardless of their alleged ideology.
11
What an inspiring story overcoming elite finishing schools and shyness to go on to a productive life in oil, beer and banjo!
13
It is nice to read a column that exudes optimism and joy. Hickenlooper sounds like the absolute opposite of not only Trump, but of the Republican Party,
I hope he gives serious thought to running.
5
pro-choice is the bedrock civil right for women. without reproductive freedom there is no freedom. pro-choice is non-negotiable as the foundational civil right for women.
12
I don't think most Coloradans think John Hickenlooper should be President. He is a little wishy washy on environmental issues, on the death penalty and on gun control. He is friendly and quirky and very lucky on who the Republicans ran against him.
21
@JaneF Notice how when he visits Iowa, NH, Georgia, etc there is no adoring convoy of Coloradans accompanying him. We've never been that into you, John. You've always been the least of two weevils.
I would vote for Gov. Hickenlooper over any of the other names being bandied about (Clinton, Booker, Biden, Harris, Gillenbrand). We need a centrist to heal & repair the damage all this partisan division has created that has brought our democracy to a complete stop. We have to get back to decisions made for the common good, compromise & cordially.
7
My son knows Hickenlooper, and likes him . . . enough. That's a good endorsement.
The right candidate for 2020 is the one who can win. I am excessively progressive in any way you might define, but I'll settle this time. When standing in a burning room you don't quibble about the rescuer.
But here's another analysis.
Any president should: 1. Laugh 2. Like beer 3. Recognize and seek beauty.
Bonus points for reading a poem now and then, liking babies, and appreciating Otis Redding.
Trump has none of these attributes. Hickenlooper appears to have them all.
Go Hickenlooper!!!
14
America needs to understand what destroyed it. The word we use is neoliberalism which is neither new nor liberal. You have been in denial since Reagan and the world has passed you by.
We are in trouble because the rest of the world waited for you to wake up your party that dreams only of yesterday managed to stop any progress that could help going into the future.
We over produce, we do not practice sustainability, and communism, capitalism and mixed economy are as obsolete as B+W televisions. We need a revolution like we have never needed a revolution before we need a new way to think.
We need thinking like in the Netherlands where within a decade all buildings will be energy neutral. We need to live without personal cars. I am as old as the first mass suburb Levittown and it was only 90 years ago when that livestyle was first designed.
Most of us live in suburbs and look at where we are.We have to start looking to alternatives and America is still talking STEM instead of philosophy , sociology and the arts.
I am 70 and had to overcome a lot of adversity but denying reality is not a path to success. First we need to cleanup our mess and while we are cleaning up we can talk about a future. We spent a long time getting to where most of us are unconcerned with providing us with necessities.
The middle is only more of the same only much worse outcomes.
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@M&M
Bravo Sir. I can get behind everything single thing you have said/laid out. Where do I sign up ?
7
@Montreal Moe
We are too many at 330 million. The United States could still be all that we once were and all that Europe currently thinks it is...if only we had 150 million fewer mouths to feed.
2
@Maggie
Maggie we overproduce food. We have lifted a billion people out of poverty. The information you have received is bogus. We have more than enough of everything we need. It is the economic system that needs changing. Most people still think there was a famine in Ireland but the truth is the Irish food export economy boomed during the potato blight. Two million people were culled to benefit the Irish economy.
America could easily accommodate another billion people but that would require a different kind of economy.
3
Maybe it's looking out my window for yet another day and not being able to see the Golden Gate through the smoke and haze, but I don't want to read another article about any potential candidate which does not start with his or her stand on climate change. Jobs and voting rights and healthcare can all get solved with time and effort. We are reaching the point where climate change will be irreversible unless we take action now.
82
@CA The oil and gas industry is very big in Colorado and we've been trying to fight back on fracking as well as we can. Some towns voted to force the drilling out of their backyards a few years ago. What did Hickenlooper do? Allowed the oil and gas companies to sue the towns. The city I live in is not ideal for drilling, but one town over has had their water poisoned. He has done some good things for CO, like passing a stronger emissions standard bill, but I personally feel what he did in favor of oil and gas is unforgivable.
40
@CA Will be irreversible unless we act now? One has read ten million thermonuclear, hopeless “nows” written about irreversibility.
Perhaps’ you might admit, climate change is irreversible but cannot express horror in a pithy comment or are traumatized about scientific truth because you are reasonable or unreasonably hopeful. One has not read quality science supporting pointless optimism. Politicians top-to-bottom read nothing, think less, follow the president’s pathetic, self-centered lead, preparing to bury live bodies. You may not be old enough to remember Khrushchev’s, we will bury America. Never mind that Khrushchev failed. Mind instead that Trump’s political party is burying America with endless lying. The half of the population that does not understand harms-not-warned-against or warnings they cannot fathom, is buying happy-shovel stocks to get rich. You say we are reaching the point. That faulty tense is more than likely combined erroneous history, science and syntax.
