I was hoping Bloomberg ran for President. He is better than Biden. Biden is already screwing up. He just apologized 30 years too late ???? and when he is in need ??
Terrible.
My grandfather always said Joe Biden says the wrong thing and the wrong time.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/25/us/politics/joe-biden-anita-hill.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage
3
It's overwhelming. I have noted this feeling all my life, I've heard others say it too, and many who just whistle or hum while clicking their tongue on the roof of their mouth the first four notes, G#,A,G#,E.....I feel like I'm in the twilight zone. I can't make my call now.
The Constitution says one has to be 35 to run for president. There is no cut off age. Why should there be? Trump is 72 but, on some days he is 2 or 4 years old having a tantrum. On the wide stretch, we know him to be a liar. He drags on his ankles obstruction wherever he goes. He plays foreign policy on a gameboard. He can take words out of the air, say them, and get a cast of thousands.
Here is the worst part. He's a bit entertaining.
My candidate has to be strong in diction, words that stick dead center like Mr. Hood's arrow. And if spoken in anger, let it be a rational anger, not razor sharp. May decisions be swift without flip flopping. My candidate has to bear the responsibility and accountability of the US. I haven't seen that from Trump. I see a science fiction creature out of control dumping that twilight zone feeling on all of us. There will be redemption. 2020 is coming.
9
Six words for all parties: voters need to take responsibility too
8
If Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders really cared about the country more than their unfulfilled egos, they would be supporting viable candidates for our time like Kamela Harris and Elizabeth Warren.
Face it folks, Like Trump and the other wizened and claw-fingered GOP males holding onto power, Biden and Sanders can't relinquish their "owed place in the sun."
These spry old bantys have come home to roost and are kicking up their spurs for a last go round in the henhouse despite being severely ill-equipped to service "egg production" for the current generation.
Joe/Bernie: Do the right thing and age in place with dignity--the world that shaped you is long gone and you haven't a clue of how to swim in these waters--although you can make a lot of noise and stir up a passle of ignorant youth who crave testosterone-fueled excitement as opposed to good government for our times--they're under 35 and have yet to reach a rational adulthood that comes from experiencing life's unfulfilled expectations.
Boys (that's the proper designation for men who are really hypertrophied children). More likely than not you'll make a mess of it and swamp us all--which is where we are right now in rising waste pond of political you know what...
4
"(By the way, Moulton said that if an alien invaded the earth he’d give him “a beer and a burger.” This is a question we need to pursue in the candidate debates.)"
Perhaps in a future column Gail Collins could explain exactly why she regards an alien invasion as a prospective problem. It seems an argument can be made that the alien invasion is already upon us. Trump's hair may indeed be real but it hardly appears to be human.
Also, somewhat more to the point, offering a guest “a beer and a burger” is prototypically middlebrow human behavior. But we now are blessed with a guy who loves burgers but doesn't drink beer. How does that work? It pretty much proves he is an alien. I rest my case.
2
This!
"Sanders, by the way, is a year older than Biden but doesn’t get a whole lot of comment about it. Maybe because he just seems to have been born 77."
6
I've never voted for anyone but a Democrat for president, but if Joe Biden is the nominee, I'll write in Anita Hill.
6
Biden joins the big crowd but has a nice clearing for himself. He's not a socialist. He's not easily coerced by the identity police. He has actual experience.
But, mostly, he's not a leftwing extremist. That's his ace in the hole right now.
9
Unless you pick a winner, someone who can rack up votes in the few states that are in play, you lose, plain and simple. Aspirational candidates are nice, but all they will do if nominated in 2020 is re-elect Trump, the only way he actually can get re-elected.
Almost all the Democrats are actually running for Vice-President and/or a hoped for Presidential bid in 2024 or 2028. Unfortunately, the only thing that most of them currently seem adept at is forming a circular firing squad. Unless the Democrats stop playing Trump's game, allowing him to remain the center of attention, and instead begin to understand why his approval rating is unaffected be each new "revelation", America will have to put up with four more years of the Entertainer-In-Chief.
Joe Biden has two things going for him that are very important. Unlike most of the other candidates, he knows how to talk to the Obama/Trump voters in the states that will be electorally relevant in 2020. Also, with the possible exception of Sanders, only he knows the Washington swamp, and if you are going to begin to drain it, you need to know it, not merely have a fantasy bumpersticker version of where the power resides.
As important, the Democrats need to understand that electing state legislatures which will apportion legislative districts after the 2020 census, while not nearly as glamorous or politically "sexy", is just as important as electing the President. Simply whining about the Electoral College will accomplish nothing.
8
Sigh. I like Joe Biden, even admire him.
But his moment has passed. Several elections ago.
Also, I don't think he is the right candidate to go up against Trump: his affable, gosh-heck persona (much like Beto O'Rourke's) radiates overconfidence and seems ill-suited to tackle a venomous, dishonest opponent such as Trump.
Better a politeness wonk like Buttigieg, or a sharp-elbowed litigator such as Kamala Harris. Just a feeling.
9
Gail: We don't seem to mind having popes in their 70s and 80s. I thought wisdom came with age (with one big orange exception.)
6
Gail, you provided the first and only political laugh all day. Make that at least three.
Biden is younger than Ringo but older than me and I know from experience that's too old, unless maybe you are the Dalai Lama and didn't make a lame apology to Anita Hill some -- what is it, 28 years late ( so, it's better than pulling a Kavanaugh). He should take a close look at Reagan's last years and consider his legacy.
I so yearn to see a female candidate considering what Booker or Buttigieg might be able to bring to the party.
Frankly, if Warren or Harris or Klobuchar aren't going to get top billing, we have more serious need them in the Senate than as the President's appendage.
8
The fact that our elections start right after a voting day is making me want to tune out. And for all of these "candidates" who don't have a prayer to win the nomination makes me ill. So many do it just to get name recognition and make some money on books, speeches, etc., after the election. It's time to move on from the old white guy as president. Joe and Bernie are too old...and I'm old so I can say that!
6
Biden and Buttigieg
3
He reminds me of Hillary.
Both are too vain and/or arrogant to see that their candidacy is not what is best for the nation.
Hillary was not well liked, and her candidacy was running into a strong headwind that Trump rode into the White House.
Biden will bring us another 4 years of Trump. And then the nation will be done, as a good place to live.
4
Gail, one of your best columns ever. Nice job!
6
Hey. You just said what I was thinking. Very good piece Gail.
2
Remember when Sarah Palin debated Joe Biden, she asked, "Can I call you, Joe?"
She did that because during debate prep, she kept getting his name wrong.
Joe may be well-known, but most voters couldn't identify a photo, or a policy.
1
"What would you do in case of an alien space invasion?"
"I would disguise myself as a small rock--move to the Senora Desert--and hope to be overlooked."
What a weird question! But that's what I would have said.
Remember The Three Stooges? All three charge the door at the same instant--none gives place to the other two--so there they stand, squirming--trying to shoulder each other aside.
I am afraid this reminds me of the Democrats. Twenty--TWENTY--candidates for President! Are you KIDDING me? Come on, guys--pull it together. SOMEBODY'S gotta back off--swing his support (such as it is) to somebody else.
It grieves me I hear so little about Elizabeth Warren. Younger than Biden--and smart! Smart as a whip. I still recall her interrogation of Mr. Mulvaney! I remember it well--I suspect many others don't. So it goes.
Younger than Mr. Biden. Fought the good fight for HIllary Clinton--I still remember her flinging down the gauntlet before Donald Trump--"We NASTY women are gonna go walking on our NASTY feet to the voting booths!. . . ."
Splendid! But I hear so little of her nowadays. Pity.
And these other guys. So darn YOUNG some of them. And they're running for PRESIDENT! Kind of a tough job, you know.
No matter. I hope--I trust--that ONE of these guys'll go up against The Donald. A David wielding his tiny sling. AND--
--CRASH!--
--as the scowling Goliath (with the oddly-colored hair) goes toppling over.
God grant!
I hope so.
5
The Joe Biden candidacy troubles me, but not for the reasons so often cited here. I am mainly concerned that while Biden is a strong -- potentially the strongest -- candidate in the field, the Democratic circular firing squad — with their tribalism and purity tests — will do more damage to him than the Republicans ever could. STOP!
Is Joe "past his prime"? If he is, then Ruth Bader Ginsberg should be removed from the Supreme Court. And Bernie should drop out of the race.
Did Joe "miss his moment"? Possibly. It's tragic that he wasn't able to run in 2016 -- I am certain he would have trounced Trump.
But what, exactly, do we need in this moment? We need someone who can BEAT Trump. Biden is the most likely candidate to potentially pull away some Trump voters. He is extremely experienced (no other Dem candidate can match him on foreign affairs), smart, compassionate, and while not an ultra progressive, he is on the right side of the issues. And if you have ever watched Biden in a debate, you know he is a masterful debater.
Does he have a flawless record? Of course not. No one does. Especially after decades in politics. Does he check off all the boxes for diversity? No, but he's only going to serve one term and can choose a running mate to counterbalance him.
To all who say Biden isn't the right person to lead us into the 21st Century, I ask: why not? He would certainly help restore America's place in the world. He might even make America great again.
10
That last paragraph is a gem. Love you, Gail Collins...
4
Where's H. Ross Perot when we need him?
Trump calling Biden tired Joe is just another reminder of how the election will be hijacked by The Donald. The republicans control the narrative. they will distract from any kind of debate of policy. I am personally dreading the springer like spectacle we are about to endure.
I just hope this time the Russians are sick of trump and we can elect some one the people actually want
2
Gail, you're usually pretty funny, but I think your comment about Buttigieg was pretty snarky, and not an accurate description of his position on policy. Watching YouTube's of Buttigieg I find he has stated many positions.
3
Biden and Gilliam
There is a reason people say Biden potentially appeals more to Trump voters. That's because Biden is more like Trump than other Democratic candidates.
2
Candidates "safe to ignore unless one of them saves a drowning puppy."
Too funny...thanks Gail.
1
@Tomasi
I figured that would be the hyperactive Beto, who would probably be taped crawling into a culvert and reappearing with the dog on his shoulder.
2
You have to have all these Democrats running. it will take that many, and possibly a few more just to address all the lies Trump has put out there since he took office.
2
If Joe Biden supports the Green New Deal as well as a serious version of Medicare for All and proclaims that he only intends to serve one term to get the country moving forward again and finally picks a woman as his running mate, I think he will get my vote.
1
Alt-title: "Biden is 'Pleased as Punch' to Join the Really Big Crowd"
Hubert Humphrey II
1
I've been missing Gail Collins. Welcome back
3
Much ado about deja vu.
1
Gail, I do not read many articles that provoke an instantaneous belly laugh. And not just once. You really stand out!
4
It doesn't make any difference how many or how few Democrats run for president; none can defeat Donald Trump. That's because none of them have racism and bigotry in their DNA. While praising the intelligence of the American electorate, Trump secretly knows that they can be led around like a bulls with nose rings - only instead of bull rings, he uses their beliefs and prejudices to lead them wherever he wants.
If DJT doesn't destroy our fragile democracy, he has published the blueprint and playbook for some other demagogue to do it later. If a democracy like America's is going to exist, there will have to be a paradigm shift in human thought throughout the world.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
2
Less like a crowd and more like a clown car.
He should have run as a Republican, or an independent.
I like Joe. He is a nice guy. He is definitely not what we need for a president in 2020. He is way too full of out-worn, half-way, take it easy, stuff.
Of the others in the field I hope that Elizabeth Warren wins. E.W. will definitely kick some buts. She is u unflappable,hard nosed, brilliant, clear, minded, HONEST and as aware of global issues as she is of domestic stuff. All of which scares the bejeebers out of the billionaire " really deep state" creeps have purchased the Republican Party that are wrecking the country.
However, I could happily vote, for anyone of them....except for Amy Klobuchar, who I would vote for if I had to.
5
I'd love to have Warren as POTUS.
But I'll vote for any democrat.
Please please please: pledge to vote Democratic no matter what.
Even if you are in mourning, even if you are unemployed, even if your dog just got run over, even if you just found out your wonderful kid is into drugs.
Doesn't matter: just vote Democratic.
12
A dream come true for Republicans. A clown car doesn't begin to describe it. More candidates, please.
It was a nice try with Ringo Ms. Collins, since Beatles are always young especially with our generation.
I think, this might be his chance to fulfill the dream, it 's also could be exactly the right moment, providing he's only running for one term, and as much as I'm eager to really move to more progressive direction with Warren and the rest of forward-looking, younger field, I still think maybe right now & only for one term, he could be the one to beat trump...
Heard on Morning Joe that this time Pennsylvania is a main battleground for 20/20, no wonder Individual 1 rushing to this state to spew more of his tiring, repetitive, mind-numbing lies.
Biden Joins the Really Big Crowd
And the working class, poor and elderly sighed.
2
"It’s an interesting position, but not nearly as interesting as a woman picking Cory Booker for a running mate." Well said, Ms Collins.
4
Wishful thinking here: Senator Chris Coons (Delaware-D), please trade places to have Biden support you in a run for POTUS rather than your supporting him.
During the Kavanaugh hearings, you made the strongest argument against him, causing Jeff Flake to waver (flakishly though, as he flipped back when it counted).
The coasts have clear enough reasons to vote blue no matter who. We need someone to draw in enough other voters.
You have persuasive points in your history [Wikipedia] that could convince black voters and independents. Your character attributes could attract some voters in the midwest and south, where your ratings from the NRA "F" and Planned Parenthood "100%" may be offset by your non-threatening demeanor and an increasing revolusion with Trump and his GOP enablers. Your life of faith and service puts even firm Evangelicals on shaky ground.
(not sure if I sent successfully so here it is perhaps a second time):
I cannot enter the aging brain of an elderly person- there are those as young as they were when they were 21 and there are others not so. In fact I know young people who were old from the start. That being said I'd vote for Biden tomorrow- for his stability, knowledge, experience and decency. He very probably was the best and most affective and advising Vice President we've had. HOWEVER I think he should announce that he seeks only one term in order to bring back the respect of law- internationally and domestically that has been so horribly shunted aside by #45. Like a Lucius Q. Cincinnatus he'd come and rescue our republic and our civic values from a fascistic-lite 4 years. In announcing such he'd also pick a woman as his running mate assuring her incumbency and a probable win in 2024. I am a super liberal baby boomer (66 years) but his belief systems would begin the hard slog to saving species' lives, the climate, that the President afterwards would build upon- never mind how wonderful would it be to have culture and smiles back in D.C.?
6
Yes, now yet one more passenger enters the clown car. Now all of the other candidates will fall on him like rabid hyenas. I like Biden, but now I just don’t think he can carry the party. That’s unfortunate as I suspect he is the only one in the field who could beat Mr. Trump.
1
I can name all of the candidates ,Gail, but I can’t spell their names. I hope this is an “open book” quiz.They all are so positive compared to the angry tweeter in the White House.They have stories to tell but Joe Biden has the longest-his political career is epic.This is Why I want him to be respected in retirement and not try to run the grueling political race track one more time.There is a time to take a bow and leave the stage and his has come.He didn’t ask me, but being in your eighties(which he would be by inauguration) is a challenge.I have some scars to prove it.
3
News Flash: No one is perfect. And the demand for perfection and/or ideological purity often blinds us to the “good” that someone possesses.
Furthermore, the longer anyone is subjected to public scrutiny, the more his/her imperfections will surface. But otoh, fewer imperfections will remain hidden. The “product” may be flawed, but we should pretty well know what we are “buying.”
Honestly, I think Joe Biden is the best person for the job right now. His folksy (and admittedly perhaps too “handsy,”) charm, combined with a wealth of practical experience, a reasonably level head, and a moral compass, will provide a stark and much needed contrast to the nastiness and venality of Trump and his minions. Combining Joe with one of the dynamic younger candidates will create a winning ticket, imho - one that can provide instant relief from the mean spirited Trump “reign of error,” and that should also create a means of naturally passing the Democratic generational torch, if you will, in the next presidential election.
One thing I will say, however, is that I will vote proudly and unabashedly for whatever ticket the Democratic Party presents in opposition to the absolute awfulness that currently exists in and around the White House. I’m expressing my preference here for Joe and Buttigieg/ Harris/Klobuchar/Booker/etc. But ANY combination of Democratic candidates will be infinitely preferable to Trump. Whoever gets the Democratic nomination will receive my vote - period!!
9
Let the ageism begin.
1
Not every 37 year old is the same. Not every 77 year old is the same. Let's judge these individual candidates for the traits and positions that are most important to us as voters, and not prejudge who's too young or too old. Thinking someone is too old without being able to point out why that specific person is not qualified is the height of OLD thinking.
7
Biden didn’t get into the race to beat trump; he got in to keep Bernie from winning on the first ballot, so the superdelegates can pick someone else in the second.
2
Collins is being either lazy or just plain uninformed, not to mention unfair, in stating that Pete Buttigieg does not hold many positions. He has been very specific in his views about our damaged democracy, why it is so and what he would do to fix it, the national security implications of climate change and certainly more detailed than any of his fellow supporters of Medicare for all in how we actually get there. And he actually answers questions instead of dancing around difficult issues.
13
I wish I was in Australia. Their election preliminaries are 38 days long. We’ve still got a year and a half away from Election Day.
9
Nice & entertaining article, Gail!
You cover a lot of negative points about the democratic candidates without totally dissing them.
Last round we were stuck with a choice of two polarizing candidates of questionable character. It appears that this time we could end up with two crazies slugging it out, unless Biden gets the nod from the Dems. A few of the young ones, like Buttigieg and Gabbard, have decent personalities and could achieve viability in 8 or 12 years, once they develop resumes. The rest of the dem field seems to be running on pure hatred - not a good formula for victory.
3
Glad to see Biden get in, not my first choice but it only strengthens the field.
My favorite candidate, like all of the 20 candidates in the field, is unlikely to win. Biden, and anyone else who might join the field, is therefor not a threat to my preferred choice. But he is a threat to Trump.
4
I cannot enter the aging brain of an elderly person- there are those as young as they were when they were 21 and there are others not so. In fact I know young people who were old from the start. That being said I'd vote for Biden tomorrow- for his stability, knowledge, experience and decency. He very probably was the best and most affective and advising Vice President we've had. HOWEVER I think he should announce that he seeks only one term in order to bring back the respect of law- internationally and domestically that has been so horribly shunted aside by #45. Like a Lucius Q. Cincinnatus he'd come and rescue our republic and our civic values from a fascistic-lite 4 years. In announcing such he'd also pick a woman as his running mate assuring her incumbency and a probable win in 2024. I am a super liberal baby boomer (66 years) but his belief systems would begin the hard slog to saving species' lives, the climate, that the President afterwards would build upon- never mind how wonderful would it be to have culture and smiles back in D.C.?
3
What we have to be thinking about is not which candidate is for or against one issue or anther, or too old or too young, or too black or too white. If we hope to retake the WH we have to nominate someone who can win the bellweather counties in Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. We need to garner the 20 percent of uncommitted voter, the people who will decide the race. So that's who our nominee has to appeal to: I say that's Joe Biden plus maybe Klobuchar. Biden's choice of a strong midwestern woman might help to counter the stain of his treatment of Anita Hill, also his inappropriate, but not sexual, touching habit.
5
I really like Warren.
However, polls for her don't look so good.
It is a reflection of the American people. After all, we got Trump. Enough said.
But someone suggested Warren as Secretary of the Treasury and I thought wow, not a bad idea.
I would like her as president but maybe that is not realistic with the country we have today.
8
In all the presidential elections I have lived through, The early pre-primary polls always favor the people with the most name recognition, regardless of whether that recognition is positive or negative. In some cases, such as with W. Bush, the recognizable name can even be inherited from someone else. These early polls often become self fullfilling prophecies as those candidates get more money because of these poll results, which makes them more recognizable and so on.
There is a psychology test in which non-Chinese speakers are subliminally shown Chinese characters, then asked to pick their favorite Chinese characters from a much longer list. They choose the subliminally revealed characters by a significant margin. Similarly, when asked to choose their “favorite“ candidate, people choose the one with the most name recognition because they have so little else to go on. I don’t think these results show actual preference. People are just marking the vice president and the number two 2016 Democrat because they know who they are, and they feel less silly marking the name they know than the names they don’t know.
2
Remember the 1988 election when the seven Democratic candidates were often derided as the seven dwarfs? (Dukakis won) That is what the media does: "magnify the negative, eliminate the positive", to reverse-quote an old song. I see by Gail's barbs, that the belittling season has already begun. I just want to say I am impressed by nearly all of them. Compare their intelligence and erudition to what the Republicans have in their stable. Hardly a one of them, excepting Bill Weld, has a single idea or can talk his/her way out of a paper bag. I sense a peaceful revolution happening.
11
Warren is a Massachusetts liberal. As was Mike Dukakis and John Kerry. Good luck with that.
I think Bernie should remind Trumpworld that he and Maxine voted against NAFTA in 93 when Trump was big buddies with the Clintons.
3
Two words for and about Joe Biden: Let’s see.
5
Let's get real on Biden.
Some identify Biden with Obama, who looks better than ever now, after Trump.But here's Biden's patronizing 2007 comment on candidate Obama:
"I mean, you've got the first sort of mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy. I mean, that's a story-book, man."
("I mean"? What Biden actually MEANS is always debatable!)
Many Dem candidates are better in 2020.
Of course there's Anita Hill, Thomas, and and sex harrassment, lately revealed.
Why does Collins leave out his support of the banking industry?He was called “the senator from MBNA”. Many articles tell how he cozied up to credit card companies and made filing for bankruptcy harder for families in debt, many for medical expenses. Where is this in the media now?
His record is a big contrast to Eliz Warren on this.
He was pro the ‘90s crime bill leading to racially biased mass incarceration, and the extreme war on drugs that has caused so much destruction. At least the Clintons say they now regret it. That bill set a norm that led to increase of police abuse of citizens that we see now. The US is only recently facing the need for justice reform. We have the most incarcerated in the world.
Biden is a negative reminder of a past that many voters want to change. He's out of step with the positive political trends emerging --long overdue, and badly needed to stop our hypocrisy---to become a democracy that upholds equality, fairness and justice.
7
@Meredith
Seriously, Meredith! Positive political trends??? All I see is negativity & hatred in a stew of identity politics coupled with Bernie's socialist view of free stuff without any way to pay for it. Utopia is wonderful, but unattainable. The deluge of migrants is a result of our having the most stable economy in the world, providing jobs galore. We need a president who understands the need for balance in order to keep America great.
2
Wow! Moulton's got a pretty good idea, there. Give the aliens "a beer and a burger", that'll eliminate them quickly. Kind of like when our Army gave our Native Americans smallpox infested blankets. The beer-and-burger diet is killing off many of us Earth citizens, including our so-called President, maybe its our ultimate defense.
3
Bernie / Pete or Bernie / Elizabeth -- or vice versa
3
Biden's run for President twice before & never gotten anywhere. The first time, he was found to have plagiarized the speech of a British politician. The speech was quite personal & not true for Biden. The second time, he couldn't outshine John Edwards, let alone Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
He is certainly not beloved by all the young women he has met personally. Too much hugging, cuddling, shoulder rubbing & hair smelling. Some may call him Uncle Joe; others call him Uncle Creepy.
He's only done one thing that was historically important: he was the chair of the committee that condescended to & ultimately ignored Anita Hill. He was as clueless as all the other men.
No thanks.
10
The “Field of Dreams” is overflowing with promising talent willing to battle the Dark Knight in the squared circle. But there is only one champion of the people who has what it takes to put the sleeper hold on the Dark Knight aka Zombie Man. And, he has just entered the arena.
2
Joe Biden, maybe a nice guy and a career politician, just like Hillary Clinton, an integral part of the corporate,centrist, establishment whom more and more of the electorate have grown to hate and more than anything THAT is what got Donald Trump elected in 2016 and if Biden somehow is the nominee, get ready for another four years of Trump.
It seems the description of insanity is alive and well in the democratic party. Have you not learned anything America?
6
Here's an idea: in lieu of a first debate, sit all candidates down, including Trump, and have them take the SAT. Publish their scores.
6
Rumor i.s, the Democrats will hire stadium for the first debate. The candidates will fill the stands, and they'll put folding chairs down on the field for the spectators.
2
Perhaps I'm just one of those America-admiring suckers who's born every moment, but I was deeply impressed and moved by Biden's short video announcement of his candidacy.
It helps Biden that he has a very melodious, attractive baritone. Voice tone and timbre are important in a public figure. One of the things that made Clint Eastwood a star was his amazingly beautiful speaking voice.
I disagree with those who say that for a national leader it is their declared policies that matter most. In my view, character is more important than policy.
If politics is the art of compromise, then the policy of a national government must be infinitely flexible.
Politicians get much stick for shifting ground as the wind shifts direction, but in a modern, vibrant, outspoken, noisy, dynamic nationstate like the USA that's the reality of trying to please 325 million potential voters.
Biden is impressIve. I think he can beat Trump.
8
To be clear, I will vote for the Democratic nominee, no matter who it is, and every progressive should do the same.
I watched the CNN town hall, with no preconceptions. I could live with any of them, but Buttigieg was most impressive. I'm sure he has gotten the negative message about no policy statements, loud and clear, and will have out an annotated policy book next week.
Joe Biden's announcement just has me--Ugh--shaking my head. Please, no.
9
Why is it that Democrats continually insist on brining a knife to a gun fight?
I see a lot of potential presidential contenders all holding knives and that just won't suffice. Time to change strategy!
3
Whoever makes it across the finish line at the DNC, that candidate's campaign has got to make it a priority to win *every one* of the swing states that Clinton lost in 2016. I have no idea how you do that. But the goal needs to be to win them all. Run the table. Not: Let's try to win most of them, or some of them. And certainly not, Let's not worry about them, because nobody in their right mind will vote for Donald Trump. Guess what? They did! And some of them were in their right mind. No Inevitability. No Deplorables. No People Can Be Counted on to Do the Reasonable Thing. This campaign has to be waged liked a tournament in which the last seed is playing the first seed, and all the players on the losing team will be killed while their children are made to watch. That is the seriousness with which Democrats need to approach the 2020 election. Those are the stakes.
2
Terrific piece, Gail.
Humor does a lot to assuage our burbling fury against the mobster president.
As well as tourniquet the silly, paper cutting bleed of trivial critiques against his democratic challengers.
Nice to smile at an opinion piece that gets it done with a wink.
3
Everyone appreciates the difficulties/shortcomings that every candidate on the democratic side has. If we didn't know them before, Ms. Collins and some other columnists have been more than happy to point them out in a rather acerbic manner. My question is are you trying to get Trump reelected in 2020?
If you want to draw attention to faults they have, do so. However, spend the appropriate amount of ink highlighting the innumerable ways in which the nation would be much better served - perhaps even preserved - if any of these people took over the presidency from the astoundingly incompetent and unsuited current inhabitant.
Don't act like it's the 2016 campaign again where you attacked Clinton without being willing to even use the word "liar" in your descriptions of Trump for the longest time. He does not play by your rules.
7
"Then Biden, 76, is going to have to talk about age."
C'mon Gail, I know old people in their 50's and young ones in their 70's. Besides 80 is the new 60, haven't you heard?
I'll take Mike Bloomberg and any one of 'em for VP over any of this field.
3
I like the space-alien invasion question especially if they were ask what if the aliens were like those in the movie "Mars Attacks!" or the Twilight Episode "To Serve Man" (where we would end up being the hamburger Moulton would be eating with the aliens."
And the sub headline about Ringo raised my hopes for a minute that he had gotten into the race but then I remembered he wasn't born here and although in his time he probably helped the economy more than of the other candidates he is ineligible to run. Maybe he can give prime minister of Great Britain a shot. They need new leadership as much as we do.
2
Maybe he's viable with Klobuchar, Harris or Buttigieg as VP.
What ticket will maximize turn out and swing some 'undecideds' who have lost hope that Trump can mature.
Trump is calling Biden 'sleepy' in an rerun of his attack on Jeb Bush. It is likely Biden will face derision from the smearmeisters for gaffs, back rubs and college cheating. He will be caricatured as goofy.
He must have a better response than' we all make mistakes.' For Biden to survive the attacks, he must dismiss the mudslinging and forcefully insist that his knowledge and good relations with the GOP will really get things done...roll up his sleeves.
6
Yippee! Another man entering the race. One who has an uncomfortable record that vindicates animated displeasure.
3
I don’t know most of the candidates but the horde of women clambering in gives me a sinking feeling, like what true “cred” do they offer. Biden does not seem very well oriented, really, age notwithstanding. People “age” differently, some are old at 50, some do very well at 80. The world is replete with very old leaders, though many of them happen to be despots hanging on at the top forever; score one for our four year election cycle. For moxie I see Buttegieg (sp?) as the leader, on issues and temperament Sanders is by far the best.
Warren mainly spouts politically correct nostrums that lack real substance.
1
I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm fine with Biden. I'm fine with Harris. I'm fine(ish) with Sanders. I'm fine with Buttigieg. I'd be pleased with Warren, although that seems unlikely. I'd be pleased with Gillibrand. I'm fine with Moulton. I'm fine with Booker. I'm fine(ish) with Beto.
None of this is to say that I consider their positions to be identical, but rather that I think all will ultimately enact fairly centrist-Democrat policies if elected. And I'm fine with that.
More importantly, no matter who the nominee is, I will be a fervent supporter in the general. That's the commitment we really need - from Democratic voters, in favor of anyone-but-Trump.
12
The dance card is full. At 20, the debates can only hold 10 on the undercard and 10 in the main event. That will be quite a show. The job of the candidates and the voters is to find the combination that can carry a message that defeat a flawed, divisive man that still clings to a significant voter base and the support of a Party that has submitted themselves to his rule. Joe Biden wants his voice heard and has much to offer the effort to defeat of Donald Trump. The lesser candidates can do us all a favor once they have had their 15 minutes of fame and leave it to the candidates that can go the distance.
1
More than a candidate’s age, specific policies, individual character traits or past achievements, the primary litmus test for Dems in 2020 should be pure electability. In other words, who has the best chance of defeating Trump? THAT should be our single-minded goal. All other considerations are secondary. Here’s hoping we keep our eyes fixed on this all-important objective.
4
Right now I am leaning toward Warren, Buttegieg and Booker. Definite no on Biden and Sanders. I am nearly 86 and time does take its toll even though my mind is good. Want to see more debates from other networks, etc. like CNN had this week with a group of 5 candidates, one candidate being questioned at a time. I want someone who will get rid of the Electoral College. And who will beat Trump into the ground.
9
Call me old-fashioned, or a romantic, but I found Joe's announcement video to be both moving and persuasive. By defining the 2020 election as a "battle for the soul of the nation," he has created a rallying cry that I, for one, find very appealing. He has elevated the conversation to an existential level. He is making it about who we are as a people and a nation, not about who has the better ideas (frankly, I doubt if anyone can beat Trump with ideas because Trumpism is about gut-level anger). If we are about to go to war to save the "soul of the nation" I know of no candidate with....dare I say...the gravitas, to lead the charge.
7
Biden is Hillary in pants.
Both are corporate Democrats from yesteryear. Hillary ran twice and failed twice. Biden ran three times and failed three times. Both are fake news.
Biden ain't no "Lunch bucket Joe;" he's been a lawyer and politician all his life.
Biden is old and in the way - he probably only uses a smartphone to make calls. The new working class will see right through him.
Trump will polish him off, crush him like a beer can, and throw him out the car window.
Better to resuscitate, resurrect, and rehabilitate Hillary. At least she'd get the old woman vote.
7
Biden's is a vanity campaign doomed to failure like his previous (and numerous) attempts. He has a bad case of foot in mouth disease and a voting record badly out of step with everyone not living in the Beltway, Manhattan or the West side of Los Angeles.
See, "Lunchpail Joe" is a Corporate Democrat. Translated, that means socially centrist to liberal and center right on everything else. If you are a Wall Street Bankster with a Gay Son, he is probably your guy. If you are a blue collar worker in the non-Union South living from paycheck to paycheck, he is far from what you want.
This time Millennials will be the biggest generational block eligible to vote, and Joe helped push the Bankruptcy Bill through Congress. It made College Debt to where it cannot be discharged in bankruptcy- wonder if that is because all the banks are headquartered in Deleware (on paper, for taxes and regulation). Just imagine Senator Elizabeth Warren with the author of that horrible bill onstage and national TV, trying to get the nomination. Should be must-see TV.
Then there is the whole plagiarism think with Neil Kinnock. He pretty much lifted a UK Labor stump speech without attribution and claimed it as his family story at a campaign event. If he will lie about that, what else will he lie about? And RFK, and, and, and...
Here is NBC's report
https://youtu.be/QIaALKHVrAA
9
Our ticket should be Klobuchar-Hickenlooper because I just like the sound of that.
As for the age issue, just remember: ageism is the dumbest of all prejudices, because it amounts to a bias against your own future self.
5
@Baxter Jones
You said the same thing a few minutes ago. It hasn't improved with age.
5
Carly Simon: “It’s too late, baby, way too late.”
3
"Also new to the competition: Representative Seth Moulton, 40, who celebrated his entry into the race by answering a question from a reporter about what he’d do in case of a space-alien invasion."
There will be no invasions dearest delusionals. You're way too dangerous and have nuclear weapons, which you have used against innocents. I'm their beacon. You're all nuts and you made me nuts knowing you for over sixty years. But thanks for transmitting all those radio and TV signals out into the cosmos to warn other worlds. You're quarantined.
Joe Biden; You're cool. I liked you and Hillary so much I moved to the environment that molded you to find peace in my life among the people of your glowing character. But be warned. The Republicans are extremely dangerous and I suspect they were behind the murders of the Kennedy's as they viewed them as the "Three Brothers" Nostradamus foretold in his quatrains. You will need to toughen up and have good protection, exercise caution, and be firm. This is not kid stuff politics.
Additionally, you need to know, your crime bill was very shortsighted and lacked critical thinking of the consequences we now suffer. But I know you have a great capacity for change and it might be wise to adopt a platform outlining the corrective actions you will take to reinstitute civil liberties as you disarm the nation's police forces of their heavy military issued armaments. Even the Republicans will love you!
"O.K., see how many Democratic presidential candidates you can name."
I came up with 8 (forgot Beto) but I didn't get much sleep last night.
But Gail, if you're going to bring up the old "supported the Iraq War" scold could you at least offer the caveat that the Bush/Cheney cabal lied through their teeth to all of us. And even sent the one member of the administration with perceived credibility and gravitas to the UN Security Council to disseminate more lies?
As a (not so) wise man once said, "fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again.”
1
Gail, this article is an early onset of campaign fatigue.
Hopefully Biden and the Democratic Party can put together a ticket that can beat the criminal, illiterate autocrat - or we're doomed as a country.
3
Yang 2020: not a chance, really?
Don't know much about any of these guys and gals [actually I know practically nothing with the one exception of Mr Biden]; but I do know that reading Gail Collins is always a real delight.
4
Biden:most experienced, could repair foreign alliances
Booker:earnest
Buttigieg:articulate, calming, restorative, could repair nation
Castro: immigration ideas...cabinet position calling
Delaney: business guy
Gabbard: lost in the shuffle
Gillibrand: give it up-people are still mad at you
Harris: interesting, want to hear more
Hickenlooper: moderate
Inslee: head up the EPA
Klobuchar: should be doing better
Messam: who?
Moulton: Sec of Transportation
O'Rourke - not ready, should run for Texas governor instead
Ryan: Ohio
Sanders: Billionaires Beware
Swalwel: we'll see
Warren:policy wonk....Commerce Secretary if not White Hse
Williamson: Spiritual Advisor...
Yang: no traction
Schultz: Spoiler
8
@Mary
"Swalwel: we'll see"
I hope you'll take a good look at this good man. He's young and strong, smart and knowledgeable. Pro-choice, pro-gun control, a lawyer, has pledged to pick a woman as his running mate. Not intimidated by Trump.
3
Too old, too compromised, too beholden to the donor class, too creepy, too out of touch. Feelyam Jennings Bryan doesn't stand a chance.
2
"Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, former Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, and others are planning a fundraiser Thursday at the home of Comcast Senior Executive Vice President David L. Cohen."
https://whyy.org/articles/biden-to-enter-2020-race-thursday-rendell-other-philly-donors-ready-to-help/
Biden claims he represents the working class...yet his first gig after his big announcement is a lavish fundraiser at the home of an obscenely wealthy Corporate Executive.
Biden is the classic billionaire/establishment puppet.
Actions speak louder than words. Biden's actions are a complete contradiction to his words...which makes him as much of a liar as Donald Trump.
7
This is Gail Collins kicking it. Keep it up madame. I laughed out loud at least 5 times.
2
Glad he's thrown his hat into the race.
3
"JerryV" said "What counts is how the people in the marginal States who went for Trump decide to vote. Let's see whom they like; they will determine who will be our next President." For people who want to do this, several websites offer polling results on a state by state basis; you could filter for WI, MI, PA, etc. to get a feel for how people in those states feel at any time. Of course, the polling could change based on the latest scandal, etc. Here are two such sites --
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/latest_polls/state_president/
Only Biden can win for the Democrats. He has the smarts the experience and savoir-faire. He is even a good man— something that cannot be said about our despicable president who has none of above and is evil to boot!
3
Moulton said that if an alien invaded the earth he’d give him “a beer and a burger.”
Sounds like he's inviting the alien to party with Trump and Kavanaugh.
2
Why I will never vote for Biden!
ANITA HILL, ANITA HILL, ANITA HILL.
7
Biden awakes: the end of daze
4
Ego !!!!!!
Your too old Joe and now you have garranteed a trump victory along with Bernie and Beto !!!!!!
Today is a sad day for me because I am voting for Amy Klobuchar and / or Liz Warren as a disgusted Republican senior citizen retiree and upper middle class professional and now the boys are back and spoilers for trump. !!!!
The pollls don’t cover my posse of Republican women.
And very few women in comments admit to being Republican and always deploring trump et al.
Women and the poor and non whites are at dire risk with all the hateful rhetoric and behavior. Laws controlling women and poor voters are still in place and actively altering the landscape of social mores and values with fake news .
For some sick reason men on the democrat side are just as covertly fearful of females as the fundamentalist evangelical mulligan crew!!!!!
So fearful they perform cartwheels over establishment has beens.....! loads of available scandals to use in debates with trump if the boys reach their ego driven presidential debate !
Women we have got to get this right. We deserve a leader like New Zealand has.
And an election system revamp before 2020.
Russia won in 2016
Russia is on the ballot again as republicans and democrats with secrets belly up to the candidate bar to drink in trump coolaide.
We are now on the verge of great generational loss of rights we thought the constitution had guaranteed.
My daughters and sons deserve a future where capitalism functions for the poor worker
2
"I mean, you got the first mainstream [white]-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," ...
Younger than Ringo......now that says he's a spring chicken alright.
2
Mayor Pete has explained his positions many times in some detail, Gail. Even if you don't like to use Google, you could have visited his campaign website. This article contains so much silly snark, it reads more like a Daily Show monologue than a serious Times columnist.
2
But, oh yeah, you forgot that Joe is eminently qualified.
1
Trump will steamroll over all the Democrats
2
Platform, Mayor Pete: Pro bono, contra malum. For the good, against the bad. Specifics after Election Day.
And don't mention that consultancy. Uh-uh.
Lovely bloke. But I do wish he had something to offer besides -- I've never set a careerist foot wrong.
3
“...Buttigieg said it was important not to overwhelm people with too many specifics “before we’ve vindicated the values that animate our policies...
Gail, let’s help the poor guy out:
Quick show of hands – who doesn’t like free stuff???
OK, Pete – now, have at it...
.....
Compared to the rest – it showed remarkable maturity and executive restraint...
None of them ever even though to ask anyone – let alone those who’ll actually be paying for things...
3
I admire Biden and Sanders, but after so many years in positions of power, I wish they'd both step aside in favor of the younger candidates, many of whom are well qualified. Time for some new blood. So opines this 70-year old life-long Democrat.
5
We can jabber about the various policies of the many candidates with all their foibles and fine points, but I can’t help but think of the words of Jon Stark in “Game of Thrones” when he exasperatingly reminds those around him who are focused on who will be king or queen of what throne that that kind of quibbling DOESN’T MATTER ANYMORE! The Night King and his army of the dead have arrived and are laying waste all before them and must be defeated with millions of “Dragon glass” votes for WHOMEVER is the Democratic nominee.
1
I strongly supported Bernie in 2008, voted for Hillary, and gave lots of money to both. (+$1000 each)
But this point, I wish Bernie would drop out to instead, support one of the other competitors. And Biden is a disaster waiting to happen.
I will vote for the Democratic candidate--without fail, but I would be particularly happy if it's Warren. She's very smart, energetic, specific, and tough.
6
There was nothing sleepy about Joe's video. Pugnacious is a better word. Unlike the other candidates, Joe's announcement focused on the most important issue in the 2020 election: saving American democracy. And the video clearly sent the message he is the one to do it. Bernie is also pugnacious, but is he electable? Does he have the stuff to knock out Trump? Let's face it, despite the quality of the field the nomination comes down to Joe and Bernie. Bernie scares too many people, including Democrats. He doesn't scare Trump. But Joe does.
4
I don't think that Biden will get the nomination, but I'm happy to have him out there. He has absolutely nothing to lose and I hope he will be willing to come straight at Trump and force the other candidates to do the same.
4
I read somewhere before the last election that the candidate who wins is someone temperamentally the opposite of the incumbent.
This certainly explains Trump. I can think of no figure more different than Obama.
So the Democratic candidate should value the truth, value the country more than himself, be able to speak a coherent sentence, take advice from people who actually have knowledge .. By that standard, any of the 20 running would win.
Oh, and I forgot not play golf at an expensive country club. I actually think that will be the strongest criteria. We are ready for a candidate who was not born to privilege.
2
Don't sell Joe too short as there is a very good reason he is on top of the polls. Those that support Biden believe he can is most likely to unseat Trump - plain and simple.
For us it is not about who has the most focused proposals. It is not just about how many young people will vote or choose to stay at home. It is not just about getting out the minority vote either. And it is not at all about winning the west coast or the north east.
Our prayer is that the Democratic nominee can garner enough votes in swing-states to swing the Electoral College. Nothing else, I repeat ... nothing else really matters. And here, I don't believe Harris, Warren, or Sanders stands but more than an off chance. Biden on the other hand does.
Some will say he has too much luggage. But over eight of the past ten years, that luggage includes having been the most effective VP in modern history and one who had the closest of possible relationships with his President. That is the essence of Joe's last set of Samsonite.
And most everyone other than persons that would normally never-ever vote for a Democrat know this. Other than Trump diehards, the only path to victory lies in winning these "fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me" voters.
My current dream ticket is Biden & Mayor Pete. The optics here provide us with a defeat of Trump while preparing Pete for the top job, experience that will serve him and our nation well. And if age becomes the issue, Biden could defer to one term.
5
I don't condemn Joe Biden for his age, but I just can't see him as the standard-bearer for the ideas that today's Democratic Party seems intent on building their platform upon. That message just wouldn't ring true coming from him -- and I think we'll see that play out in the primaries. At the same time, I do worry that candidates like Sanders, Warren and Harris will be viewed as too "radical" by mainstream voters in the general election. And with the economy doing "well," they may opt to stick to the devil they know: Trump. Who among these 20 candidates has the gravitas AND can garner the widespread appeal to defeat Trump and lead our nation? I'm really not sure. But I do worry that the primary process is going to yield a Democrat nominee who's farther left than much of America will be comfortable with. And against that backdrop, Biden may be the safe answer, if not the ideal one. By election time, there SHOULD be a large number of people who voted for Trump in 2016 who have seen the error of their ways. Democrats need to focus their attention on THOSE voters and choose their candidate accordingly.
1
If Biden is the eventual nominee he will have my vote. His policies are decent, he has grown with the times, and he is generally personable. However, he is not my first choice of candidate.
Let's see what he has to say to us all. I don't hold him being an old white guy against him, but it's not a positive either. Policies and implementation are my thing. I don't mind if it isn't the thing for everybody on the left this time--Trump won without any real specifics on anything, and it shows, but he is still pushing and still has a base.
1
Joe as VP... lots of experience.
I am still not sold on Biden, but, having said that, I just want a big W in 2020. Winning in 2020 will not be about the long ball----but short ball. A candidate and a strategy that wins by keeping the ball in play---Trumps betrayal of the middle class and corruptness---not about hitting the ball out of the park---the green new deal/college for all. Biden is very good at the short ball---he strikes out when trying to hit the long ball.
2
And he has no chance to beat Trump
3
"everybody has stories about what a lovely guy he is in person."
- No, not everybody. Guess you didn't read about the women he enjoys creeping out with his wandering hands, nose, and lips.
1
That last line about Booker is a real zinger, Gail! Cracked me up.
1
Joe Biden is EXPERIENCED, He is NORMAL. He is a DECENT human being. All these tweet cap words are something Trump is definitely not. Are you looking for the perfect candidate to run against Trump? Please stop the circular firing squad liberal Democrats always engage in.
A regular guy running our country would be a great deal considering the mentally disturbed person who is currently in office.
6
Make America Normal Again.
Biden/Harris 2020
4
Biden is the Democrats' best shot, if and only if he stops apologizing for his past. That makes him look weak, and it looks like pandering to an ultra Left wing of the party that will probably vote for Bernie or Warren anyway.