Hick allowed the oil and gas industry to sue the cities and towns in CO that don't want drilling even when the vast majority of us were against it. He will not be getting my vote in the primary.
37
@Sabrina He's worse than that. In a CPR interview he referred to the deaths of 2 people in a gas fire resulting from an uncapped gas drilling pipeline as "a freak accident" despite his own state agencies reporting such accidents as happening on average 2x month for 10 years. Opposition Research 101: just play back that interview...
He would win and probably get 75% of the popular vote.
But Democrats will most likely line-up against the most ridiculous and un-electable liberal candidate they can find in the primary and then lose the general.
And then cry when Trump is reelected. You can bet on it.
21
At this stage in our Republic, we have an authoritarian white nationalist cult of personality party, and everyone else.
Hickenlooper, and everyone else who rejects Trumpism, can gather under the Democratic tent. Hopefully the DNC can stay out of the process, and we can coalesce behind a candidate to repudiate white nationalism in 2020.
I hope, for the health of this nation, that eventually we'll have two political parties willing to compete on policy and judgment, and not just on whether we shall have equality and democracy or authoritarian rule by and for white people.
5
“There’s a word called topophilia,” he said. “It means love of place. Isn’t that a form of joy, a sense of belonging? Isn’t it one of the ingredients that creates a happy, fulfilled life — loving where you are? Well, part of that is knowing where you are, knowing the wonderfulness of your history.”
Have no idea how things will turn out with Gov. John Hickenlooper but, as always, I'll expect nothing and hope for the best. But this column actually made me feel good and I appreciated Every. Single. Word. Thank you!
11
A centrist president hasn't happened since Bill Clinton. Al Gore's election was stolen. John Kerry lost. John McCain lost. Mitt Romney lost. Hillary Clinton lost.
So no.
11
Have tried to imagine the best way to combat Trump's approach to politics. (Visions of Trump and Clinton, in debate, come to mind.) But was intrigued with the writer's observation of Hickenlooper with "a sense of humor." (Perhaps he doesn't take himself to seriously ?) Could this be one of many other qualifications to combat Trump in 2020 ? We may be ready for a little humor, and a lot of pragmatism in 2020.
3
On what does the presumption that business is automatically virtuous rest?
10
“...a generousness of spirit...”. Wouldn’t it be great to have a president with that trait. I’ll tell you why. Joy is more contagious than hate. Same for compassion, empathy, love, a sense of fairness. America has plenty of these things, they’ve just been overshadowed by our narcissistic but newsworthy president.
How great it would be if our leader had it. Because, remember, it’s contagious.
9
...At this point, it's thrilling just to imagine a president who would not be the laughingstock of the world.
67
Topophilia- what a magnificent word. Yes, he sounds like a good guy. But guess what, I’m too old and exhausted to fall in love, OR to settle. And just once, before I must seriously contemplate dying ( almost 60 ! ), I want to see a WOMAN as our President. It’s the least we can do, for our Daughters and Granddaughters.
Seriously.
54
@Phyliss Dalmatian
What, like Margaret Thatcher? Gender does not qualify nor disqualify any contender.
4
@Norah Robb
No, but it’s apparently disqualified every Woman in the history of the USA.
REALLY seriously.
11
@Phyliss Dalmatian Right now Hillary would be President if that dang Electoral College didn't exist.
2
I could vote for the Colorado governor. Anyone who can actually find cause to compromise and work with everyone is someone who is worthy of consideration. Both parties have become too inflexible and too extreme. Such attitudes lend themselves to gridlock. A good centrist could get something accomplished.
10
We’ve been in gridlock in Congress for over 10 years, or maybe since Obama was elected and the top GOP objective was to make sure he didn’t get re-elected. That is a seriously messed up priority, and we’ve ALL suffered for it.
3
This is one of Trump's greatest, and least appreciated, electoral weaknesses: he's completely mirthless. His humor, such as it is, revolves around petty meanness: mocking and derision of the other. It's like watching a bad reality show. A Hickenlooperesque opponent might be just the ticket.
57
I would vote for a presidential candidate who is guided by moderation and common sense.
31
The attached picture just screams "Phoney, Phoney, Phoney" Just the type of guy the " optimistic, pro-business, pragmatic centrist," class of 1980 would go gushy over.
14
@Glenn That seems a little harsh, but then I say that about every photo of Trump I encounter. Phoney, Phoney, Phoney,
4
@Joe B. Me too, guys, but we're actually screaming phony, phony, phony. :-)
Jennifer Boylan writes so well, with elegance and thoughtfulness. Others emerge vividly through her prose style--as does Mr. Hickenlooper, who will, however, need to change his name--which is a tribute to Boylan's humane but not unskeptical powers of observation. For instance, did she mean to suggest that she did not see in Obama a spirit of generosity or a sense of humor? Perhaps she did mean that--even if it's what we as a nation saw in him.