Biden will also win the General election by speaking to the rust belt working class people that Obama and Hillary ignored and that gave Trump the election. He is also one of the only candidates in the race with the ability to chart a middle of the road economic coarse that doesn't threaten to throw us into an immediate recession. (Progressive dreams die quick deaths when they ruin people's actual lives.)
4
I love Joe, I really do, but he's too old and his time has passed. The current political climate and this president do not call for the "Same Old Same Old." The last thing we need is another Dem retread. It's time for a new face and a new generation. The Dems have some good ones.
2
So Gail Collins thinks Biden is nice? Ask Anita Hill about that if you really want the truth.
He's experienced? Well the DNC said experience didn't matter when they gave the nod to Obama. So why is experience so important again?
He's younger than Ringo? Methuselah is younger than Ringo.
2
The biggest benefit from him joining the race is not that he may become the nominee, but that he is a familiar, experienced politician against whom all the other candidates can be judged fairly.
Having Biden to set the bar is great news for the Democratic primary process.
I look forward to seeing how the rising newcomers like Buttigieg compare to Biden on stage and under pressure.
3
@AGuyInBrooklyn
Excellent point. I never thought of it that way. He could be the pace car.
4
Look for the Republicrats to rain money at him. Prediction: his first 24 hours will reap more than Bernie's first 24. He will fail to be the nominee over the dead body of the political establishment. And if he is, we have to vote for him. To quote a less-than-great American: Sad!
2
@Dale Copps
I would suspect much like in 2016, the millions of voters that Sanders and progressives have energized in the last four years, as in 2016 will look at Joe Biden and just conclude "more of the same" and stay home handing the Presidency to Trump for another four years.
When you have a democratic party that continues with their obsession of collecting money over winning elections, it still has never occurred to them that for those voters that would ultimately make the difference in whether or not the democrats win the WH in 2020, the thought of picking the "lesser of two evils" is no longer acceptable.
2
If it's a contest for who's the nicest, I think Joe can beat Trump, but I'd prefer a career prosecutor who's experienced dealing with white collar crime.
3
Some questions about the candidates.
1. Who has the smallest hands?
2. How many of them take Geritol?
3. Did any of them ever take a science course in college?
4. Have any ever been on the front page of the National Enquirer?
5. How many of them are really just hoping for a position in a future Democratic administration?
Some questions for voters.
1.What candidate, if elected, will have the most campaign promises unfulfilled during his/her administration? (pick a number from 5 to 1).
2.What candidate, if elected, is least likely to be impeached by Republicans.
3. What candidate, if elected, would refuse to meet with Trump or shake his hand?
4. How long will it take for the number of candidates to be reduced to two or three?
5. How long will it take for you to become bored by the campaign?
6. Why do you believe what any candidate, considering that "talk is cheap"?
1
@Pessoa Can I pick Trump? I like Trump. I'm voting for him in the general. But, I'm a fair guy. I'll vote for Beto or Bernie or Joe in the primaries. I won't lie. Picking one will be tough. They're all pretty sharp.
I think Democrats should pick the person they most want to run in 2024. That way, they can learn from this cycles mistakes.
I'm on for the Don.
@Mike
And I think Democrats should pick someone to run in 2020 -- because with Trump, there's no telling if we'll even see 2024.
1
Old people are the biggest threat to progress and to progressives.
I am a Baby Boomer. The sooner we are gone the better off this world will be.
I remember living the 60s: peace, love, never take a bath.
All the old people you know...
once supported progressive ideas because it was popular to support them
after Reagan, they did not have to pretend
What am i saying? SELLOUTS
All the Baby Boomers were very liberal in the 60s when it was in vogue but changed as soon as Reagan became president: showed their true colors.
SELL OUTS
Old people: the scourge of freedom.
3
Speak for yourself old man. This old 60s NY liberal is still a liberal, progressive or whatever label you want to throw at me. And there’s still a lot of us voting.
5
Let's face it wall street and the DNC want Biden just like they wanted Hillary they both will back the money people and will work for them, he will give us a bone now and then as far as big changes like health care for every one or free college tuition or pay off student loans do not count on it. The DNC and the RNC only want a wall street ( Big Business ) person to be president. Sanders and Warren have the best direction for America. Trump is president the people wanted BIG change Trump flaunted health care the people want it he lied to them it worked he's in. We must turn the Senate as well.
4
@ted
No offense. But you're in Dreamworld if you don't think Big Bucks plays a role in most things in America, and you also seem to forget that progressive candidates Sanders has to go in with the DNC to get any traction even though he still calls himself an Independent.
Want REAL CHANGE??
Let's get rid of the Electoral College and big money lobbies like Citizens United.
1
He would have won had he run, and the Dems were smart enough to nominate him, in 2016. It's now too late, as the Democrat party has spiraled off its gimbels and actively associates itself with radical redistributionist and dangerously Statist policies. And thus, once again, they hand the election to Trump.
Biden: Redeeming 70-year-old-Presidential candidates.
2
Alas, I wish I knew why I’m not at all excited about any of the Democrats in the race.
2
I will vote for anyone who is not Trump, but my dream team so far consists of Elizabeth Warren and Pete Buttegeig. Warren is smart, experienced, and works on behalf of ordinary citizens. She has a conscience and a moral compass. Buttigeig is also intelligent and a good diplomat - the fact that he's a successful, gay, Democratic mayor in a conservative state like Indiana speaks to his ability to handle intra-party relations. Both are pragmatists and both focus on nuts and bolts - like fixing potholes (Mayor Pete) and helping ordinary citizens to fight back against the corporatists (Warren's Consumer Protection Bureau, which was actually doing some good before the Republicans targeted it for destruction). Mentioning "Republicans" moves me to reiterate: I will vote for anyone who isn't Trump.
10
Message to Joe and Bernie - late 70's is too old for the most complex political job in the world. I say this as a retired man in his late 60's. I fear that with Biden and Sanders, it is all about ego.
6
the Democratic party shouldn't be a house divided against itself so yes, I'd support Biden as a centrist and suggest he run with Sen Tammy Duckworth to sweep the heartland and unite the nation behind an experienced hand on the tiller and a ready for the Situation Room second in command.
The nomination is over a year from now. The first primary is over 6 months away. The mood of the Democrats AND all others will determine the Democratic nominee. If MOST of the Democrats who are the voters in ALL the states a year from now, the moderates like Biden will be the lead horses. If the country as a whole goes left, it will be a Chinese fire drill.
1
My primary concern, above any and all others, is to have a candidate who can beat Trump. Another four years of Trump would have such utterly devastating consequences for our country that elect-ability should be far and away our concern not only as Democrats but as Republicans who are concerned about preserving our democracy. There were many voters who would not vote for Hillary Clinton because she was a woman. Much as I would love to see a woman become president, that needs to wait for an election where the consequences of losing are not so dire. Same thing with a person of color. I loved Obama, but not this election, please. Obama's not running, and there's too much at stake to give racists an excuse to vote against a Democrat. We need a white male this time around. I think most people out in the hinterlands - the people the Democrats lost to Trump - really don't care about Joe Biden's age. I'd vote for him and I think he stands the best chance of winning over all the other potential candidates in the pack.
THE objective of the Democratic Party should be the defeat of Donald Trump. If they can't see their way clear towards that objective then what chance do they have. There are many important cabinet posts that need to be filled by either Mr.Biden or the other Democrats. For heavens sake PLEASE don't loose sight of the principal goal ... defeat of the worst excuse of a US president since Richard Nixon.
8
Biden has experience, is well liked by most, has worked among difficult Repubs for years, his overall policies are liberal but not so "scary" to conservatives. He has no identifying ethnic, gay or other problems to attack. Like it or not he has the best chance to win regardless of what you think about him otherwise. Regardless of who wins getting any really radical program through the congress will not work, it has to be small steps and Joe knows this.
4
The Democratic base is not in the mood for patriotic prose. Joe better brush up on policy and specifics just like Harris, Warren, Mayor Peter and above all Sanders.
Sanders IMO will keep them all honest re: policy because he sticks to the same resonating themes. Number one being healthcare for everyone. If Joe serves up some political mush he will follow in the wake of his previous presidential campaigns. Good luck to us all.
2
While not a Democrat, I would welcome the large field of candidates to choose from. I think people need to see alternatives. I only hope the Dems do a better job of selecting one than the GOP did last time.
1
This is going to be a fun campaign. We are going to hear a lot of voices, with a lot of ideas for moving the Nation forward. We have a year and a half to sort through this.
In that time people will hear about higher taxes on wealth; Medicare for All; free college tuition; socialist democracy; progressive capitalism; and with all the voices the voters in middle America might begin to realize these ideas are not so scary. These ideas are not so un-American.
I like Joe and Liz and Bernie. I am about their age and I would prefer to see someone younger in the White House; but I really don't care who gets the nomination.
I just want to see the current squatter in our House get tossed out and put where he belongs. In Leavenworth,
8
Joe Biden joins the big crowd, but he is not part of this crowd.
4
Whatever you do, don't be a Bernie brat. You can love him without loathing or cutting down anyone else, like you did Hillary. If he doesn't win don't go off pouting and staying home. Otherwise Trump will get re-elected.
16
Gail, the count keeps rising— I think Mike Gravel is also running. (Though he’s a libertarian). 21 now!
1
The one thing no one on the left is really addressing, and that is immigration, which is what gave us Trump in the first place and could very well give us 4 more, plus maybe 8 years of a virulent white walker (Pence).
Immigration opposition is the impetus behind the rising fascism all over Europe. If we don't strengthen our immigration apparatus we are all doomed in more ways than one.
To allow anyone who sets foot on US soil to stay is just crazy. This policy needs to be reformed. We can't keep encouraging people to just show up.
Give Trump his stupid wall? Maybe. Then what could he fear monger about then?
7
@Jonush - re immigration.....I support a path to citizenship for DACAs and for non-citizens who have lived in this country for 20+ years, been self-supporting, paid taxes, and have no criminal record.
2
Joe Biden--The Fifth Beatle? Just as welcome in light of Devastating Hurricane for last three years
1
Re: Candidate positions. It's about eight months before the primaries (only one of which I can vote in), and more than 18 months before the election. At this point, as long as nobody has an egregious position -- say, defending torture or demanding that all Americans be forced to tithe 10% of their earnings to the Trump Organization -- frankly, I don't care. There will be plenty of time to get into the weeds in 2020, as the group of candidates is winnowed down, and by then the news media will be focusing on haircuts and that time so-and-so tweeted something stupid.
1
He’s also obsolete. Thank you for your service, Vice President Biden. But we really don’t need your kind of middle of the road leadership anymore. We need someone who is much more radical to recover from the human disaster known as DJT. Enjoy your retirement.
Bernie 2020!
6
We already have a narcissist in the White House. Were Biden to run, it would be gross self-indulgence and a betrayal of the voters.
Things are far too serious for these people to play games to satisfy their egos.
3
"Representative Seth Moulton, 40, who celebrated his entry into the race by answering a question from a reporter about what he’d do in case of a space-alien invasion", That's easy, build a wall.
4
The wall we need to build is between the Blue and Red States. With that in place, the tax dollars of the Blue states wouldn’t be used to subsidize life in the Red States. The Red States would be free to enjoy the world they defined for themselves.
1
I'll have to say that this is the most condescending article I've read in the Times in a while. While all these candidates have strengths and weaknesses, but you aren't at the top of your mental game when you are in your 80's, plus I think most of our new wave of younger voters aren't going to identify with another geriatric like Trump...I like them all, but for the record I prefer Harris, Warren and Buttigieg. The debate stage will tell...
3
The frequency of rejection of comments is disheartening.
I'm very disappointed you did not allow me to contribute to the debate.
3
Thank goodness for Gail's columns. Some mornings, they save me from a day of politico-cultural despair.
>>> "Buttigieg said it was important not to overwhelm people with too many specifics 'before we’ve vindicated the values that animate our policies.'”
If she hadn't carefully placed those quotation marks, I might have suspected Ms. Collins of inventing that line. Priceless.
3
Ahh, I get it. If you hang around long enough, then you are, hey presto, entitled to be the nominee.
If you survive lots of slings and arrows and your own missteps, misstatements, misses generally, then snap your fingers you deserve the nomination.
Doesn't matter if you're a little dim; Trumpsky has trumped that for all time. Nobody else is ever going to be that dumb.
Doesn't matter if you're a little clueless about kissing/hugging/touching/smelling people, that's just you being you, sorta like Trump being Trump but not as slimy.
Doesn't matter if you might just be the poster boy of poster boys: the quintessential American pol, who by dint of staying power and a 40 watt smile has managed to get past his sell-by date.
Yes, people say he can probably guarantee that all of, say, Pennsylvania will go to the dems; how he's going to appeal to Trumpites is unexplained, but it's a given: Joe delivers.
He's serving himself up to roasting on a spit above the rage of Trump and his roaring mob. He shoulda stayed in bed today.
4
Ringo espouses peace (foreign influence from the Maharishi? -- have at it FOX) at every opportunity and has a skill. Of course, constitutionally he can't run given his foreign birth (have at it, Donald and birthers), but these days does the Constitution still matter (the slogan to be applied to Ringo's campaign hats)?
3
Whomever wins the Democratic nomination, the rest of the candidates should commit to go east west north and south to stump for them.
7
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 77?
10
This is a terrible article that is marginalizing someone based on their age and not by their experience. Maybe you need to get a new job and work under Trump and his cruel administration. Joe Biden has the right message. Your message was 'He’s nice, he’s experienced and he’s younger than Ringo.' Could you not think of something other to write, maybe something hopeful to write in times like these. We need to lift each other up not push people down in the ground. Well - this is an opinion column and you know what they say about opinions.
2
Which strong and competent woman will be your running mate, Joe?
Today's Democratic Party: older white men need not apply and we don't want you. Looks like 4 more years of Trump.
1
All you have to do is go on you tube and watch any of the swearing in ceremonies Biden presided over where there were women and esp. female children and you will see why this man should not run for President ... honestly it's hard to watch some of them. This man has a real problem. There is a reason why the Washington Post and several other papers call him 'Creepy Joe.' It would a disaster for Democrats if he even runs. These CSPAN videos will be all over the place. Gail Collins should know this.
4
@Doctor Woo
Sorry. But anyone who has ever seen the video of Donald Trump BRAGGING about how he grabs women by their private parts, already knows what "creepy" looks like.
Nice try. Try again.
Though Biden's record has flaws that turns me on but maybe a centrist is what we need? I personally see Biden with Pamela Harris, or any of the other very intelligent women on the ticket as vice president, then four years down the road, when this chronic liar is out of office. I would like to see my first President to be a bright intelligent woman who is following through with lots of promises the young people and the planet urgently need.
Who can defeat this very dangerous, destructive, hateful person that soils the white house now with his own picked swamp??
Very interesting that Biden’s video goes straight at Trump’s racism and his white supremacist supporters. It is a clear attack line that asks the American people “Whose side are you on”? It addresses the wrong and addresses the undecided voter. It is about values, and it is about emotional responses. It asks you to imagine the good feelings you will have with Biden as President and the bad feelings you will have with Trump in a second term.
3
It's fun -- and more amusing than Ms. Collins's column today -- to see that she doesn't really know who to back and who to mock. So she equivocates, which is fine for a serious pundit but a disaster for someone who deems herself on the cutting edge of with-it putdown commentary.
Perhaps Ms. Collins should write a column in which she admits that the entire cadre of Dem hopefuls isn't worth more than what one of FDR's VPs,Cactus Jack Garner, described as the value of the VP position.
2
Trump is a horrible human being and an even worse president. Every single candidate in the Democratic field is by far more qualified than Trump. I still believe that Hillary would have been a very good president. But she could not beat Trump. We can't re-nominate Obama and we can't bring back RFK. But if we choose wisely and then get behind our choice, then perhaps we can send Trump back to his tower. But first, first we must choose a candidate this time that is electable.
2
Joe Biden may be younger than Ringo Starr, but at least Ringo could (often) keep the beat.
As far as policy proposals go, why would any candidate bother to spend the time coming up with a solid platform, when they can just take the one that Elizabeth Warren has built, and claim it as their own?
Bernie Sanders seems to have already taken credit for shifting the discussion among the Democratic Party, and he did it all three years ago.
Right now, it looks to me as if he can deliver Pennsylvania and maybe a couple of other states the Democrats need to win. If it continues to seem that this is true as the campaign progresses, I'm all in. I don't think the Democrats have to worry about California in the general election. If Joe Biden's dog was running for president, it would beat Trump here and, by the way, would make a better president. Way nicer to people in general. I have one and only one biggest requirement -- beat Trump.
3
The Best Democratic candidate is the one who can verbally (punch) Trump in the literal mouth.
On stage, Hillary failed vs Donald by not getting in his face aggressively. Trump is not a gracious, gentile fighter. He is a (insert word) no-holds barred fighter.
Half, at least if not more than half - want that FIGHT from the Democratic nominee.
Best Verbal fighters - I think:
1. Beto Fresh, a bit feisty. nice fight vs Cruz
2. Mayor Pete Fresher, new and bold on stage
3. Harris Could put the prosecuter thing to work
4. Warren Brilliant - but not a strong debater
5. Sanders Brillian - but tired of Millionaire/Billionaires
Rest go home. Not enough fight, stamina or fresh ideas
My 2 cents.
1
Joe should show the results of his latest medical exam, blood tests, etc. He has aged terribly in the last several months to the point where he's barely recognizable in some pictures.
Why is he subjecting himself and the country to this? He's too old, too frail. So pale and haggard.
5
Biden is too old. Buttigieg is too young. Everyone in between is something - too establishment, too wonky, too un-electable, too white, too male or, to their supporters, just right. I say this: let them fight it out and whoever wins gets everyone's support. Note to Sanders supporters: getting rid of Trump is more important than anything. ANYTHING.
4
I love the passion of Bernie and the experience of Biden but we need to be done with old white men. That is what got us the world we're in. I am 65, it's the next generation that has to clean up the mess my generation created, let the have at it.
5
Mark my words: Mayor Pete is going to win this thing.
2
@John
No. Too twerpy. Too short.
3
We don’t need “nice” or avuncular. We need tough and smart. There are too many egos flying around and the party needs to reduce he number of candidates to a reasonable amount, as right now things look chaotic and laughable. I realize this is anti-democratic, but I wish Nancy Pelosi would grab her gavel, gather all the candidates and winnow down the number to a representative number transcending age or identity politics. This election is for the soul of America. If there’s any soul left.
Personally, I see too many white men getting all the attention at the expense of extremely qualified women. Have we not moved on?!
It's nice to see Gail poking fun at Democrats for a change. Even if she's doing so very gently.
Hooray for Biden. That means we have a chance to win.
I wish the Far Left would focus on winning a bigger gain of Representatives and Senators, before going to the Presidency... and guaranteeing again, the Republicans WIN.
Just look at history:
Ralph Nader helped George Bush win over Al Gore.
Bernie Sanders helped Trump win over Hillary Clinton.
AND: for me: That makes Bernie Sanders a villain this time around. What an egomaniac. Bernie Sanders once again is vying to be a GIFT to Republicans!
6
@Pat
You know of course that these days, anyone who thinks like this is regarded as something akin to being an 'enemy of the people'.
However the facts simply bear out what you say -- while the majority of Democrats may well agree with some of the things "progressive socialist" candidates have to say, the bottom line is they won't vote them.
And at this point, we NEED someone who can not only win -- but trounce Trump in 2020.
So let's just hope whatever boat Democrats choose, it's big and strong enough to hold us all.
1
"..he once helped weaken gun control, opposed busing for racial integration, supported the Iraq war and seemed to ignore complaints about sexual harassment by a Supreme Court nominee. "
so he is Trump-lyte; so that should get him the votes of centrist Republicans?
2
Experience is a wonderful thing especially in the form of mentorship. It is a mystery to me, particularly when the 'old white guy' mantra is so prevalent, that Biden and Sanders have not leant their experience to individuals better suited to the presidency in both age and time. These guys need to wake up! Their time has past and Biden has tried this and lost several times already. Enough!
2
Actually, Ms. Collins, a Ringo candidacy not that far fetched, given Fred Trump's recently discovered German birthplace.
This is a pity. Biden has many of the attributes which caused Hillary to lose when she should obviously won in a landslide. Most seriously , he is a warmonger with no record of any intention to try to reconcile a world of
conflict.
1
Glad Joe is running. Needed is someone who isn’t too far to the left. Ideas like Medicaid for all sound good but it’s too costly. Too many ideas by too many running that will ever make it through congress. Joe needs to choose a young running mate just in case something happens to him.
Again, I urge 15 unknowns or have crazy ideas as to what they want to do to go home. All twenty should get together, caucus. Agree that at least 15 drop out. Get the number running to a manageable 5. Right now, all I see is a Trump victory. Please will 15 of those running drop out and go home. Do it for the country.
1
Funny column. Trump seems determined to have himself removed from office so we might as well laugh about the
army of Democrats lining up to replace him.
2
See my address? Guess who has been my renaissance-mayor for the past eight years. Has our community benefitted from his leadership, his ability to listen attentively and change course when he sees the light? You betcha! He’s kind, he’s brilliant, he’s magnanimous and he’s wonderfully young, but mature beyond his age, (no doubt a very old soul). No policies you say Gail? Read his autobiography, and listen to every interview he’s generously given, if you can’t figure out that his values lead directly to his policies, you’re not doing your homework. I’m going on 64 and I have been a proud working class feminist for 40 of those years. I broke barriers, as an example I drove an 18 wheeler cross country for over a year starting in 1976! Would I like to see a woman president? I sure would, but I’m all in for the right person for the right time and Mayor Pete is my choice. I know him and I trust him with my children and grandchildren’s future, because it his future too. That being said, I vow to not denigrate any of the candidates in the primaries and I will support whomever the nominee turns out to be with all I have because our world is in grave danger with the current occupant of the White House. Be kind, folks! Let’s get it right this time!
9
You don't do Mayor Pete credit. His point is that we have to get certain fundamentals done - especially democracy - before we can even enact any policies. I love Warren's wealth tax proposal, but good luck getting it passed without a big change in Congress.
2
Part of why Hillary Clinton failed in her bid for the Presidency was that she deliberately stressed continuity with an electorate that was heavily divided and wanted substantive change. Biden appears to epitomize this perspective. Candidates like Sanders and Warren are tapping into voter's fundamental disaffection and fully justified sense of being treated unfairly. Yet the current economic prosperity may work against them with a jaded electorate. On the other hand by election time the Republican tax cuts will have run their course- and the economy may reverse direction. More anything else- this will give Democrats a strong chance of winning across all electoral races.
The Democratic hopefuls are tapping into disaffection with Trump- but this is a very, very low bar- despite Trump's loyal and foolish base that none of them will ever be able to successfully appeal to- despite Sander's recent efforts.
The problem with the Democratic hopefuls is that with the exception of Warren (who takes strong stands and has a strong background and track record)- none of them have answered the question of why them?
Even Buttigieg, the youngest of the bunch- seems more traditional in his approach to the electorate than Sanders and Warren. It is as if he is running an Obama style 2012 campaign- without the charisma and strong minority support Obama had.
Hillary Clinton was one of the most widely respected public servants BEFORE she ran for President. Will Biden suffer the same fate?
6
@Lowell Greenberg Yes. I believe Hillary was out of touch with the current democratic base and deemphasized the traditional role for workers and unions while being much cosier with the MIC and Wall Street. In her almost excessive exuberance at the end she also uttered some very bloodthirsty quotes unworthy of a human let alone a politician. I could see no pease coming from her. Biden's record is not dissimilar .
After the debacle of 2016, Democrats should think long and hard about the electability of their candidate. Setting aside their policies (which warrants it's own discussion), I think it will hurt Democrats to nominate Biden or Sanders, purely because they are career DC politicians who have track records that can be ripped apart and will their equity (i.e. they have a high likelihood, plus more importantly take the focus away from Trump and cementing Trump as the outsider candidate, at a time when people want change.
I also think folks like Harris and Booker are hard sells to the heartland of America, e.g. a senator from SF will be tough for them to swallow.
I think you're much better off going with an obscure candidate with who can be perceived as an outsider, but one who is also smart, articulate, and capable. E.g. Mayor Pete, Jay Inslee, Steve Bullock, Klobuchar (whose record doesn't go too far back), Hickenlooper, etc. What this does is put more of the focus back onto Trump and avoids getting bogged down with conversations about the Obama/Biden presidency or his years in congress, or a philosophical discussion on socialism with Sanders. Keep the pressure on Trump.
2
@Joe Arena
Joe,
You mentioned Steve Bullock, 2 term progressive democratic governor of Montana. How visionary. He's standing in the wings. I think he's the guy.
This election cycle calls for a radical departure from the stale DNC offers that cannot and will not win against Trump. However, we have a field of candidates that offer competingly exciting radical narratives that will be hard to choose from. We do want a more equal society that works reasonably well for all of its citizens. But do we want an octagenarian president just because he is unafraid of saying he is a socialist? We also want a woman president. But which one? Do we really want someone really young? With a lot of chutzpah but not much experience. Can we get someone who is a socialist, but will not make every large corporation pour money into opposition, who is young and fresh, but also old and experienced, who is a woman, and of color, but not so much flaunting it to make every single white male vote for Trump? It is a tough choice.
2
Whoever gets the Democratic nomination will have my enthusiastic support. The Republicans had a huge list of completely awful candidates with the worst one coming out on top. If the worse of the Democrat candidates wins, we will still be dancing in celebration.
3
Biden-Harris. It’s all about the math. For our party, that means a ticket with the broadest range of reliable regional and demographic support; from Pennsylvania and California, presenting both a highly accomplished legislator/prosecutor and a widely respected and experienced senior statesman. It gets us the midwest states we need, distrustful bluedog dems, military voters, and inspires our traditional base which is too diverse to describe in this post. I love Elizabeth Warren and campaigned for her Senate run, but she can’t bring the presidency home, at least not this cycle. Biden-Harris can go the distance.
2
Finally! I am a big Biden fan, so my vote is for him to be the 2020 candidate. Main reasons: His experience, his empathy, and his ability to win the election. Especially his electability. The Democrats must win PA, MI and WI in 2020, while holding all the states that Hillary Clinton won in 2016. Biden is much more likely to win those three states than any other of the candidates for the nomination. I was rooting earlier for Sherrod Brown, who could also win these three states. Amy Klobuchar is the next likely candidate who could also do so. Thus, my current recommendation for the 2020 ticket becomes Biden-Klobuchar, or maybe even Biden-Brown if Sherrod can be brought on board.
2
In 2016 everybody complained that Clinton was anointed with no competition. Well now we have the opposite. Now we have the opposite, with wide ranging liberal to moderate candidates.
I like Biden and Harris. One from both coasts. And a credible youthful VP in case Biden doesn't make it all the way through. And not idealogues. And look at verifiable facts over hype, myths and religious dogma to show the way.
And understand Isaiah Berlin's statement that "The first function of any social organization is the elimination of extreme suffering". And are willing to let skilled scientists and engineers free hand to deal with the technical issues of climate change.
And recognize that the refugee crisis will not go away until the problems in their homelands are dealt with. And see that money circulated by ordinary people helps the economy while that stashed in tax havens by the filthy rich does not.
And are willing to help with education costs and student loans just like other civilized countries. And realize that unregulated free enterprise becomes tyranny. And are willing to face down the NRA and regulate firearms just like other potentially hazardous items.
It's a tall order.
2
I opened the home page of the NYT this morning only to be greeted by an article describing trump's defiance of subpoenas. Here is a guy that defies the law, convention and the legislative branch of our government. One can only imagine what he is hiding. It would be a welcome relief to have any of these 20 candidates as president, I'd even favor Romney's dog over trump.
6
@Steve
Lest we forget, his name was Seamus.
2
Most of us remember what seemed like a crowd of Republicans running for their party's 2016 nomination. Now there are 20 Democrats and probably more to come. Who wants to even envision the first debate? I like and respect Joe Biden but why did he wait so long to enter the race? I don't see him as the nominee to beat Trump.
1
I wish the news media would pick up and write about all the things that Trump ran on and hasn’t accomplished and run that into the ground. The Mueller report will get out, Trump will get his due diligence when he is out of office, we need additional Democrats in the senate, and if Biden gets the nod and chooses a woman VP we the democrats will rally behind as a lock step group. Yes I know that this isn’t the way an election should take place but times like this call for drastic measures
1
Climate change IS an existential threat. The concentration of CO2 is now over 400 PPM, higher than it ever has been in the history of human civilization, and the trend isn't looking good. That's why we need Jay Inslee, the great governor of the State of Washington. He has made climate change his number one issue. If we don't get climate change right, nothing else matters.
2
"Cory Booker just promised to pick a woman for a running mate. It’s an interesting position, but not nearly as interesting as a woman picking Cory Booker for a running mate."
LOVE IT!
Thank you, Gail.
11
Lot's of serious comments below. For me I think it was your funniest column ever. I had to stop and read sections out loud to my wife. Gail, your comments made me start the day with smile. Thanks for that.
3
Someone help me out here, as a Canadian I don’t understand why your candidates ultimately run as a ticket for President and Vice President, yet don’t go through the primary process as such. Doesn’t it make sense in a field of twenty candidates to force them to figure out who compliments their leadership style and brings diversity to the ticket rather than leaving them to first savage each other’s reputations and then be surprised by who the eventual winner picks for their ticket?
7
@Brightersuns
Good idea.
Let the candidates who are promising to pick women as their running mates (Eric Swalwell and what's-'is-name) do it now. Let all candidates and all running mates take part in the debates.
Remove the moderators from the debates. They just waste time with their long boring questions. Flash three questions on a screen. Tell the candidates they can pick one of them to answer. Two minutes. One minute for the running mates who can answer the same question or a different one.
At the end of the hour, let the candidates and their running mates VOTE to eliminate the five lamest competitors.
1
Specifics are a breath of fresh air. Senator Warren is to be commended for making her plans for the working class clear.
There's no real mystery about the values underlying Democratic policies; while Republicans invest in business profits even if it pollutes the air, impoverishes workers, and decimates communities, Democrats invest in people. Republicans like to call it giving freebies, but these investments pay off handsomely in the long term. Take healthcare: giving children free healthcare largely pays for itself in terms of the increased taxes those children pay, not counting the other economic and non-economic benefits of health to that child, his or her family, and community. Same with college. Same with preschool. Democrats are astute investors in community and country; you just can't measure the value Democrats achieve in a corporation's next quarterly profit statement.
But what exact investments do Democrats propose? I want to know. They usually talk in grand and sweeping terms about how they are going to help the working class -- and then they propose $500 tax credits. Elizabeth Warren talks in grand and sweeping terms and she has grand and sweeping detailed proposals. Instead of tossing us pennies, she could change our lives. I'm with her.
15
I have no idea who's going to actually be on the Democratic ticket, nor do I care. It's April 2019. I fail to understand why there isn't a huge cry to shorten our election cycle, overturn Citizens United, and have campaigns publicly financed. I realize this wouldn't serve the interests of the big money that actually runs the country, but the US voter deserves better than the zoo we currently have.
14
@H Silk
You don't understand? Let me explain: the guys who make the laws and appoint the judges rely on money from lobbyists. It is not in their best interests to overturn Citizens United--therefore we keep the status quo.
Why can't the Dems learn from our mistakes. This is "Hillary entitlement" all over again. Joe Biden is not the heir apparent - let policies decide who will be the candidate - not that it is his turn.
6
I am glad to see Biden enter the race. His experience and relationships established over many years as a public servant can only add to the debate.
For those who think age is a detriment, I recall Reagan being accused of the same. He laughed it off and was the President for eight years. Some of us simply deal better with age than others.
It is past time for the Democratic contenders to attack Trump. He will not give any one of them a pass. Given his brain power (or lack of), I suspect he will have some problem coming up with twenty nicknames and remembering them all.
4
Right now the Democratic field is like a box of chocolates. Too many to choose from, and you don't know which one to choose for fear of making a disappointing choice. One thing, at 73 myself, I am ready for a younger choice. Joe Biden is likable, etc., but he has politically expensive baggage he is lugging. Bernie Sanders is a Democrat of convenience, using the Democratic Party to keep from running as an Independent. Not exactly a virtue in my book. What I would like to see addressed are the real issues these candidates will be facing if they should win the presidency.
I hope journalists will not waste time on wasted questions about space aliens, unless one has landed and beamed Trump up (oh please, oh please). The Republican tax cut has put social programs such as Social Security and Medicare at risk (a planned outcome). What is the long term fix for these programs? How do we implement universal healthcare, which is the ultimate fix to Obamacare, and should be done. What is a fair taxable rate for different levels of income? I do not want to see a candidate give utopian answers to these questions.
I am so afraid of blowing this upcoming election. We have to weed the field of candidates and narrow the choices quickly. In the end, I don't care who we come up with, as long as we do not have to endure another term of Trumpty Dumpty. We need a male or female candidate who can inspire as President Obama did. Hopefully, one will emerge from the debates.
6
I like mayor Pete, and I also like Inslee (whom you don't mention). I would prefer a governor or a mayor, or ex mayor (Booker), and everything in Washington State seems to work well.
Joe is yesterday's news, but if he can set ego and ambition aside, he would make a great surrogate.
Bernie is inflexible; has accomplished nothing in the Senate.
I totally agree with the comment on the political chameleon Hillibrand: she stands for whatever will get her the most votes.
3
“Vote for Joe — You Can Already Spell His Name.”
I prefer
" Oh no, say it ain't so, Joe"
2
Biden's got my vote!
8
Having a "beer summit"?
It's been done, and Biden was there!
https://img.washingtonpost.com/rf/image_1024w/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2015/12/21/National-Politics/Images/Merlin_17232269.jpg
A very humorous and thought-provoking article....
Nancy Pelosi should work hard, really really hard, to get Biden & Sanders to run on the same ticket. They would win! Dems would win.
It is also enlightened self interest for the chocolate-for breakfast-Leader (https://www.thedailymeal.com/entertain/what-famous-people-eat-breakfast-gallery/slide-42),
Upon being sworn in, Biden, 78, and Sanders, 79, would get Pelosi, 80, closer to being POTUS.
She first should offer to hold both of their overcoats, hats and scarves during the inauguration ( https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/harrison-dies-of-pneumonia ).
She could then give 46 & 46VP a skydiving groupon for good measure (https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/12/06/retired-gen-shelton-george-hw-bush-nearly-died-skydiving-accident.html).
3
This column shows us everything that is wrong about modern journalism in one repeated comment about a candidate answering a random question about aliens. You're making a joke – ha, ha – and dissing the candidate in one breath. I know this is an opinion piece, but talk about something serious and don't add to the miasma of the media.
4
I hope the Democrats nominate the person most able to beat Trump. Policies aside. If Biden gets it the Trump campaign will try to nail him on being so touchy-feely with women. The Biden campaign will counter with Trump's recording where he is bragging about grabbing women by the genitals. Trump's base will say they don't care now and they didn't care then.
2
Thanks Gail, you get the morning 'Return of Hope by Humor Award' this morning, nice start to my day here on the left coast.
You have the best commenters too, interesting. Some sort of selection process, kind of an island of sanity where, if you don't mind, I would like to pitch my tent. Could we proclaim you Queen Gail of the USA and you could rule as a benevolent overseer with the help of a council made up of folks chosen from your comments? Do I have to wake up now, dang!
2
Just for my friend Gail, I’ll call it right now. Note the date, please.
Harris and Mayor Pete, in that order. Trump and his Collaborators worst nightmare, and it WILL be the largest Voter turnout since 2008. Guaranteed.
429
I like it. I think it would be a winning combination. As much as I like Mayor Pete, I am not sure he would be able to turn out the very important non white segment of the Democratic base. Kamala Harris could do that and besides she has gravitas and experience. And she is a woman! It is time for a woman President. I want to see that before die.
134
Forget Harris and really forget Pete. Warren all the way. Our 21st century FDR
96
@Phyliss Dalmatian. I prefer Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris. In that order.
24
I am really disappointed that Bill de Blasio has not joined the race. His twist on the Green New Deal that offers digging a trench through 400 miles of the Hudson Valley in order to obtain Canadian hydro power is about as out of the box thinking as there is and talk about green, he has
leapfrogged the field and gone all the way to brown. Included in his green credentials: He previously offered the elimination of the pollution spewing carriage trade and their noxious stables, to be replaced by environmentally neutral and subsidized high rise pied-à-terres that the underprivileged foreign rich desperately need. Check the affordable housing box. My only reservation to having him join the field is that if someone doesn't lend him Flavor Flav's alarm clock to hang around his neck or he his motorcade to his gym gets stuck in traffic, he has this small issue about punctuality.
2
Way too early to determine who can win, but I'll be looking at who can inspire and lead while we recover from the worst president in history. It will take a decade-plus and more than one president to repair the damage to the infrastructure of our democracy. The next president will need a strong vp and cabinet to repair the damage from poor and corrupt management, loss of skilled public employees, loss of institutional history and reduced funding. Government functions will never be the same, which is not necessarily bad, but we must make them relevant and trusted. Further, the pres must rebuild international relations and restore some semblance of US leadership in the world, because we need ideas, technology and cooperation to restore and secure our country. We have a long way to go to recover; let's hope several of these candidates remain engaged over the next 20 years. Young folks, pay attention! We need you for the long haul.
2
As for the age issue, just remember: ageism is the dumbest of all prejudices, because it amounts to a bias against your own future self.
8
@Baxter Jones
Ageist to pretend age doesn't matter.
Ageist to pretend it's dumb and prejudiced to think there's something wrong/shameful about being old.
The racetrack is only just so wide. With so many horses in the race, they will have to pull the gate and put up a rope with a fire station bell for the primaries. I think I'll put on a big hat, get a mint julep, and watch for a while. This is a triple crown series of runs, anyway. Primaries, the Convention, and the nominee debates. That's when we will have our candidate, and that's when it will really get tough.
1
You hit another nail directly on its head: Sanders was born 77. How helpful that observation is.
4
What kind of Democratic candidate for president would support - and get $200,000 no less - a Republican congressional candidate? Yet another in a long line of bad decisions.
No thanks!
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/us/politics/biden-speech-fred-upton.html?searchResultPosition=8
I’ve been Joe Biden’s age; he’s too old.
5
I like so many of the candidates. It’s early still, so I’ll let them all have their say.
One thing about Joe Biden and the times we find ourselves in:
I view him akin to an old school master mason. He has the skills from a bygone era that, although dying out, are most useful now. I thinking he can repair the foundation of our democracy like old masons restoring the stone foundation of a buildings centuries old.
More so than the others, Biden can reestablish the relations with estranged allies. He would draw upon the seasoned diplomats: Kerry, Hillary, President Obama, & many others.
I have no doubt he would preside over a now desired progressive agenda while reassuring those who are hesitant about going in that direction.
Notre Dame Cathedral is in partial ruins now. It will be restored with the skills purposely preserved from long ago, passed on between generations.
A Joe Biden Presidency would be like the old masters at Notre Dame, directing the skilled as well as the newly trained in restoring a most beautiful and enduring edifice.
The ideals which form the foundation of this country have been damaged. These are the ideals which our Constitution and other guiding documents ( Declaration of Independence, Gettysburg’ Address & Lincoln’s 2nd Inaugural Address) articulate. They have proven correct over these past 250 years.
These ideals, like Notre Dame can be restored to their inspirational glory, spires bringing our attention to higher aspirations.
3
Of all these candidates running only one would make a great president and that man is Howard Shultz. Of course he is much to sensible for the dems. A real shame because he would beat this moron in the whitehouse. I’m afraid this horrible human being might just win again, and then America as I grew up knowing will be over.
And to think, a few short months ago Dems were freaking out about not having a deep bench of candidates! Now they’ve got too many. Funny how that happens.
Might as well Bring back Stassen and/or Stevenson. Trump’s a juggernaut who won’t stop at anything to stay out of jail.
1
I'll vote for any of these Democratic candidates, because each of them has what Donald Trump and the entire GOP leadership does not--a heart, tolerance for differences, and concern for others.
No voting for any candidate for office who: puts children in cages to deter asylum seekers; claims climate change is a hoax; thinks it is a great idea to increase air, water, and soil pollution to please Big Corporate; abandons nuclear treaties and insults our allies; and whose lie-to-truth ratio is sky high.
4
Don’t forget articulate and bright and clean, Gail...
*ttps://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/01/us/politics/01biden.html
“...In an era of meticulous political choreography, the staging of the kickoff for this presidential candidacy could hardly have gone worse...
“... Joseph R. Biden Jr...who announced his candidacy on Wednesday with the hope that he could ride his foreign policy expertise into contention for the Democratic nomination, instead spent the day struggling to explain his description of Senator Barack Obama...as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean...
Well – clean, anyway...
.....
*ttps://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/08/opinion/anita-hill-and-the-senate-s-duty.html
“...even before she finished, Senator Dennis DeConcini...rushed to call his own news conference and say he believed the nominee's denials and not the accuser. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah took the floor to say that..."the facts do not line up on Ms. Hill's side." Senator John Danforth of Missouri, Judge Thomas's chief patron, denounced her charges as "garbage." And the Judiciary Committee chairman, Joseph Biden, said there was no reason to postpone tonight's confirmation vote...
Well – younger than Ringo, anyway...
3
“Buttigieg and Moulton were born while “M*A*S*H” was still on the air. Joe Biden was born before the debut of Howdy Doody.”
In fact, Biden was born before the debut of TV itself. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
1
Mr. Biden recently gave the eulogy at the funeral for Fritz Hollings of South Carolina. They had a close relationship and Mr. Biden's eulogy was honorable, right and kind for a close friend and public servant. In his remarks, Mr. Biden made mention that Mr. Hollings, a longtime segregationist, changed, evolved over time. It was a kind of gentle forgiveness from a friend. But now that Mr. Biden is stepping into the presidential ring, with respect to Mr. Hollings, we need to bring impatience and ask about all the violence and injustice ignored for so, so long while people "evolved." We need to say "Enough!" "Enough damn time!" It captured for me a central worry with Mr. Biden. He and his "Get Along" generation is out of step, out of tune with the fact that the clock has run out on so, so many things. We're past the limits of understanding. It's now a time for action! Is Mr. Biden ready for this arena?
1
I was hoping Joe wouldn't do it, but now that he has announced he is running, one thing I like about his video, is that he came out swinging at Trump. Most of the others have avoided this, rather sticking to talking about typical Democratic issues. To win, there should be a combination of both approaches.
Still, in a crowded field of talented candidates, Biden and Sanders stand out as being too old and frankly, past their prime. Joe is not a man for the future, and Bernie is far too inflexible and an easy target, once the Republicans are in full attack mode. Let's rather look to Warren, Harris, Swalwell, Inslee, Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Ryan and more. There are many good people out there.
1
Well, that was an equal oportunity smack down. Much needed, however. The sound bites are already becoming trite and it's only 2019.
I am 72 and was retired from my job a little over a year ago (under favorable terms, so no complaint). I may still be better qualified for the job I was doing than anyone else; but I knew a number of years ago that a younger individual had to be mentored to take over the lead. Fresher ideas and enthusiasm would eventually be a positive for the company.
The same applies to politics (if not more). A maximum age (let's say 65) should be imposed on all office holders at any level. Those that are exceptional could be tapped to be consultants to their successor.
Sounds like age discrimination? Sure; but we need it. As a person ages they may become over rigid in their opinions, they may start to lose mental acuity, they may start to suffer physical problems that impair their effectiveness. There are some who will remain spry into their 90's; but those are few. We already have to many elected dinosaurs. Time for them to pass on the baton.
I am in favor of a refreshing new face out there.
3
Let's think about the possibility the Joe Biden will follow Hillary Clinton as the Democrats' candidate for president.
These were the two principal senators who pushed through the law removing credit card debt from bankruptcy protection--a bill that favored the bankers who backed these politicians over the interests of the rest of us.
Hillary ran against Trump and lost because she rightly was perceived as working for the bankers. Why would the Democrats nominate Joe, who also worked with her for the bankers? When Biden wanted to appear to be on the side of coal miners rather than bankers, he needed to plagiarize a speech by the British Labor Party leader, Neil Kinnock. Biden couldn't find words in himself that were not those of a banker's politician.
Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden represent why not to vote for the Democrats. Joe Biden is not a person who can motivate the tens of millions who are too disgusted to bother to vote. The one skill Trump has is to poke at the hypocrisy of an opponent until he draws blood. Mr. Biden is too easy a target because he has drawn the bull's eye on himself.
Nominating candidates who are as close as possible to Republicans is not a winning electoral strategy and it surely isn't motivated by any ethical consideration. Supporters of Joe Biden tell us that his strength is appealing to those who think like Republicans. This is worse than a crime; it is a blunder.
3
I thought I was all in for Biden but I'm not sure anymore.
The final straw may be this morning when I tried to donate a few bucks to his campaign but found the donate button isn't set up, yet he's heading later today to big donor events.
Doesn't he care or want donations from the "regular" folk enough to have been sure the donation button worked on his site before his video aired? Or, equally bad, might he be too disorganized?
Not a good sign as far as I'm concerned but luckily Buttigieg's donate button's still operational.