9
"Quality of life starts with a good job" - ?
Hmmmmmm. Not sure about that. What about health? What about good self-esteem? What about a decent upbringing? I can think of a lot of things that matter more than your job when it comes to quality of life. And I'm not keen on anyone who thinks that education should be focused on filling the employer needs of the day.
Points off for Mr. H with this Dem.
45
@Sarah You forgot purpose. Life may be meaningless but we all need purpose.
9
All good points. Actually, a job that encompasses all the other qualities you mention would be a good start. Too many people, myself included, have taken jobs because they were offered. Now that I’m retired, I regret not doing more due diligence on some of those positions, and for realizing later that I did have jobs that encompassed many of these qualities.
So I wouldn’t dismiss Mr. H just yet. And given his liberal arts background, my guess is that he would agree with you.
4
@Sarah
You sound like a Jill Stein voter.
Having a good job allows one to pay the bills. That's huge for self-esteem. Talk to some folks trapped in dead-end low wage jobs without benefits, or those without any jobs at all.
That good job should include health insurance, since our government doesn't provide it to all citizens. Then it's a matter of genes and your environment, nature and nurture. But having solid health insurance goes a long way in treating and preventing many a medical problem.
Decent upbringing? Odds of that are a lot better when one parent has a good job with benefits. That leads to living in a nicer neighborhood with better schools, less stress, more opportunities and money for extra-curricular activities.
Not only can you not see the forest for the trees, it sounds like you're blindly swinging your ax, emblazoned with the motto "the perfect is the enemy of the good."
5
Honestly, after this last election, the only two platforms I’m going to support in any politician are genuine election reform and policies to end the oligarchy. Somehow, I can’t imagine a self-described “centrist” as prioritizing this same focus.
44
@Jim Nollman, and if we get Trump again, that is more oligarchy and no election reform. If you did not vote for Clinton last time, then you are part of the problem. How do I know? Because her husband and Obama nominated Supreme Court justices who were in the minority in the case of Citizens United and Republican presidents' nominees were in the majority; hence, you gave up the chance to get a Supreme Court justice who may overturn that 5-4 decision. Now it will require a Constitutional Amendment to get that holding changed. If you voted for HRC, I apologize for my ranting but it you did not, you are a big part of the problem.
10
I guess you have to give a definition of what is ''centrist'' - especially in the context of the political spectrum being pulled for so long so far radically and extreme to the right by republicans.
Furthermore, running on ANY Democratic platform, and no matter how much you placate conservative views. that same radical right is going to label you as a Socialist, Communist, or some other ''ist'' in the form of a derogatory slur. (President Obama tried that out with a health care idea that was first proposed by a republican, and then implemented successfully by another republican - but was rebuffed)
Having said all of that, where the rubber meets the road is where the candidate stands on basic issues like the environment, taxes, a minimum wage, health care, and the big one - human rights.
A centrist usually gives in to some sort of privatization of the above and allows there to be ''market based'' ideas. Usually it is at the expense of those human rights. (or the slowing down of taking them away) That is no longer a paradigm that can be sustained.
People are demanding their human rights now (hence the extreme white privilege backlash - because they feel threatened). Generally those that do not want to ''trade'' away those rights (as well as hold the line on everything) are called Progressives.
Progressives showed that they can win anywhere this election, because they were fearless and unequivocal.
Is Mr. Hickenlooper that ? I am not sure ...
44
@FunkyIrishman (2)
Furthermore, I (and others) have said that we must work within the system to mold the country and the people that represent us in the Congress and in the White House. There were those that wanted the revolution now (I can respect that), and this administration is the end result of that.
If the candidate (and then President) has a Congress (and in particular Senate) with a super majority of Democrats, then the country can have whatever it wants. The whole idea then of whether you are a centrist or true Progressive becomes moot, because the Congress and party are going to move you to where the vast majority is.
The problem is that the country is decidedly Progressive (every Progressive idea polls wildly popular - even among republicans), but the politics (voter suppression/gerrymandering) prohibits any implementation.
So, give the President the votes and see what happens.
15
@FunkyIrishman “Progressives showed that they can win anywhere this election.” You’re entitled to your own opinion but you’re not entitled to your own electoral map. What you say is demonstrably false. I’m a progressive, but I can count. Despite the narrative being pushed by the Left, in many districts and states (like AZ) moderation was the path to success.
5
@FunkyIrishman
The U.S. has never been Progressive and won't be. The majority of adult voting Americans are and always have been centrist. For obvious reasons.
3