1
At this stage, Democratic primary voters should ignore the polls and hear out all the candidates, and evaluate them for their ideas, charisma, and character. Which one has the best chance of winning and helping our nation live its creed? Reasonable people can disagree. If you think you've found the one, support him or her through the convention. Be critical of other candidates, but be fair. They're all volunteering for the hardest job in the world. Then, lend full support to the nominee.
This is the process. It's not divisive; it's the process by which we identify the nominee.
5
He's too old and so is Bernie. Eighty year olds just shouldn't be president. Maybe their health is fine now, but the odds of it going sideways is just really high. The fact that somebody this old would even run for president betrays an irresponsibility that should be disqualifying.
If the Democrats can't find themselves a candidate that'll be under eighty when they finish they're second term we are in some serious trouble.
And yes, in addition to every single other aspect of his being, Donald Trump's age should also have been a disqualifying factor as well.
3
I like Joe Biden, but he is not my favorite candidate this time around. But in these dangerous times, I'm for the candidate who has the best chance of ridding the White House of Donald Trump and his cabinet of deception and pillage. For the sake of mere survival, that has to be priority one. If that candidate turns out to be Joe Biden, then he's my choice.
3
"Buttigieg said it was important not to overwhelm people with too many specifics “before we’ve vindicated the values that animate our policies.”
This comment reveals an essential truth; the fundamental basis for partisianship in our government derives from the absence of agreed upon values. Is our purpose to preserve humanity? (ramp up the space program) To safeguard endangered species? (carbon tax) To eliminate inequality? (wealth tax) To utilize all available resources? (drilling on public lands) etc., etc., etc. There's no conscensous on our social purpose. Until we debate and select essential truths, the purpose of any legislation is murky.
4
No Joe. No, no, no. Been there, done that. And, I bet I am not the only person to detect this but I do not think Joe is mentally at the top of his game. Too many slip ups. We were already subjected to Reagan’s “delays” which his troops tried to hide until they couldn’t. It’s normal. It’s currently part of aging as we know it. The presidency, especially now, cries out for the fastest reflexes.
And BTW, stop slamming Buttigieg on lack of specifics...it is only April folks! Give the country a chance to know him! He is a very smart cookie and will annonce his policies when the time is right. He’s already said so. I admire him for this approach. Warden has announced so many policies we’re drowning in confusion.
2
Unless the next Democrat president has a Democrat majority in the senate, he cannot do much more than stop the slide into incompetence, and sociopathic greed that now dominates the executive branch of our government. Mattering about legislative policy position minutia would seem very counter-productive to me at this stage. A Republican senate will not pass any, that's ANY, progressive legislation. Restoring sanity to the executive branch, so that things do not get any worse domestically, and restoring respect for the office of POTUS internationally would be a huge step. If Biden is the most electable Democrat (we shall see) then he is the one we should select.
2
I remember when Obama picked Biden as the running mate/VP choice and I thought “well, there goes the presidency”. Biden has run how many times, with no success? I was also irked that when he had his golden opportunity (when he was a VP incumbent), he passed because he was depressed and burned out. The Dems chose to run HRC. His time has passed, the boat has sailed. Biden is running on a platform of “I’m not Trump”. It’s not enough and his terrible record will come back to haunt him.
2
So far the most recommendations (I was # 568) in the first bunch of comments go to the person who loves them all for not being Trump. That has to be the definition of sanity for the next two years.
3
Where are the concerns for inequality of life in America, or the scientific evidence for the enormity of the threat to life in Earth's biosphere in the cramped reasoning displayed in the "reasoning" of readers hereabouts?
Five minutes perusal of these comments has given this reader a better understanding of how the DCCC was able to thwart the candidate who wanted to make these issues central to his campaign for leadership.
1
I really respect Biden but I can't help but put my energy into getting Andrew Yang elected. I think Andrew Yang will help this country lead with the values that make us great.
Joe can bring moderate republicans who loathe Trump but would not vote for Hillary.
3
How unfortunate. This is all about him, not what is good for America. Joe is flawed, especially since he does not get how the world has moved on from powerful guys invading a person's space, therefore jokes after the "apology."
Joe, just go. We need the next generation to step up. You have a life of great tragedy and honors. Just move gracefully to the sidelines and you will not disgrace yourself. Polls are amazingly often wrong.
3
Yea, Joe!!!!
Truly wishing you the best.
As for being too old.
That's like saying that older people should be put out to the pasture.
There is a lot of wisdom in being older.
Older people have been down roads many of the younger set have not walked.
To those who complain about decisions made years, decades ago,
We all make judgment calls that seemed like or were a good idea at the time.
In fact, many of those calls of yesterdays are now coming back in vogue in some way or another but called a different name.
Some say you are pronged to gaffes.
I'll take a gaffe over a lie any second of a minute.
A gaffe is nothing more than an idea or expression said in a not so 'delicate' way.
A lie, on the other hand, is meant to deceive.
Now the next biggest hurdle is picking a running mate should you get that far.
if you want a woman, Stacey Abrams is a good bet and she's not that old as to not be able to identify with the younger set.
If you are going only for the youth, Pete Buttigieg is very impressive.
Either way, Good Luck.
Or should I say Good Blessings?
1
We need to pick a ticket with the least “baggage” for Dirty Donnie and the GOP to harp on to the base and the other “but-the-economy-is-doing-so-great” blind followers. Because Dirty Donnie will “Crooked Hillary” any of the Democrats with any past policies or actions (see, e.g., Elizabeth Warren) that can create a media catch phrase for him to repeat ad nauseum. It almost doesn’t matter what any of their individual policies are. The Democrats need to pick a ticket and all get behind it hard to win. We need to unify, not get lost in the minutiae, and keep our eye on the goal to Dump Dirty Donnie.
1
With Bernie and now Joe in the Democratic Wrestlemania, It’s time to require all of the aspirants to reveal their current medical records, in addition to their tax returns. And some cooked up doctor’s report dictated by the candidate himself or herself, ala you know who, will certainly not suffice. Demand that they do this Gail, from your powerful bully pulpit!
1
Gail. Please be careful, and I ask your colleagues in the media whom I also respect so much to be careful as well. Supporting or rationalizing or justifying one candidate at the expense of criticizing, making fun of, or making light of, can very easily be weaponized by the other side. Making jokes about age, itemizing the difficulties concerning "questions they will have to answer", and attempting to enhance one candidate over the other by pointing our personal weaknesses of the other - in this day an age - must be an artful business. It must "do no harm". Every candidate has their weaknesses, and Joe Biden's are about to be exposed. All of this "exposing" will be done viciously with no sense of fairness by the Republican hate machines that Swiftboated Kerry and did such a number on Hillary. Please do not give them ammunition. Many candidates have great ideas they are promoting and have positive things that can be said on big money in politics to health care to the environment. With 20 plus in the running, it should be possible to compare them on the positives they agree on and the uniquely positive ideas that may distinguish them. I urge all to please be careful. These are dire times with dire consequences. In no other time in my long lifetime can I remember a time when we need great leadership. Thank you, Gail.
I just had a brain scan at age 76. The results were reassuring, the doctor said. There were signs of brain deterioration, he commented, but no more than usual at your age. So scientists know that people at my age are expected to be mentally less capable than younger age ranges. Joe Biden is my age and Bernie Sanders is one year older, JFYI.
Biden is a Clinton campaign rerun. If he had campaigned in 2016, things might have broken in Biden's favor. Now though? Fuggedaboutit. A mummy painted like an American flag has a better chance in the general election. Biden is dead weight for the Democratic Party.
The good news is his presence will siphon off a lot of those traditional neoliberal votes thus splitting the moderate field and giving some progressive or socialist the ticket. And for the record, no, Pete Buttigieg is not a progressive. He's a gay conservative running on the Democratic ballot.
Oddly, "The Simpsons" predicted the coming of Buttigieg. However, their timing was off. They predicted a gay Republican in 2084. We'll never find out though if Democrats keep nominating neoliberals. We'll all be extinct from climate change.
4
If Joe can beat Trump, I'll accept his past issues and move on. He is a patriot, experienced, has an understanding of the Constitution and how government works, will work for the people and he seems to be a mensch. Joe can also communicate well to the victimized white men in the Mid-West that the Democrats lost. I would prefer that Joe picks a woman or Mayor Pete as his running mate. Bernie may have burnt many bridges with saying he would allow the Boston marathon terrorist to vote. I support Bernie, but is the country ready for a Jewish president while antisemitism is rapidly growing in America?
2
Regarding Buttigieg: JFK was a "liability" because he was too young and too Catholic. So, what's the problem with Mayor Pete.
As for Biden, he should jump on the "New Green Deal" platform. Hey, if we can recycle papers and plastics, why not Joe (Oops, did I say that?) Biden? Well, let's list the reasons "why not?" The first one is, where is the enthusiasm going to come from?
1
I wouldn't worry too much about Joe Biden's age and vitality. If he only takes a quarter of the "Executive Time" the current president does, he'll be fine.
3
Democrats need to nominate someone who can beat Donald Trump. That's the bottom line. If that person is Joe Biden - so be it. Personally, I'd rather see the Dems nominate someone younger. But remember this, everyone: Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 86 years old. Stephen Breyer is 80. If Donald Trump is reelected, there's a very good chance he will get the opportunity to nominate at least one more SC Justice. Do we really want that?
Trump has already scrapped the TPP, the Paris Accord, the Iran deal, weakened our water & air regulations, embraced racists, mocked the handicapped, attacked & undermined the Justice Dept & the FBI & loosed the dogs of rampant Capitalism everywhere - feathering his own nest along the way.
Donald Trump is a lying, narcissistic sociopath - an abomination of a human being. ANYONE Democrats nominate will be far, far better. In our quest to find the "perfect candidate", let's not forget that fact.
4
You left out he doesn't like dogs. 4.25.19 10:07 am
Any one imperfection from any one of these candidates pale in comparison to the malfeasance of the criminal meat head in the white house. I'm 65 years old. I have held my nose and voted for the evil of two lessers my entire voting life. Just vote for the Democrat no matter who that will be. Our lives and what remains of our Democracy depend on it.
3
Thank you. Refreshing.
"The last will be first?"
1
Corporate Americas Neo Liberal Voice, the last chance to keep a Progressive out of the Presidency.
Yes; he's a nice guy. Along with many other commenters, I have always instinctively liked him, even though I have never met him in person. The coming election is not a popularity contest. Whoever is chosen as the 46th president of this country must be savvy, tough, and steady. He will face our biggest crisis--the warming and possible destruction of the Earth. MLK's phrase "the fierce urgency of now" has new and ominous meaning. So does the old saying, "nice guys finish last".
He or SHE!
Laugh out load at 6:00 am, Thanks!
On the age scale, somewhere between Biden, Bernie, & Buttigieg there has to be an electable candidate. And Booker or Beto aren't it.
How about looking near the middle of the alphabet?
Killibrand? Hickenlooper? Klobuchar? Inslee? Harris?
You can’t discriminate in hiring based on age, but you can write in a newspaper that Biden may well be unfit for the job because he is too old. No newspaper would say that a candidate is unfit because of their race or their gender. But feel free to make fun of their age. Can you say that 73 year old editorial writers like Ms. Collins are too old? The rules are pretty complicated.
5
1991 Attacked Anita Hill. (So we got Clarence Thomas.)
1994 Wrote the disastrous Crime Bill. (Hello prison industrial complex.)
1995 Wrote the Omnibus Counter-terrorism Act (became Patriot Act).
1996 Voted Against Gay Marriage. (Real leadership there.)
1999 Repealed Glass Steagall. (World financial crisis.)
2001 Voted for the Patriot Act. (Big Brother is watching you.)
2002 Voted for Iraq War. (Yeah but it's ok, cuz his son served.)
2005 Voted to end bankruptcy protection for students. (Endless debt builds character.)
2018 Presents GW Bush with Liberty Medal. (Finally gets the big stuff right.)
3
There is no question in my mind that Donald Trump will be re elected by the same methods/base of people and foreign interference that got him to the White House in the first place. Keep your seatbelts fastened.
3
So now it can be admitted in passing that that having "supported the Iraq war" was a bad thing, I wonder why, in addition to attempting to impeach Trump, the New York Times doesn't suggest brining up charges against all those that led us down that path - one that most of the population knew was a monstrous deception as it was being created. Oh yeah, they'd have to admit their own role in throwing more logs on that fire than anybody else.
2
He's nice I am told
A Clinton remold
Behold, behold
But much too old
He leaves me cold
1
If Democrats choose Biden they might as well put up a sign saying; Millennials not invited.
A political party cannot afford to alienate it's youth. To do so is to risk the future of the party. It's a mistake Republicans are making, but that doesn't mean Democrats have to do it too. If you want to get the kids involved you have to give them a voice.
I'm pushing 70 and I believe it's time for the old guard to step back and let the next generation take over. It's their world now.
2
Wonderful column. It’s so fun to laugh . I love all of our candidates. It will be pretty interesting to see who is left by the end.
2
Pete Buttigieg has been surging for one reason: as people get to know him, people fall in love with him. It started with his CNN Town Hall. His appearances on Morning Joe, the View (both) and his outstanding interview with Rachel Maddow show not just his extremely high IQ, but his trustworthiness. He inspires.
Bernie has always shown to be on the right side of history. His inflexibility, I think, is an issue.
Felons should have the right to vote - after they have served their time. Pete is right, Bernie is wrong.
Pete however does favor non-violent felons who were incarcerated under our harsh drug laws being released.
Biden's voting record really bothers me: the anti-consumer
bankruptcy bill, the Iraq war and what he did in shutting down Anita Hill and facilitating Clarence Thomas getting the Thurgood Marshall seat.
5
@Michael M
How about a Klobuchar/Pete ticket?
May need more regional diversity, but they’d surely win back the rust belt that was ignored last time. I think they’d also bring a lot of working people back to the Dems, after the Limousine Liberal gang so insulted them in 2016.
1
My hope is that the 20+ elevate the political conversation rather than wasting our time telling us what we want to hear.
A true leader has core beliefs and looks to put them into motion.
Our current political formula is to form your "core values" based on polling data.
4
"Sanders, by the way, is a year older than Biden but doesn’t get a whole lot of comment about it. Maybe because he just seems to have been born 77."
Campaign theme song, "Born Like This."
To those of us who like him, Bernie's age just reminds us he should be President now, and reminds us of all the reasons we were angry last time.
2
Biden is active proof of why there should be a 'use by', expiration date, or term limits for power hungry politicians. His prolonged exposure to that rarefied Beltway air clearly robbed him of the personal introspection to recognize how obsolete he is.Those nightly trips back to Cranston that he so often touts, did not dilute how broadly ineffectual he was as a Democratic Senator and a Vice President. His record shows it. Obama probably selected him for that role, by calculating that Biden would be perceived by the electorate as a dependable second banana, with decades of institutional knowledge. That, coupled with his 'ginned up' bi-partisan bona fides among the likes of Mc'Cconnel etal. Biden just told us idly that Pence is a good guy. Obama's latter judgement was a miscalculation, and I am certain, that if given a truth serum, Harry Reid and others with a more progressive perspective can attest to his uselessness in that respect. If he were the effective bi-partisan operator that he now wants us to believe, Merrick Garland would be on the Supreme Court and Republicans wouldn't have relentlessly turned the Affordable Care and Immigration policy challenges into the political football that it became under his watch as Vice President. I am certain that much of his support will come from those never Trumpers who view him as acceptably malleable and Republican light. The antidote to Trump and the rut this great country is in, is not a third rate throwback to its murky past.
3
Biden got where he is today by going with the flow and not taking a personal stand on anything. The last thing we need is a President who tries to please everyone. Trump may be full of bad ideas, but at least he has ideas. If the Democrats nominate Biden, I will vote for Trump.
3
Why do people think Biden is too old? What does that actually mean? That he will fall asleep in cabinet meetings? He will forget where the button is? That he won't appeal to younger voters? I have spoken with my millennial children who both love Joe and said that many of their friends do too. I happen to think that if elected, he has the best chance of uniting the country. I think he has good relationships with, and the respect of many Republicans and is the candidate most likely to get things done when reaching across the aisle becomes necessary. Experience can be a very good thing.
3
I like Joe, a lot, but please say it is not so.
There are people who are superb lieutenants, but Presidential timber, probably not.
There are folks who make good/great Senators or Representatives, but Presidential material, not so much.
There are candidates who have their 15 minutes of fame, then quickly fade probably to the benefit of all.
And then there is the Democrat Party who seems to be very successful when they opt for bright and shiny and new and charismatic. Find that person and one will have their 2020 candidate.
Too soon to prognosticate, although an engaging exercise; however, the Dems need to be very selective on their final choice or we very likely could be looking at 4 more years of Trump - or whatever time the USofA as we knew it has left should that contingency be thrust upon us.
2
Please focus on policies and political record, not on personality, gender, age.
Joe entered political life as an ultra-conservative, Catholic-agenda neoliberal, and has pretty much stayed that way with a few exceptions.
He was a major advocate of the war on cannabis that resulted in nearly a million people a year being arrested.
He personally opposes women's reproductive freedom.
He has long been a recipient of Big Money from Wall Street, Big Pharma, and war profiteers, and his votes for war, and against regulations to protect the public from greedy corporations, reflect the money he's collected.
He's never been out front on any progressive issue, and has instead been an enemy of true progressives and progressive issues.
And of course, we should never forget his terrible treatment of Anita Hill, and his defense of right-wing ideologue Clarence Thomas, which helped SCOTUS steal the election from Gore in 2000.
Pro-war, pro-corporate, neoliberal.
NOT what America needs!!!
9
@Steve Davies
I agree that to choose based on gender, color or age is sexist, racist and ageist.
Let’s just choose the person with the best chance to win.
To me that would be someone within hailing distance of the middle, since that’s the part of the electorate that must be won.
Klobuchar? Brown?
They reach across the aisle. They don’t scream and call names. Experienced yet not old news. Progressive yet pragmatic. They would not insult the working class or ignore the rust belt.
1
This could be “A cup of Joe’s” campaign if he teams with the Nutmeg Express. Joe Lieberman, Al Gore’s trusted sidekick may reprise the role of Sancho Panza in this Windmill campaign.
Think of the combined patronage of experience with Joe #1 since 72 and Joe #2 since 80. These creaking super dreadnoughts of the political waters can trim their sails with the silver haired crowd. They can leverage their wider family fleet for Gen X,Y,Z connectivity. Those grandchildren skateboarding with Beto while the Joe’s look on from their rocking chairs will warm the cockles of voters.
The “Cup of Joe’s” pave the path to 80 is the new 62 with skydiving and other pursuits, maybe an arm wrestle or two.
Cervantes wrote of the glory of embarking on voyages of discovery, no matter the reality. The shipyards of time can launch a refurbished vessel from dry dock. The question is, with a raucous ocean of versatile, ultrafast and nimble competition. Are these super dreadnoughts past their prime?
(Sanders, by the way, is a year older than Biden but doesn’t get a whole lot of comment about it. Maybe because he just seems to have been born 77.)
Bam! Nailed it.
4
Joe Biden is just as qualified to run for President today as he was back in 1984.
2
He's white and he is a man. How original. Have you ever been to Scranton? Not a fan. I am a fan of Massachusetts (Warren), Vermont (Sanders) and California (Harris).
3
Take comfort in the fact that any of these candidates would be better than Trump.
Whoever runs must appeal to white women who as a group voted for Trump over Clinton, turning identity politics on its head.
2
@Larry Dickman
Actually it's the non-college educated white women who as a group supported, and continue to support Trump.
The others seem to have gotten the message...
Are we over the moon that Biden has declared for the presidency against Trump just now? You bet! Are we happy he's the same age as Bernie and a Beatle? You bet. Can he or any of the other 19 declared Democrat "not-trumps" win next year? Yup. Are we chuffed to bits (delighted) because Joe Biden brought up Charlottesville and Trump's "fine people on both sides" as the flashpoint for his candidacy -- "a battle for the soul of America"? Yes indeed. Can any Democratic ticket best Trump/Pence next year? Stop with the questions already Gail -- how should we know?
1
Warren for president. She is whip smart and has a proven record of translating her ideas into concrete achievements.
8
Sad. If we must go with old school, Hillary would be a much better choice. She has a proven track record against DJT - 2 million votes.
The Democrats leadership should stop acting like losers. Hillary didn’t lose the popular vote. Celebrate her. She’s smart, experienced & has led a life of public service. True, she made mistakes. The alt right hates her. Putin hates her. But again, she was the people’s choice in 2016.
Joe Biden spent most of his life in the smoke filled back rooms of politics. He’ll spent the 2020 primary season apologizing. He should stay home.
1
HRC? Not then. Not now.
Only the candidate who comes up with a comprehensive climate change initiative will get my money and my vote. My second issue is immigration policy. We have to stop the anarchy at the border. Third is tax policy. The rich (and corporations) must pay for everything. Why? Because they have the money, duh! Donald Trump is a distraction...let's get serious.
1
Amy Klobuchar’s announcement for candidacy was well covered in Minnesota media. References to her campaign are now rare among a sea of Democratic candidates.
2
@Reggie
She deserves more of our attention. Solid, adult, reaches across the aisle. Experienced yet not old news. Would neither ignore the rust belt nor insult working people.
Apparently an abusive boss (which might disqualify a guy), but I hope we hear more from her.
I also wish Sherrod Brown would enter the race.
2
I wish Al Franken were number 21.
3
@JimB
Or number 20, taking Gillibrand ‘s place. She grandstanded on Al, but was happy to share her campaign stage with an accused rapist. She took Big Money in her job working for Big Tobacco.
What a phony!
2
As a 67 y/o guy who has voted Dem from the get-go, I can't communicate to you how profoundly it depresses me to think that anyone views Biden as a viable presidential candidate.
2
He has a better chance of beating Trump than all but maybe Harris and Mayor Pete. Having Trump out in 2020 is what matters. Sorry Progressives, slavery reparations and outlawing oil drilling will have to wait a few years..
1
We keep hearing about the 'crowd' of Democratic candidates:
1. So what? It just means many folks (most of America) think they can do better than the current office holder.
2. In 2012 there were 19 GOP candidates for President, including such stellar minds as Herman '999' Cain and Rick 'Oops!' Perry.
3
Democrats should fear there are so many primary candidates the end result will be someone too far out in left field.
Case Study: 1972 Presidential Election George McGovern
Sanders has never passed anything in the House or senate. Pete B. has the most intelligennt logic. He may be a great cabinet member. Sanders will be a drag on Deems as he is not a deem. Warren, calling for impeachment, has no chance-what is she thinking? Biden is too old! What Gillabrand did to Al Franken disqualifies her along with her defending tobacco companies 'before' she turned liberal for political reasons. Harris is too naive and so is Booker. It's a sad race. Hate the GOP.
4
A delicious column, as usual. But after reading it I'm newly and once again embarassed that I 'felt the Bern'. His quip that 'if you write a book you too can be a millionaire' was not the Bernie I thought I knew. Complaining about people's donation amounts didn't help his image either. And now the Boston marathon bomber gets to vote? Sorry, no. Stop raking the ground for bodies to stuff in the voting booth.
1
I agree with the commenters in Wichita and Sweden -- Warren for president and Buttigieg for veep. Forget Biden, Sanders and all the other Democratic vote diluters.
3
Sit down Biden, sit down Bernie. We cannot go back, 2019 is vastly different than 2015. You are causing more trouble than good. Step aside and make way for the new Democratic Party.
Sanders/Clinton
Interesting.
ALL the votes. Really.
Finally, a ray of hope.
1
—Biden shouldn't run. He shouldn't be President. He's not up to now, if indeed he ever was. He's one of the worst public speakers of modern times yet appears completely unaware of it. Probably on purpose as the guy just loves to flap his gums, most give him some kind of sensual thrill.
—And worse, you're actually gonna have to feel bad for Biden when he humiliates himself one way or another in front of 320 million of his fellow citizens. As he will.
—But, yeah, if he's the nominee, I'll vote for him.
Well, let’s see; hard to think he can win the Democrat primary with all the socialist programming in such vogue; particularly as the crooked capitalistic dealings of his son, Hunter, begin to surface, trading on the office of the VP with Chinese and other interests to become wealthy.....continuing, expanding and perhaps more successfully than the Clinton Foundation.
Joe will be sliced and diced first by his party; and, if he happens to survive that, by the current and next President of the United States.
2
Here we go again with the issue of a person's age. This is unacceptable, no matter how much of a comedic, sartorial spin one puts on what is essentially bigotry. If Ms Collins changed her age issue to a race issue and used the same rhetoric, she would be labeled a racist and tossed under the bus by the NYT. But, not so for age. Hers' and clearly a large portion of the media, have bias against people older than 65. What is it, exactly, are these people of age prejudice worried about? Maybe the older candidate will die. So what! That's why there is a Vice President and a whole line of Constitutionally mandated successors. It is our way of governing.
So, let's end age baiting and frightening the little screaming brats and get on with electing the best possible candidate. I happen to believe it is Joe Biden.
Biden for experience, know-how, and honesty. The key factor will be choice of VP running mate, on the general presumption that he may not be at the top of his game for the entire term, let alone a second one. Ideally, a strong female or minority VP candidate to succeed if necessary.
I'll vote Biden.
1
It's good to see 20 candidates getting people on the front lines, getting volunteers enthused, and generally building the appeal of the Democratic party.
Now they just need to refrain from fighting each other. The Greens and Sanders voters who stayed home gave Trump to America.
1
Biden won't deliver on climate change. He doesn't realize the stakes. The Arctic warming is off the charts. The melting permafrost is now releasing methane. It's being realized that the ice melt on Greenland faster than originally forecasted. The storms are getting more severe. The fish are moving north. The Latin American migrants trying to get into the U.S. in part because of climate change related crop failures. This list here is endless.
If Biden beats Trump, we will get another four more year of nothing on climate change. Oh, it will be a better kind of nothing, but it will still be nothing.
Enough of this. We need to fight hard on climate change and for now, Biden is treating this as an add-on issue. He just doesn't get it. This isn't just about beating Trump. It's about our survival. Most of the Democrats still don't get it I'm sorry to say.
1
@Patrick -- "Biden won't deliver on climate change"? How about all Americans doing their share to combat climate change? You cannot expect such revolutionary change to come just from the top.
Warren -- is she talking about climate change? No, she wants to hand out freebees.
Ditto for Harris.
I don't know about the others.
P.S. Ask yourself: "What am I doing to help"? Such as not using plastic. Planting trees. Using your car less. There are many things an individual can do. Besides, would you be willing to put up with possibly many inconveniences to your daily life so that climate change will have a chance? People here are so pampered. They want it when they want it.
Climate change will probably be the hardest to push through and truly requires help from every citizen, and every country, to work.
@Patrick
Sorry. But looking solely at how Trump and his administration have done EVERYTHING in their power to cash in on the environment while devastating it -- I find it rather rich that you'd take Biden to task on climate change.
Wasn't Joe Biden chosen by Barak Obama as VP precisely because of his connections on capital hill? And wasn't it expected that he would pave the way for bipartisanship between the Democrat president and the GOP Congress?
I'm sorry, based on the record this looks like a loosing strategy. Bipartisanship under Biden's auspices failed on almost every critical issue, including the presidents authority to nominate a Supreme Court justice for a Senate vote.
This GOP congress is even worse that the one Obama faced. The Democrats need to learn from the past and recognize that the GOP will not compromise.
The Democrats need new ideas, not failed strategies. And Biden's campaign might as well be called "back to the future."
1
Here's something about Joe Biden that could make a race between he and Donald Trump really interesting: I can picture Joe Biden making Trump a laughingstock in the same way he eviscerated Paul Ryan -- with a smile on his face and a few words about how little Trump knows of the actual world. Trump would spend the next month claiming Biden was a non-patriot and leader of the Deep State conspiracy, demonstrating to one and all that he genuinely knows nothing about Biden, about how the US actually works, about the function and purpose of government, and about his lack of grace in all he does.
5
It was a nice try with Ringo Ms. Collins, since Beatles are always young especially with our generation.
I think, this might be his chance to fulfill the dream, it 's also could be exactly the right moment, providing he's only running for one term, and as much as I'm eager to really move to more progressive direction with Warren and the rest of forward-looking, younger field, I still think maybe right now & only for one term, he could be the one to beat trump...
Heard on Morning Joe that this time Pennsylvania is a main battleground for 20/20, no wonder Individual 1 rushing to this state to spew more of his tiring, repetitive, mind-numbing lies.
1
I now only vote with the Judicial branch in mind. We have in many instances been lucky so far concidering all of the justices put in place by this administration but soon i fear that tide will turn. We must somehow get back to the “Garlands” and reject the “Kavanaughs”. I love the idea of planting a tree knowing you may not be here to see it mature but to enjoy the fact it may shade and comfort future generations.
3
Biden will first pander to unions in Pittsburgh and then retreat to a Comcast fundraiser with his real constituents, the perfect encapsulation of the Democratic party, the most hated company in America, meet your friend: Joe Biden. And the majority of the voters will stay home on election day again this time around.
3
Phyliss Dalmatian, Wichita, Kansas, now at 142 Recommends just gave me the Vice President for my President.
President Elizabeth Warren
Vice President Pete Buttigieg
Phylis D. writes that her pairing will guarantee the greatest turnout since 2008.
My pairing will do the same and provide a more highly qualified woman than Phyllis D's choice.
Thanks Phyllis.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
4
@Larry Lundgren
I like your ticket, but I’d choose something more centrist, which has less chance of losing the middle.
I’d like Sherrod Brown or Amy Klobuchar at the top of the ticket. Experienced yet not old news. Not name calling screamers. Work across the aisle. And would not insult working people or ignore the rust belt,as happened last time.
1
Biden has already tired and lost. I think he gave it his all and needs to retire. His is not the best speaker and has put himself in a mess a few times.
3
@Bob
Maybe write better before criticizing another's speaking abilities?
1
@Bob
"He is not the best speaker and has put himself in a mess a few times."
Funny. But it sounds like you're describing Trump, who can't even speak, much less tweet anything that makes any kind of sense.
Biden is in there for one reason only, to insure Sanders doesn’t get the nomination even though Sanders is the only one capable of beating Trump. There are also some compelling arguments that the Democrats want to lose, they are getting everything their corporate and war mongering money bags want while able to blame the Republicans for executing the same agenda designed to benefit their Middle East allies, continuing the six trillion dollar flood of American taxpayer money to insure the safety of Israel, described as a war on terror, and of course the wishes of the 1% catered to by both parties. Anyone who thinks Democrats want healthcare reform is delusional, they want what’s going to fill their coffers and provide them with lucrative board positions when out of office, Joe Lieberman is the best example, he personally killed single payer to back his insurance company pay masters. I doubt main stream media will allow a discussion of Biden and his baggage with relation to Ukraine gas deals (along with his son Hunter), holding up billions in foreign aide to help secure his sons position on a Ukrainian natural gas board, not to mention his less than stellar legislative legacy will kill his chances with all but status quo Republican Lite Hillary bots. The other very good reason the Dems might want to set this one out is the real possibility of the chickens finally coming home to roost after a decade of Q.E. and zero bound rates to benefit the 1%, a Depression is long overdue.
3
@Ted -- This is what I have been saying for a long time now: the Democrats are the other side of the coin. Every bit as greedy and ready to serve their rich paymasters as their Republican counter parts.
We really need a multi-party system in this country. Perhaps then all this nonsense would stop.
1
@Don Juan Thank you for your input: yes it’s amazing that there is so little acknowledgement that we have become essentially a one party system even though there is consensus among such a divergent number of economists and international authorities. There have been articles in The Financial Times from Martin Wolfe and Thomas Piketty In Harpers I believe, from Noam Chomsky( who also had lots to say about Biden and why the Democrats want to lose this election) from Robert Reich on the inequality resulting from our one party system: yet from the newspaper I spent seventy years considering to be the final word, The N.Y.T., nary a peep, rather they continue espousing the centrist neo Liberal rhetoric that has led to such gross inequality and allowed the election of Trump. Even the wonderful F.T. Economist John Autor( and friend of Dr. K.) has come around to questioning the system, I had hoped he would join The Times along with Rana Foorhar but so far there’s only been the addition of a terrific musical accompaniment to Pauls column in the manner of John. Please keep trying to point out the morphing of our system to one resembling less a democracy and more of a plutocracy. Bernie/ Liz 2020!!!!
2
A wonderful piece! Thank you!
2
It's odd that there are so few Republican challengers, considering how at least one at the top of the dung heap morbidly fears disclosure and ejection. Possibly even prison.
Are they that terrified of the presidential lash?
As for the scrambling herd of Democratic contenders, I had thought this party lived in the real world. At least a dozen of these people are either deluded or desperate for recognition.
2
I hope Gale is still giggling Nov 4, 2020. Meanwhile, she feeds the large mindless wedge of American voters. Who will be Senate majority leader in the next Congress? It it's McConnell, and that's a safe bet, then we need a POTUS who can navigate the sewers of DC, and who can inspire a larger proportion of Americans than those who've already proven themselves to be divisive. I await developments. I'll support the nominee, but will do it with greater enthusiasm if s/he has broad popular support. I've tilted at more than my share of windmills, and I've disabled some, but this is a time for the kind of joint effort that shows us to be thinking humans and not selfish individualistic reptiles.
4
I have noted that in the years since the Trump election, there has been an absence of any serious discussion or consideration of the GOP. Anywhere, about anyof it's members. It appears that Mr T has immunized the party against virtually any and all comment or question from the media.
Instead, it appears that all media writers have decided this will be an election of "Superman" versus all Democrats and since Superman is alleged to be invulnerable, those Democrats challenging him are all assumed to be marching to their inevitable doom, they are being ridiculed and booed as they go to inevitable , bloody death. Media loves blood and gore and so, they are playing this like Romans cheering for the lions , as the prisoners are executed-whoever they are-women,children or even Christians.
Bad enough we no longer seem to have free and open discussion of politics-worse is that as the voters appear to have moved-the media has eagerly -like dogs under the table-followed at their heels to assure them that they are with them and of them.
2
With so many candidates running to get the Democratic nomination for POTUS, you can only write a sentence or two about them in a column.
How about writing a column each by the age bracket of the candidates?
Start with just the septuagenarians vying to become president and work your way down. There is Warren, Sanders and Biden on the Democratic side. Bill Weld on the GOP side. Then there is "He Who Must Not Be Named" and must not be written about.
Does Biden really want to run? I hope that if he enters the race he does so because he wants to and is ready to go full throttle. It he is doing it because other people want him to then he should not bother.
1
Like Obama, Joe Biden is grounded in his commitment to public service. He doesn’t just say the right things, he lives it. It’s who he is. And like Obama, that comes through.
Both of them would have been enormously successful at whatever they did, but they both chose public service-not politics-but true public service.
I’m all in for Joe!
4
I just saw the Biden announcement video, and things snapped into focus right quick. This election is not about policies, per se. I think it would be a mistake to lead one's campaign with a policy-first messaging approach.
Rather, I think 2020 will be about identification. With one's tribe. With one's moral imperatives. With one's culture. Proper messaging will allow voters to try on each candidate's persona, and see how it fits/coincides with one's world-view.
Biden is right. This is an emergency. There will be time aplenty for policy specifics. Like it or not, we are now in the schoolyard, picking sides for the football game that will determine whether the notion of "America" lives, or dies.
4
How weird is this?
Their record or lack thereof is obviously important. But the idea of 'character' is important to me when choosing a leader. So bad that he has no precedent, Trump has no character whatsoever. Everyone knows this and he's still getting support.
I literally cannot think of any active politician anywhere, in any country, with more character than Joe Biden.
I do not always agree with Biden. He was awfully wrong with Anita Hill, for example. But Biden's got public service, empathy for loss and the wisdom which comes with aged experience. And with Biden, it's never about Biden. That's why he can reflect now and publicly confront himself about the Anita Hill blemish on an otherwise stellar career. You will almost never see a politician anywhere in any country do that.
Biden is the antidote to the Trump snakebite.
8
I've been thinking that Bernie and Joe really are too old, but I think that can be fixed by who they choose as a VP. It would enhance their campaigns if they could, right now, id that person. In this regard, Bernie and Elizabeth Warren support each other. They could run as a team, they are actually both interested of the welfare of the people and country. And Warren actually has done some homework in the middle east. Having said that, I would still prefer Jay Inslee, I can see him looking at Trump, shaking his head, and saying "There you go again." before moving back to real issues.
1
I am delighted about Vice President Biden's entry into the 2020 presidential race! YES, he did place a few votes I did not like: FORGIVEN. Joe is a person of the people, flawed, passionate, gracious, patriotic, and loves humans, in a respectful way. I do admire a few of the other candidates, but Biden is the most selfless of them all. I have a home in Pennsylvania, where Joe was born and raised. He never lost those great PA values. He has one of the most talented wives ever, and such a lovely family. What a man, what a life, there's no looking back on this one.
14
Who is the best candidate? Easy question. The one who is most likely to defeat DT.
9
The supporters of candidates like Bernie Sanders should prepare themselves now for a national convention in which no candidate wins an outright majority of votes on the first ballot. When that occurs, super delegates will be able to cast their ballots along with all other delegates in subsequent rounds of voting. Those super delegates have an almost "fiduciary" responsibility to cast their votes for the candidate they believe has the best chance to beat Trump.
So, unless Bernie decisively blows 19 (or more) candidates out of the race long before the convention, his supporters should prepare for a convention outcome they may not like. That is one of the repercussions of declaring yourself a Democrat only during a presidential election year.
11
Yes, Biden is the most experienced candidate, just as Clinton was the most experienced candidate in 2016. How did that work out?
As Oscar Wilde said, experience is simply the name we give our mistakes and Biden's 50 years in politics are full of serious ones - including his vote on Iraq.
Personally, I'd hate it if the nominees were two old white men with women issues.
5
A 76-year-old running for president is a problem? Really? A 76-year old Joe Biden is certainly a far better option than a 72-year old president who can't remember the answers to 37 questions in a written questionnaire!
10
IF only Joe had run four years ago ! What a difference it would have made. But the past is past and it's time to move on and as Kennedy said, it's time to pass the torch on to a new generation.
I really do like Joe Biden, as a person of integrity and the total opposite of the clown in the White House. He would have made a good president in years past. But I'm sorry Joe, I'm 83 years old and I know what age does to a person.
Time to move on.
That bypasses Bernie too.
8
Age aside, Biden smacks of last century's Hubert H. Humphrey. Some of us are old enough to remember that didn't go well. Having said that, I will trust the nominating process.
4
@alan I liked McGovern too but I would take Humphrey over Nixon and a Humphrey over Trump any day.
3
We won't find our candidate until we stop the inter-candidate criticism and find the person capable of standing up to Trump. You can evaluate the candidates all you like, and you can have the best concepts and platform, but in the end the person we choose must be willing to go head to head with Trump and call him out for what he is.
Elizabeth Warren has already shown herself too weak to confront him in his playbook, despite having the experience and ideas to lead. The youngsters in the crowd don't seem to have the temerity or a pillar of experience to stand up to him. Joe Biden might pick up the gauntlet if offended enough by Trump's coming insults, but he needs to shake off age and placidity and show some passion.
I hate to say this, because it's no way to run a Democracy, but we're going into a street fight. We need a champion who can back up the battle with good ideas and a solid platform. To date, I don't see that candidate. And two thing are true of Donald Trump: he thrives on a fight, and he fights dirty.
2
I remember how Democrats got a kick out of calling the long list of Republican hopefuls in the last election the Clown Bus. What does that make this band of 20? I happen to like Joe Biden...so far. Too many of the others have been in strategy meetings trying to figure out how to make an impact in different potential voting blocks. The usual tool is one of giveaways. Giveaway student debt, free college, medicare for all, minimum guaranteed income for all Americans. You get the point. Joe has a chance because he can pull from the center of both parties. Most of the rest can't.
2
Two ways to look at the Democratic field. On the one hand it is an embarrassment of riches. If you have listened to some of the candidate interviews you may not agree with everything they say but you have to be impressed with their intellects, temperaments, speaking skills and innovative policy proposals.
On the other hand, one can see this field as a clown car. Most of them do not have a ghost of a chance of winning the nomination. They may be admirable but they simply aren't going to overcome the major candidates. By Iowa, two thirds of this group will be gone. After Iowa and New Hampshire we probably will be down to 3 or 4.
As for Joe Biden, it is understandable why he is running for president long after his sale by date. He is genuinely frightened by Trump. Trump is a public menace. Not only does Biden believe that, but Nancy Pelosi and a sizeable number of ex Republicans believe that. I'm not sure if he is the right candidate, principally because he is indeed too old for the job, but we shall see what the voters think.
2
Our ticket should be Klobuchar-Hickenlooper because I just like the sound of that.
7
I'm certain Biden could do the job at 76, but what concerns me is his health. At that age anything could happen, including death. His VP nominee would be critical.
1
It is time we elect a woman as President as no man is going to curb the machismo which is the beating heart of our present pretender to the throne.
The decision should shake out sooner than later as party unity is a point which must be established in short order as Mr Trump and his backers will complete the bankruptcy of our nation both financially and more important morally if reelected.
We as a people are being played by an obvious con man who along with his appointees consider our politics a game with winners and losers while in fact we, the flesh and blood citizenry, are not pieces on their game board.
If, in addition to providing for all the people of our nation, we wish to continue leading the world with regard to innovation both economically and politically, we need to transition from a mindset rooted in the past to that which will serve the future, but few seeking office seem to recognize that obvious fact.
The field can be winnowed in short order if we choose to bring about the needed change and of those seeking the Presidency Ms Warren and Mr Buttigieg bring both the vision and intelligence our nation clearly needs. They are not posing or hiding and both can hand Mr Trump his hat.
Regardless, the most important aspect is to present the ideas of change and narrow the field before the momentum of our sitting President ushers in his form of autocracy with a second term.
3
Mayor Pete is getting some heat for not offering enough "specific proposals", instead choosing to talk about the values upon which future proposals will be based. As one voter, I appreciate Pete's approach. Every four years, Americans operate under the delusion that these specific policies will become law and we'll finally get to live in a progressive utopia. Did Obama lay out the specifics of what became the ACA while running for president? No, but he did lay out the the notion that our values require universal coverage. Leaders lead. They aren't technocrats. They are persuaders. I trust mayor Pete to take us to a better place than we are right now. No matter what happens after the election, we'll still have stiff opposition from the so-called Conservatives in Congress and the Supreme Court. Medicare for All might be nice, but it won't happen just because the next Democratic president wants it. America needs to understand our values and we need to persuade voters, especially working folks, that our values are worth supporting.
8
Let a 1,000 flowers bloom...the more voices the better in the Democratic primary...the name game and money race will cut the crop down way before we have to choose...and then whoever wins the primary will have legions of volunteers and donors marching behind her...or him...
Look at NY-19...seven primary candidates, one won with only 21% of the vote...and he's Arican American in a very white district...and then went on to beat the Republican incumbent with a healthy margin...keep the faith and stay true to our Democratic ideals...anyway we are no longer dependent on one or true debates at the end of the primary race.
1
Joe beats Trump easily but I have every confidence that the Democrats will find a way to lose in 2020. Biden/Booker is a shoe-in ticket that is just too rational for the liberals. Win with Joe, lose with any of the left-wingers. Did I mention that millions of Republicans(like me) will vote for Joe because he is a moderate?
1
Collins all but declares that we should simply pick a woman. We fixed it so a woman was the nominee last time, and she and her Limousine Liberal gang managed to ignore the rust belt, insult working people, and lose.
How about if we pick the person best able to beat Trump, the only thing that matters. No ruling out possibilities by gender, color, or age.
Me? I’d like Sherrod Brown or Amy Klobuchar, despite the fact that he’s a white male and she’s an abusive boss.
They’re experienced yet not old news. Not screaming name callers. Actual adults. Reach across the aisle. And they would appeal to working people in the lost rust belt because they actually care about them.
They could win. They would govern wisely.
Harris? She says “we need to consider that” too much and also seems to blurt out whatever the latest polling supports. Warren is terrific but Trump has done a job on her with the ethnic heritage issue. She has been hurt by that, and fumbled with her response. Biden’s day is past. Pete is promising, and I want to hear more. Bernie made his ideas mainstream, but others may be better suited to carry them forward. Gillibrand made big dough from Big Tobacco, was for guns when convenient and now conveniently against guns. I don’t trust her.
But we need to keep our minds open to them all for awhile. Let’s hear what they have to say, and how they say it. They all have virtues and flaws.
Then pick who we think will win.
6
When assessing who is the most electable, we must consider that there is an increasing chance that the Republican nominee will not be Trump.
It is too soon to tell. So it is way too soon to assess electability.
Really, all 20 could beat Trump, especially after the hearings commence. So let’s double down on what kind of future we want, and who is really most likely to take us there.
1
Seems to me that the race on the democratic side is about who will be VP. If Joe wins, it is hard to imagine that he would serve 2 terms. However, if he were to choose a woman, and it seems like he would have to, then Americans can watch a woman in action for 4 years and may lose resistance to choosing a woman as commander in chief in 2024. This could be an enormous benefit.
7
Is it 'politic' to suggest that Biden says he will serve for one term while choosing a VP who can be groomed to run for President in 2024? One term to straighten out the mess this country is in now.
3
I will vote for the Democratic nominee no matter who emerges, and not because I am a party loyalist.
Too much is as stake for the planet, our people and our polity.
Four more years of Trump Republicanism will surely our ruin, well beyond the serious damage it has already inflicted.
9
The great thing about Biden's entry into the race is that it makes the age of Sen. Sanders, the best candidate, seem more agreeable.
Other than that, Biden is a little less hawkish HRC redo, with heavy Anita Hill baggage. Back then, I promised myself never to forget. I am not forgetting.
Then there is the "centrist"or "moderate" ("NON") message. Nothing to be agaist.
1
And once again we will witness the arrival of DNC "super delegates" & the whole DNC political machine favoring Biden over candidates like Sanders or Tulsi. The DNC, like its Republican counterpart, has been hijacked by our military industrial complex and as the motto goes: "Democrats would rather lose to a Republican than win with a progressive candidate".
2
Biden has been taking votes from the other more centrist Democratic candidates like Amy Klobuchar. She's a lot smarter and better educated, has more energy and is tough enough to beat Trump. Biden should get out of the way. There is something unseemly about his running. I don't believe he can win, and he is an impediment to other good candidates gaining more traction.
9
To begin with, everyone complaining about how big the field of Democrat hopefuls are, has obviously forgotten how many Republicans were running for the same position in 2016.
True. It seems like everyday a new contender is jumping into the fray -- but that's Democracy for you.
And now, here comes Joe Biden.
Whether you like him or not, he's still reported as being the leader of the pack in the polls, even thought he's got no money. But that will probably change. Soon.
In any case, that shouldn't be what people focus on.
At this point, two years into the insane asylum of this current administration, the most important thing is how the majority of inmates can grab the keys back.
So whomever you choose, just VOTE.
2
Elizabeth Warren is the smartest in the race, and the one with the most ideas to help the most people. Media need to stop this obsession with Bernie, Biden and Mayor Pete's ages. Who has the best ideas to move us forward? Who can heal the country? Track records matter. Who has shown they understand: government, climate, race, class, international affairs, the economy, our tax system, our healthcare system? We don't need perfection. We do need a president who knows what they don't know and can seek out a diversity of qualified opinions. We need a leader of the whole country. We need someone who understands the real challenges we face and is unafraid to be candid with us about choices and solutions. Think about these issues and the field shrinks down from 20 candidates to maybe 3 or 4 true contenders.
20
Her positions are in the sky, and she is unelectable. The ONLY consideration in this race is who can beat Trump. He is the single biggest threat facing this country and its future as the (a?) world leader.
1
20 candidates get winnowed to ONE nominee. And that person still has to win the electoral college from the united republicans. Can you see the long odds here?
I like Biden for two main reasons: One, he has substantial foreign policy experience, which is a big part of a president's job. He was a longtime member (and once chairman) of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. He's dealt with people like Gaddafi and the parties in the Yugoslav conflict. That's not to be underestimated in an era of growing populism and uncertainty around the globe.
Two, he projects a gravitas that will play well in the televised debates with Trump. Remember how Trump hovered over Hilary Clinton, among other antics in 2016? You wouldn't see him trying that with Biden. White suburban men voted overwhelmingly for Trump, and they're a large chunk of our population. Biden might be our best hope at luring some of them over to the Democratic side.
7
I voted for Bernie in the 2016 primary. He believes in everything I do.
I voted for Hillary in the election because she is smart and was well qualified.
I admire Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker and Joe Biden.
In 2020 I’ve got to vote for the person who’s going to beat Trump. I just don’t know who that is yet.
5
As of yesterday's announcement, Joe Biden is running for the Democratic Presidential nomination and everyone else is running for the Democratic Vice-Presidential nomination, or for 2024.
Of course, the 2020 VP nominee and 2024 front runner are likely to be one and the same. So choose wisely, Joe.
Except Bernie. This is his last shot (Joe's, too). I think the same folks that would have voted for Bernie over Trump (but couldn't bring themselves to vote for Hillary) will be comfortable voting for Biden.
No matter who the Democratic nominee, they've got my vote. The Republicans have got to go.
6
So when did those attributes start qualifying somebody to be president? Nice can be nice I suppose but does it keep us safe? Experience is always good and I will give you that as long as the experience is quality experience. Ringo’s age does inspire me somewhat but had you asked me if Ringo is still alive I might have hesitated for a moment. Why do we continue to grope (no pun intended) for a qualified candidate?
1
Really, of all the indignities Joe has had to experience the last few months in his run-up to announcing his candidacy, comparing him to the Beatles in-house court jester is really the worst. He's also younger than Tiny Tim and Tommy Chong, but no one brought them up.
3
All along I hoped that Joe would not enter the race. Afraid for him, that he would suffer the same horrible experience that Hillary did; ending up in limbo. Did I win? Did I lose? Personal PTSD aside, there are advantages to having Joe Biden in the WH for a term. We badly need to get back to ethics, respect for rule of law. Bi-partisanship. Foreign relations. Environment. Social needs. Respect for your neighbor. Empathy. He would surround his admin with smart, respected folks that could start the restoration of our foundation. He is not perfect, I'm sure he knows that. But he is smart enough to rely on others, build a team, and get back to democracy. National Security needs its blanky.
6
The DP has a gaggle of over the hill Baby Boomer candidates in Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. They all represent yesterday. The DP needs to be about today and tomorrow.
4
@DENOTE MORDANT
I've found the messages of all three to be forward looking.
Anita Hill.
No one could make-up those details. She was brave and everyone could see Joe and his colleagues cared more about their political futures than the country.
I won’t vote for him. He’s been a fraud for decades.
10
@jdoubleu aren't people allowed to be forgiven for past bad actions? Some old white men have evolved over the past 30 years.
@JulieB
Unfortunately, Clarence Thomas doesn't seem to have evolved . . . .
And he’s a rare, friendly face for the establishment media. What a surprise.
Given the demographics between the coasts and off the chattering Twitter class, I think Biden has the best chance to beat Trump. Sure, I can be wrong, but if winning 2020 is the goal, sniping at moderate, liberal, and progressive candidates is not going to help pull together the Democratic consensus that will be needed for the election. 18 months to go.
5
Okay, he seems like a wonderful man, honestly. But is this progress? Is this the youthful change America needs to fight a serious future that’s charged with vital change? Or is he stability because we’re all so done with chaos?
2
@Paul Yates After the current president, wouldn't almost anything stable be progress again? We should break this chain of ultra-partisanship driving us apart. Moderate should not be a bad word.
3
Biden first ran for President 35 years ago.
That pretty much sums up the state of his party if he is the front-runner.
7
If his or her name is not Trump, he/she has my vote.
11
@liberal nyc lawyer To most voters who care policy matters.
Its time for a woman in the White House. The US is lagging behind.
1
@ves The best person should win, even if they don't happen to be a woman this time. I agree we should've had a woman president by now, but we shouldn't limit our choices to just those who happen to have an extra x chromosome.
4
@ves,
Americans actually elected a woman in 2016, but our archaic electoral college "unelected" her, inflicting the worst wound upon us since the beginning of our country.
Currently, there are five intelligent and more than capable female candidates for the job. The hardest decision will be which one should be president and which one the vice president.
4
@ves Voting for someone simply because of gender is every bit as bad as not voting for someone based on gender.
For his faults, Biden can stand up tp trumps nonsense
4
Who can beat Trump, if he survives? Warren or Harris?
Biden can be called 'Republican lite' or whatever but he is a good man. Given how the R's and Trump have trashed our international reputation, especially with our allies, Biden may be able to begin mending fences. That leaves domestic issues that Trump and his GOP have basically corrupted.
A Biden/Warren ticket would be the strongest I believe. Warren can take the domestic side with her strong, palatable ideas and gain experience at that level of our govt. Given that, she would then be in position to be our first woman POTUS.
16
@Harold. Warren is desperate and will promise anything for free.
@Harold Wow, where do you get this stuff, certainly not from polling.
@Jackson Nobody has ever said that anything is free, that is except the Fox noise machine.
We've arrived at this elevated consciousness where we are free of prejudice based on race, age, sex, religion, sexual orientation, and physical abilities. Here in this elevated political campaign, all we can talk about are race, age, religion, sexual orientation -- and immigration status. Enlightened at last, I breathe.
3
Biden, Sanders, Warren-too old, too far left or too Status Quo to have any success if Congress continues after 2020 to have a Democratic House and a Republican majority Senate. We baby boomers on up need to step aside and let younger people learn to govern and defend Democracy. The 3 candidates above need to satisfy their needs as elder advisors not movers and shakers. Maybe it would be better if Democrats tried as hard as possible to shift more seats in the Senate and not lose any.
1
It would be better if Democrats could choose a candidate that can defeat Trump.
1
I have historically voted for Republican candidates for President, until 2016 when I could not bring myself to vote for either Trump or Hillary. It's a strange thing to feel completely unrepresented by the two major party candidates. I can say this though, if Biden is the Democratic candidate, I WILL VOTE FOR HIM. I will not vote for any other Democratic candidate and risk trading one unhinged leader for another. Moderate Republicans will vote for Biden. He can win and he can bring us back to reasonable change at a reasonable pace. The Bernie/Warren/Etc supporters may say they can win without us - maybe they can - but I'm betting they can't. Socialism, no matter what slogan you try to wrap it in, will never win in America.
5
What a different world this would be if the sentiment in your closing comment was the norm, and not an oddity, Ms. Collins
"Cory Booker just promised to pick a woman for a running mate. It’s an interesting position, but not nearly as interesting as a woman picking Cory Booker for a running mate."
I have great admiration for Sen. Elizabeth Warren, but I also admit that I'm afraid too much of the electorate will misogynize her candidacy. I pray that I'm wrong about that, and I'd be OK with her asking Booker to be her Veep.
5
Surprise, surprise, this morning I just received an e-mail from Bernie saying the he just "reintroduced" Medicare for All legislation in the Senate, as all other advanced countries have.
While I agree about universal healthcare, this reintroduction is of course dead on arrival in the Senate and Bernie knows it.
I had to giggle though that signed off by writing:
In solidarity,
Bernie Sanders
For heavens sake, Bernie certainly knows that the solidarity greeting was a staple of the communist area, when their party members and leaders greeted each other that way.
I would welcome socialism of the European kind getting a foothold in this country, but Bernie should know better not to use phrases right out of the Communist Manifesto.
3
Sarah, in my union, the NYC United Federation of Teachers, people sign messages: in solidarity. When I have on a union protests, the nurses, UAW, Dc37, and other unions also use the term solidarity. It doesn't offend me.
8
The polarization of politics is reflected in the immediate dominance of Bernie and Biden--the two extremes of the Democratic Party although they're both very old, white males (but who's talking I'm a 78-year old white male). When most Democrats want a younger, left of center candidate, they may be left, as in 2016, with a bad choice and a dis-united party. This is the real "existential threat" both to the party and the nation facing the increasingly authoritarian rule of Donald Trump in the most consequential election in my lifetime.
6
Uncle Joe tells the Union conventions that he's on their side. What does he tell the billionaires he's calling up for contributions? Undoubtedly the opposite.
If Biden is the second Obama, remember how President Obama betrayed organized labor: after getting $150 million in contributions & thousands of volunteer hours from the AFL-CIO, he did not make any effort whatsoever to support the crucial-for-organizing Workplace Democracy Act, which failed as a result. . . . The workers are getting poorer every year while the rich grow in power. For the American working people, this election is is not an amusing game of picking winners in a horse race, as it apparently is for bourgeois journalists, but a matter of survival. If the media cannot tell the Socialist Sanders from the corporate puppet candidates, the voters can.
5
Democratic policy matters. A healthcare package for all minus the tentacles of big insurance, big pharma and big medical. Better education, from grade school through college. Elimination of the electoral college. Jobs programs to repair crumbling infrastructure. And a full press to try our best to mitigate our thumbprint on climate change.
I want a candidate that is smart, articulate and has the savvy to maneuver politically. The ticket must be Kamala Harris with Pete B as her running mate. That means it ain't milquetoast Biden or Angry Bernie.
2
I enjoy Gail Collins' humor and its use in highlighting our nation's politics. But sometimes humor can come off as pettiness or even dismissiveness.
I have no preference yet among the Democratic candidates, but Buttigieg's comment about "values that animate our policies” should not be ridiculed so fast.
In truth, we do not know what the next president will be dealing with, and we do know we cannot simply rely on past votes or pronouncements to predict future ones.
But as with Trump, we could judge by a person's values whether they will be able and willing to make good calls or not when the time comes. Trump's being for a woman's choice in the past was not a defining moment. We could have better judged him by the values that "animated his policies."
So, what are these values in our candidates?
For a start:
Sanders and Warren are animated by fairness and reduced inequality in our economic system.
Beto and Buttigieg by intelligent reasonableness and a bottoms-up approach.
Biden by a golly-gee back to 1950s myths of small town America.
Help me out with these and others . .
6
Joe wants to be President badly. Too bad the window closed in 2016--if it was ever really open. He will be a flawed candidate and the bottom line is that the public is probably more excited about the prospect of a Biden run than the reality of it.
Atta boy, Joe.
3
Definitely more spiff and far, far more diplomatic, but is he older than Keith Richards?
1
At some point when Biden was speaking at McCain’s services, the thought came to my mind, “He needs to be our next president.” McCain was someone I probably hadn’t appreciated enough before Trump was elected and McCain became sick, but I remember when I heard he had passed that feeling in your gut when faced with, typically, a personal loss. I was surprised because I usually don’t respond so strongly to public figures. It felt as if the world had lost something important. Biden perfectly addressed what I was feeling - I believe he said that the loss people were feeling was “decency.” He knocked that speech out of the park at a very dark time and consoled the nation.
I think a number of the candidates have great potential, but Biden has a depth from a long, if complicated, life of service and personal tragedy. The primaries will be a debate of ideas, the tone of which up to this point has been mostly set by Sanders and Warren. The tone of the general election will be set by Trump. Trump brings out a very visceral, emotional reaction in people - different emotions depending on which side you’re on - but very strong emotions on both sides. People have trouble reacting with their intellect when they’re emotional, so it’s important that whoever runs on the Democratic side is someone who can also tap into deep emotion, not just intellect. People instinctively love, trust, and feel protective of Biden.
7
While traditionally a centrist is normally the safest choice for a presidential candidate, we are not living in normal times. We need someone who is a smart fighter with big ideas to make for a clear contrast to our liar in chief. Trump is going to try to bluster his way back in to the white house. He will have his rabid supporters, but it is the people desperate for change who voted for him that need to be addressed. These are the people who despite much evidence to the contrary voted for him. They hoped beyond hope he would deliver on at least some of his populist promises; no cuts to the safety net, support manufacturing, close tax loopholes, put America first. The problem is that Trump is not smart enough or hard working enough to deliver anything. These voters are already suffering from a confused global US economy and Trump has only delivered more confusion rather then progressive or populist programs that might help. Like the "new" NAFTA it is essentially the same as the old one. He has done nothing to address income inequality except claim the tax cut would fix everything, which it has not. We need someone with big ideas that will work. Blue wave 2020 !
10
A large, shallow - really, really shallow - pool of candidates from 2016 yielded Donald Trump as the prize catfish dredged from bottom feeding.
He should have been unelectable, but got assists from Putin, and of course, the fact that he was facing Hillary.
Do we really need a large, shallow pool of candidates from the Democrats side? Will it yield the least electable candidate too?
Yep.
And prediction - Democrats will stay home in droves to not elect the party pick, while Republicans will hold their collective noses and re-elect Trump. Good Times Ahead!
7
@Cathy
Actually we've had shallow guys as president, some pretty bad, some OK. A short list = Ford, Reagan, Bush jr., Nixon. And some of the 2016 Republican candidates were not really shallow, though I would not want any of them to be president -- they failed as candidates simply because they just did not spice up the media reception of them the way Trump did. Not a good way to select our leaders.
My point? The Democratic candidates are not shallow. They all seem quite intelligent, able to learn, willing to appoint strong subordinates, and articulate. Give them a chance to present themselves before deciding. Obama, one of our greatest presidents, probably did not appear very deep when we first became aware of him -- a good speech was all we knew of him.
Time will tell, especially if the media probes into the candidates' values, the source for their political views, their complexity, and their ability to make mistakes, live up to them, and then correct them -- for surely all of us make mistakes. Let's not jump to conclusions. We have time. And often our gut instincts are just indigestion from watching the nightly news.
8
Joe and Bernie are both less than ten years younger than I am .Getting old is a challenge and I have the scars to prove it! They have messages that appeal to the public but they need to have the stamina to endure a bruising four year term as president.I am personally pleased that we oldsters are respected and both of these gentlemen are but the stage is set for a candidate to become president who has youth, enthusiasm and is familiar with the challenges of the digital world we live in.
5
I feel like I'm watching a split screen movie. On one side, we have 20 Democratic candidates trying to stand out in a football stadium. On the other side, is an increasingly tyrannical president refusing to comply with requests from Congress.
One side, business as usual. The other, an existential threat (speaking of those) to our democracy.
I find this split screen extremely disorienting. Do you? Maybe instead of talking about puppies and running mates, the candidates could offer lessons in constitutional democracy and what it means to them.
39
Democratic voters must step up and participate in the primaries this election season. Don’t allow the process to be dominated by any one wing of the party. We have a say, and it’s time to be counted.
9
The Democratic Party has a deep bench. There are a lot of quality candidates. What this article does not say, since it seems rather old fashioned in a way, playing one candidate against another, is the answer to the question about what are American values.
Here's the problem with Biden, he's old, yes, but he doesn't seem wise. Sanders is too obsessed for his own health and seems way out in front of American values. People would have to do a lot of catching up to sincerely support this man. Apparently, many have and did, but that may be all there is, and that wouldn't be enough.
Beyond those two, I would take any of the leftovers, but my preference would be to first see the Democratic platform, and then choose the candidate who best represents it. To some degree, I think that is Ms. Warren. She seems to command all the issues, from the kitchen table on out to income inequality and can speak about them with passion and great detail. On the other hand, as long as any of the candidates support the platform, I would be happy to vote for them. It would also seem, though, that the diversity of the Democratic Party, in terms of demographics, needs to be respected and reflected in the ultimate selection. There is plenty to choose from on that account. The biggest mistake, though, that they could make is to choose someone solely on the basis of the likelihood of that person beating Trump. Trump may not be the candidate, and frankly, anyone could beat Trump, if the party turns out.
18
Finally! However I’m afraid that Trump’s political “Wilding” will make Biden look too establishment. Frankly, being in my late sixties the character, and forthrightness of Joe Biden is what I crave and America needs.
Can a fairness platform ever exist again? Is the damage Trump has done to the fabric of American politics permanent?
Can we discern the real issues from the Trumped-up ones?
5
Gail, you did not mention that Joe Biden was there to vote for the Clinton budget which actually put our nation on sound fiscal footing.Biden was there when in spite of the Bush tax cuts the Obama federal deficits were half of what the trillion dollar Trump deficits will be well into the future. Biden was the lead on the crime bill that banned assault weapons. Joe was in the lead to equality for LGBT rights. And, Joe will be quick to admit he is flawed and made makes mistakes. I think Joe is in this for us, not for himself.
13
The Democrats should choose the candidate most able to defeat Trump.
Yes, Trump is that bad and must go.
Joe Biden is not that candidate.
14
Of course Biden has name recognition. He's been around forever. But the same was true of Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton and look what eventually happened to them.
How do we keep forgetting what 2016 showed us? People with name recognition were exactly what a lot of voters didn't want. Where was Biden on all the issues when we needed him? Just part of the crowd of good ole boys.
13
@Jack Hartman: Name recognition elected Trump.
Joe Biden seems to me to be the Democratic equivalent of Jeb Bush in 2016. Comes in with a lot of hype as the front runner, and then slowly fades as voters start focusing on the candidates.
18
There is a disconnect between Gail Collins's characterization of Biden as "nice" and the aspects of his resume that "will require a lot of explaining."
Experience can be a liability insofar as it cultivates a mindset that defends the status quo.
While it is important for people to remain active and relevant as they age, enlightened individuals of Biden's age should recognize that there is a backlog of over-educated and under-employed citizenry that need to be given more opportunities.
And then there is the matter of mental acuity. Reagan suffered the onset of Alzheimer's during his second term and, as many observers have pointed out, Trump does not always seem coherent.
Sanders's age does not come up as often because he is still mentally sharp, on point, in a way that Biden is not.
6
Seems to me Biden has the best shot of winning against Trump unless the Bernie bros don't vote. He's got lots of baggage but he ll fight for the former Trump voters in crucial swing states. Mayor Pete would seem a good VP on the ticket but people don't vote on VP even if the presidentwill be pushing 80
3
Choose a presidential and vice presidential team that will also appeal to millions of hard working middle-of- the-road Republicans in order to win the election and at the same time start with re-uniting the nation. Amongst 20 top-notch candidates, there must surely be such a team....
5
@Leon Joffe
Biden will have to pick a VP that will appease the leftwing, who are sure to depose him because he isn't politically correct, so they won't sit home fuming.
Michelle Obama said it best: “When they go low, we go high.” I believe the Democrats should go with the most principled, authentic, progressive candidate, one who has guts, has delivered on programs to help Americans like the Consumer Protection Bureau, has only one agenda—the people’s—and will fight for your rights. In my mind that is Elizabeth Warren. We deserve her dedication and commitment.
Let’s not “settle” for fear of Trump’s attacks on our nominee. Let’s go for the best candidate who will make the best President for ALL the people. To my mind that is Senator Warren. She will stand up to Trump and run rings around him.
26
All of them have good enough qualifications, but when I ask myself which candidate can unquestionably win Pennsylvania and Ohio, only one provides that assurance: Biden.
5
I think it’s a little early to make a prediction.
3
America needs a president of revolutionary leadership, not merely revolutionary ideas. Biden might actually run a more progressive platform than most would assume, but then, people wouldn’t buy that anyway. It’s important to note that in the wide despite towards the nomination of Biden lies a crave for a new kind of leadership, which should be so much more than a limbic reaction to Trump than throwing around new ideas. Such desire instantly questions many candidates. It puts into question the electability of O’Rourke, who was most recently a Senate seat contender and thus couldn’t realistically be prepared enough for a generational challenge, and casts doubts on Warren, who runs heavily upon her progressive platforms. But of course, they have thought deep and hard about the problems. However, I’m not impressed with what they can offer about themselves, when there’s Buttigieg who is apparently fully reckoning with the complexity of the problems at hand and Sanders who single-mindedly devotes his life to a cause. On a bigger, more constructive conversation, candidates would need to match those two’s intensity and honesty, and prove that they are not simply better with words and people’s immediate desires, but better leaders. Or else, people can always pick Andrew Yang.
2
I don’t care if the democratic nominee is old, young, black, white, gay, straight, female, male, east coast, west coast, senator, mayor, governor, and so forth. What I care about is HEALTHCARE, The ENVIRONMENT, EDUCATION, and INCOME INEQUALITY. Integrity and common decency are also on my list. I’m withholding my support until the debates begin and the policy’s start shaping. May the best democrat win the presidency.
20
@Oliver--but in case you haven't kept up with current events all Democrats are talking about is impeachment, impeachment, impeachment.
1
@sharon5101
Impeachment of our criminal president is the foundation of saving our country right now.
And Democrats are smart enough to impeach the criminal and advance other agendas at the same time.
I don’t vote for personalities but for agendas. This excludes Sanders and Warren out of the gate. I don’t wan’t to live under socialism; I don’t want tech companies to be broken up; I don’t believe that the Green New Deal is practicable; I don’t want the Iran deal to be reinstated unless it is significantly improved. If either of these two is the nominee, I am voting for Trump. I have nothing either for or against Biden, though my husband likes him. However, from what I have seen of the other candidates so far, I am favorably impressed by Mayor Pete. He seems to have a similar centrist agenda to Biden’s but without the latter’s baggage. He is also good-looking, gay and speaks Norwegian. I was impressed by his intelligent discussion of his Christian belief. Though a Jewish atheist myself, I like people who are theologically literate. If we have to have a believer in the White House, it’d be nice to have one who knows what he is talking about, with regard to religion as well as politics.
6
@Mor
We give trillions of dollars in subsidies to the fossil fuel industry, spent trillions on our recent wars for conquest and profit.
Yet much of the world will be, according to even conservative models by the U. N., uninhabitable by 2100 and you say the green new deal isn't "practical".
That's rich...
9
@Mor
Great that you state your views on issues and specific Democrats who, if nominated, would result in you voting for Trump. However, the “not wanting to live under socialism” comment reveals some basic ignorance on your part.
Consider spending time learning about actual socialism as a political/economic system, then compare it to the policies Sanders and Warren are advocating in their “democratic socialist” ideas. Neither are pushing for the end of private property nor for complete government ownership of the means and distribution of production.
Do you realize even conservative Republicans - and you - sort of support “socialism” in your skewed view of it? Or are you opposed to Medicare, public school, social security and all taxes?
1
@Mor
They will squash Buttigieg like a bug. You don't send a rookie quarterback into the equivalent of a Super Bowl game, which is what dealing with Congress can be. Look at how that worked out with Obama who was entirely over his head with Congress.
Biden and perhaps Klobuchar are the only two that seem up to the job of dealing with Congress. Having the answer for everything may scintillate the mind, but it says nothing about achieving measurable results.
Just say no to Joe. I'd say his time has passed, but even back in the day he was no great shakes. He lost his party's presidential nomination three times, and there were reasons for that, including the fact that he was caught plagiarizing a major speech. After all we've been through recently, don't we deserve a candidate who sets the ethics bar a little higher? We need a President who inspires, who can fire up the electorate, who can lead with energy and passion as we confront an array of future threats that no one was even thinking about back when Joe hit legal retirement age more than 10 years ago.
14
It is only April 2019 and I am tired. I feel like I am watching the Dems throw the election before my eyes. I am 28. I am scared for the future ahead for my generation. This election will dictate our future.
I may not have kids, as how will I support paying boomers’ insane property values to buy a home of my own? How will I afford the now enormous down payment without generational wealth and student loan debt? How will we save for exorbitant college costs for our kids? Should I even have kids, with these challenges ahead and also given the state of the planet? Will I be working two or three jobs my entire life with the rise of the gig economy and the breakdown of labor? I am in the top 10% of income in my generation, and even I am terrified.
I feel I am screaming into the ether when I see people pushing Biden and Bernie or trying to focus on identity politics vs. polling data and electability. Bernie talks a big game but has 0 plan, 0 grasp of how to ADAPT to a changing economy, and is alienating to the independents we need to win. He has 0 at stake at age 79 , if inaugurated
The boomers leading and voting have nothing at stake, and my generation will pay. The only candidates that I feel truly grasp this plus have the capabilities (and the plans) to steer us into the future are Buttigieg and Warren. I hope more voters grasp this as the primary continues. The Democrats must win and must have a plan to turn this ship around.
41
@tazzy19
Thank you. That nails it.
5
@tazzy19
"... polling data and electability."
Care to change your mind about Sanders and Indies?!
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/5974060-Tulchin-Research-Memo-Sanders-Defeating-Trump-in.html
Page 2. in particular.
"Sanders beats Trump by a wide margins among Independent voters (MI: Sanders 55% to Trump 33%, Sanders+22; WI: Sanders 54% to Trump 36%, Sanders +16; PA: Sanders 48% to Trump 37%, Sanders +11)."
In the '16 primary he performed well with independent voters, winning them by a margin of nearly two-to-one over Clinton (Sanders 63% to Clintons 34%). High turnout among independents was an important factor in states that Sanders won. Sanders didn't win any primaries where independents made up less than 22 percent of the electorate, according to exit polls.
Source: CBS News Exit Polls, 2016 Democratic Primary's and Caucuses.
Hope this info helps.
Of course all caveats apply. These are just polls and how the voters turnout is anyone guess.
NotMeUs
2
@Retired
That’s difficult to understand. The idea that liberals dominated any of those institutions in recent memory is preposterous. Except in the humanities, academia is conservative. As for municipal and state governments — look at the map — statehouses are currently held 27-23 by Republicans. Healthcare is run by liberals? That’s almost a joke. Healthcare is run by insurance companies and large hospitals. You seem to be very angry at somebody in your nastiness toward @Tazzy19. Maybe it’s “liberals.” But if you’re retired I’ll bet you have Social Security and Medicare, and liberals created those programs. If you want to be true to your convictions, give both of them up and then rage about liberals. (I don’t know what you mean by he won’t be able to “ask” them. That’s incoherent.) @tazzy19’s other observations are about structural changes in this society orchestrated by .5% of Americans — an oligarchy that wants the average guy to have nothing. That by the way includes your friend Trump and everybody else you vote for. What has the Republican Party given us in the last quarter century? Other than fealty to the rich and submission to a president who wants to be a dictator. How you can be in favor of that — well, it takes all kinds. Consider this: the ratio of executive pay to the ordinary worker in the United States is around 500 to 1. Everywhere else in the West and in Japan it’s in double digits. That’s the country you folks have created.
1
On Elizabeth Warren
In my 1 comment and 5 replies I make clear that I support Elizabeth Warren for reasons I have been presenting since she stated on 19 April that a serious analysis of the road to impeachment should be started.
If Elizabeth Warren becomes the Democratic Party nominee, most of the 200 who write here today will very likely vote for her in the hope that she becomes our president.
Should she lose, she will have a place of high honor from which she can calmly observe the end of democracy in America, the continued decline in public health already underway, and finally the fall of Donald Trump. He cannot possibly make it through a second term.
Climate change will continue, making life more and more difficult for us in the USA or the Nordic countries, but impossible for millions in Africa, India, Central America and more.
These millions will have only one choice, emigration to a place they may be able to survive in. No walls will stop them.
As for the earth, a very wise columnist in my Swedish newspaper, Lisa Magnusson, notes that the earth will survive, something that I, a Professor emeritus of Earth and Environmental Science, know to be true.
We who live here in Sweden can only be here thanks to climate change in the other direction, the change that removed the 4 km thick ice sheet that covered this place from which I write.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
13
@Larry Lundgren
Let’s stay positive. Elizabeth Warren can win.
“You can resist an invading army. But, you cannot resist an idea whose time has come.”
Warren has many ideas that can break through big. They work across blue and red states (Like her wealth tax).
The surest way for the Corporatist Democratic National Committee and the Big Donors (read that Wall Street Bankers Plutocrats and Large Corporations) to assure the reelection of Donald Trump is to nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic Party candidate for POTUS.
Frankly I will not under any circustances vote for Biden. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are both ahead of Biden in the Polls and are better candidates.
Sanders and Warren are my choices for President and Vice President frankly in either order, If the Corporatist Democrats contrive to steal the nomination by similar tactics (vote suppression, dirty tricks and political back room deals and media maniputlation) as they used to nominate Hilary Clinton in 2016 over Bernie Sanders then Instead I will do again what I did in 2016 and vote for Jill Stein of the Green Party instead of the Democratic Candidate.
12
Doesn’t matter for whom you vote for you live in Massachusetts and they always choose the Democrat. I voted for Evan Mcmahan.
@Richard From Massachusetts
And your vote helped to elect 45.
In a perfect world, Elizabeth Warren should win. Got all the creds and smarts necessary for the job and a rock-solid moral compass. However, we live in a Trumpian world, make no mistake. Quite honestly, I have no idea who might prevail. The person who can stand on the debate stage and exchange barbs with the overgrown child that is Trump has the best shot. If its Uncle Joe, it might even come to blows. Bottom line, ANY of these candidates would be better than Trump.
21
Unless you pick a winner, someone who can rack up votes in the few states that are in play, you lose. It is that simple. Aspirational candidates are nice, but all they will accomplish if nominated in 2020 is re-elect Trump, in fact the only way he can get re-elected.
Most Democrats are actually running for Vice-President or a hoped for Presidential bid in 2024 or 2028. Sadly, the only thing they currently seem adept at is forming a circular firing squad.
Biden has two advantages over the current candidates. First, he is likely the only one who can connect with the Obama/Trump voters in the states that matter. Second, if elected he knows the D.C. swamp, and in order to actually begin to drain it, you have to know how it works and where the power really lies, not some fantasy cooked up to fit on an "Us vs. Them" bumpersticker.
Unless the Democrats stop playing Trump's game, allowing him to remain the center of attention by reacting to every bit of noise he makes, and instead work to understand why his approval rating is unaffected be each new "revelation", America will have to put up with four more years of the Entertainer-In-Chief.
As important, the Democrats need to understand that electing state legislatures, which will apportion Congressional and state legislative districts after the 2020 census, while not nearly as glamorous or politically "sexy", is just as important as electing the President. Simply whining about the Electoral College will accomplish nothing.
17
Biden won’t drain the swamp. He’s been a part of it for more than 40 years.
2
The Democratic presidential race is fast becoming a personality choice, in place of a competency choice.
The real question is, who will recruit the best secretaries, the best judges, and who has the ability to get congress to behave, who can thwart the GOP from profiting from their lies and accusations, who can convince the public that he/she is a real leader.
4
All that matters now is that the Democrats choose someone that focusses on the highest possible voter turnout. That will be the recipe to vote the GOP and Trump out of office.
Mr. Biden is a formidable candidate, but Ms. Warren leads the pack on policy ideas. It is time for the country to elect a female president.
11
Despite the Hilary fiasco, any woman running can beat Trump even Tulsi.
Unless you pick a winner, someone who can rack up votes in the few states that are in play, you lose, plain and simple. Aspirational candidates are nice, but all they will do if nominated in 2020 is re-elect Trump, the only way he actually can get re-elected.
Almost all the Democrats are actually running for Vice-President and/or a hoped for Presidential bid in 2024 or 2028. Unfortunately, the only thing they most of them seem adept at currently is forming a circular firing squad.
Unless the Democrats stop playing Trump's game, allowing him to remain the center of attention, and instead begin to understand why his approval rating is unaffected be each new "revelation", America will have to put up with four more years of the Entertainer-In-Chief.
As important, the Democrats need to understand that electing state legislatures which will apportion legislative districts after the 2020 census, while not nearly as glamorous or politically "sexy", is just as important as electing the President. Simply whining about the Electoral College will accomplish nothing.
6
Here's what we say in Wisconsin about events like V.P. Biden joining the Democratic fun run: yahh sure. If he makes it to the final, of course he'll get at as many votes as any other Democratic nominee.
But he might consider that while the party (and country) truly need the experienced elders in the House to handle the next two years, his presence in the presidential race makes the Dems look old. Maybe Jimmy Carter should ask Mr. Biden if he remembers Harold Stassen.
As well-intentioned as Sen Booker might be, announcing that his VP choice would be female is even more patronizing as the first President Bush when he tried to sell Clarence Thomas as the most qualified of any lawyer in the U.S. to sit on the Supreme Court.
Aside from the way it plays into accusations of identity politics, and implies that the second office gets the second choice gender, it seems like pandering. Even if he was trying to be the vanguard of establishing that the slate, in general, should be a mixed double, the idea evokes that television show about a female vice president.
1
Let's see... No...and no...and no...nope...and...nope...
We are in end-stage post-post-industrial vulture capitalism, where disruption is solely for the dollar and regression is to corporate and plutocratic gangsterism. A Joe Biden will only go along with that. There is no "there there" in Joe Biden. An empty go-along suit, along with a shtick of unctuous, oleaginous sentiment and sanctimony wrapped in glad-handing and roaming hands.
What we need is an FDR, but we don't have a crisis to propel one. Obama had a crisis, but fumbled it, going soft to the basket and all milquetoast placating and subsidizing the banksters, the Too Big to Fail and Jail. Too Big for him to stand up to. He's getting his rewards at $400k per and celebrity lifestyles for him and her, doing the new charming 1%, soaring rhetoric in the talk and walking the money walk. Hey, it pays the bills better than "Hope and Change" ever would.
We cannot deal SAFELY with climate change, and deal SAFELY with inequality on the present course ("SAFELY" meaning safely navigating the social and economic disruptions), with yet another Clintonian schmoozer, another complicit Rockefeller-Republican-in-drag, another triangulating, calculating centrist enabler of the Reagan Restoration. Joe Biden cannot, and will not, be the necessary agent of change. He is no agent of change. At best, at very best, he's a go along to get along.
It will take a conversion to social democracy.
It will take a conversion to social democracy.
16
Agree entirely, well stated except we do have a major FDR type crisis. It is Trump and the Republican Senate.
3
I hope most of the Democratic candidates will give up before the primaries, otherwise the Democratic party will suffer the same fate as the GOP suffered in 2016. It is not the most popular who got the nomination but the one who could count on 25% of the vote while the rest was divided among the crowd. The ones I wish would go away (but wont) are Biden and Sanders. The time for Biden has past, he belongs to another era. Sanders is too rigid and inflexible. I do not see him as a President able to compromise in order to achieve something less than what he promises. The Democratic party needs fresh leadership, Biden and Sanders are clogging the pipes. Yet given their name recognition the probability is high that one of the two will be the Democratic candidate, even though neither one will have support of a majority.
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@serban
The problem with this narrative against Sen. Sanders is that it is completely false. He's actually one of the most effective members of Congress, passing bills, both big and small, that have reshaped American policy on key issues like poverty, the environment and health care.
Over the past few decades, the House of Representatives was only controlled by the Democrats from '07-'10, and a flood of corporate money has quieted the once-powerful progressive movement that passed legislation moving the country forward between the New Deal era and the Great Society. Yet, as difficult as it may be to believe, a socialist from Vermont is one of its most accomplished members.
Amendments in the House are an important way to move resources and build bipartisan coalitions to change the direction of the law. Despite the fact that the most right-wing Republicans in a generation controlled the House of Representatives between '94 'n '06, the member who passed the most amends during that time was not a right-winger; no The Amendment King was, instead, Bernie Sanders.
He passed amends that were exclusively progressive, advancing goals such as reducing poverty and helping the environment. He did this under Republican control.
Sanders knows how to negotiate and bargain across both aisles. Possibly better than most; having done so more than anyone.
https://www.alternet.org/2015/10/bernie-gets-it-done-sanders-record-pushing-through-major-reforms-will-surprise-you/
71
@serban You are correct in the fact that the person that is most different will probably stand out and rise to the top.
Trump ran against 14 people quoting Fox News and ended up winning. Now Trump owns Fox News.
15
@Dobbys sock It would be nice if Bernie actually joined the Democratic party. Instead of just using it because he can't run in the GOP that Trump owns (but isn't really a member of either).
59
A wealth of choices. No ones perfect but they don't have to be. I can tell you right now that I would be comfortable with any two of these old, young, black, white, male, female candidates to run as a team. No matter their ages, sexes or nationality. No matter their quirks, contradictions or pandering. No matter their cultural mishaps or previous stands over previous decades. They all have one superior quality that stands out with equanimity. They are not Donald Trump.
1440
@Rick Gage - Tell me which one is "black" and whether you are using that designation based on skin hue, US Census Bureau "race" nomenclature, or comparison of genomes.
I ask you because I have used Gail's column as an excuse to file a comment about a subject that Americans - not this one - are unwilling to discuss, the Census Bureau system for classifying us. Here is the URL - would appreciate a reply to my request here, either as simple reply or to my Gmail - see blog below.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/24/opinion/joe-biden-2020.html#commentsContainer&permid=100169194:100169194
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
5
@Rick Gage
Hillary was not Donald Trump - she lost. Even if voters are disillusioned with Trump Democrats will need to decide what they stand for other than getting lots of campaign funds from big donors.
16
@Rick Gage
Right! So pick the team with the best chance to crush Trump.
21
Lest we a engage in ageism, why not evaluate Mr. Biden on his entire record of public service - the good and bad? Has he evolved, improved and been contrite following his own human mistakes? He is a proven commodity.who has sacrificed for his country, including the tragic loss of his son while serving in our military. Best of all, his logical, compassionate, centrist positions are exactly what in needed to wrest the Presidency from the current mentally imbalanced individual who currently occupies the highest office in the land.
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@logic
You want his record?
Ran three times and lost three times.
As for public service, he's done nothing at all except stand behind people and smile like a politician.
46
@logic Now be careful, you're speaking realistically. Thank heaven. Biden would chew Trump up and spit him out. And we need a Dem who can hit the ground running in the WH--so much of the infrastructure has been damaged and/or neglected. (We don't even have many diplomats.)
He would be an ideal transitional (away from DT) president--with traditional Dem ideas--working class--and could appeal to industrial Midwesterners--so necessary, as we saw when H. Clinton lost them.
42
@logic Biden's public service record includes helping to write the 1994 Crime Bill that led us into mass incarceration. Hillary Clinton was roasted by Berners in 2016 just for having been married to the President who signed it. But Biden has taken credit for writing it. At one point in time it was called the Biden Crime Bill.
Now we're trying to dig ourselves out of the hugely racially biased consequences of what was arguably his biggest, loudest achievement in "public service."
The political center has moved to support criminal justice reform and marijuana legalization. Let's see whether he still qualifies as a centrist in 2019.
37
Yes, this is hard. Here's my initial rating guide:
Buttigieg - I like him; makes Beto O'Rourke unnecessary.
Warren - smartest, can't disagree with her on anything. We could not go wrong with her.
Klobuchar - toughest. Eats soup with a comb. I could definitely vote for her.
Harris - ok, I think. She seems to sense an opportunity, rather than a calling.
Gillibrand - she should be the first to drop out, because of Franken. Everybody I know feels this way, without exception.
Booker - which city is bigger, Newark, or Indianapolis? If he wins the nomination, he has my vote.
Sanders - I don't want to offend GenXrs. But in addition to the fact that he's ancient, he's also got explosives strapped to his body that Republicans can set off any time they want to. Google Nicaragua, USSR, etc. No record in the Senate.
Biden - I love Uncle Joe like everybody else. This is going to seem rude, but I wish he had beaten Obama in the primaries. Maybe he could have done more. Now I think he's too old.
I probably missed a few.
708
@Incontinental Sanders has no record in the Senate? I guess you missed his co sponsoring of the bill to end our intervention to the war in Yemen (co sponsored by Utah's Mike Lee-R) but unfortunately, vetoed by Trump. He also worked with John McCain on veterans' issues, giving them better services in the VA and being able to go to local hospitals if the VA was far away from their home. I hope you know the recent legislation he introduced called, "Medicare for All'. Those are just a few things Sen. Sanders has done while in the Senate.
64
@Incontinental
Some good ones while in the Senate.
But his feats in the House however are record setting.
Is that why you stipulated?
From '95 to '07, under a very partisan, Republican controlled Congress, Sanders passed the most roll call amendments out of anyone in the House.
Lawmakers who belong to the party in control are five times more likely to have their bills go anywhere than minority party members.
Despite that Sanders passed amendments that were exclusively progressive, advancing goals such as reducing poverty and helping the environment, and he was able to get bipartisan coalitions of Republicans who wanted to shrink government or hold it accountable and progressives who wanted to use it to empower Americans.
Such as...
Expanding Free Health Care: You wouldn't think Republicans would agree to an expansion of funds for community health centers, which provide some free services. But Sanders was able to win a $100 million increase in funding with an amend.
Increasing Funding for Heating for the Poor: Sanders won a $22 million increase for the low-income home energy assistance program and related weatherization assistance program.
To name but a few.
The man knows how to negotiate and bargain across both aisles. During a time of both parties are saying NO~!
One should also look at his "No" votes, as well as his "yes's". The man is 9-10 always on the right side of issues.
NotMeUs
60
@Incontinental
Tulsi2020
- strong military record will win over the center;
- part of Bernie's team in 2016. Will win over the left. It will depend on how she will be in the debates.
6
Biden has already run and lost TWICE. Trump calls him, "Sleepy Joe" and it fits. The day he announces will be his highest level of support. It will be all downhill after that. He's not the man for our times. He's not a fighter. And he thinks things are OK -- Things are not OK for most Americans. Compared to our parents, most of us would say we are underpaid, have fewer job-related benefits, lack job security and/or the ability to ever retire. Meanwhile, the GOP focuses on cutting taxes and then cutting back on Medicare and Social Security. We need Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren to fight back income inequality.
230
@mjpezzi
Joe may top out the day before he announces.
As for Social Security and Medicare, cuts are coming no matter who is elected.
@Sendero Caribe
No need to cut SocSec. Simply continue to raise the limits on income that’s taxable, and also continue to raise the age at which one can get full benefits.
Those two tweaks in some combination will close most of the gap, which is a temporary gap anyway. As we boomers die off, the system will strengthen again.
14
@mjpezzi you do not know Joe Biden. He is very energetic and a fighter for the common man.
5
I've been a Democrat all my life. If I'm alive next Election Day, I'll be 76; I don't want to go to my grave while Donald Trump is still soiling the White House.
Neither Joe Biden's nor Bernie Sanders's age bothers me. And it certainly doesn't bother me that they're white men. Golly, there's one in the White House now and it's not like they haven't been presidents before. But Donald Trump is just so outré that for the sake of the nation's health, sanity, future, he must be held to a single term. But Biden?
He seems to me to be an aging rock star out for a "last, final" tour. He doesn't need the money. Everyone knows who he is. What's the point? That he can (might?; probably?) defeat the incumbent menace is not a given. He has longstanding baggage (Anita Hill, e.g.). Republicans will tie him to Barack Obama (Benghazi and Hillary's emails). It won't be fair or relevant, of course, but when have Republicans been honorable lately? Dwight D. Eisenhower, sixty years ago?
The ladies on the stump don't seem primed to defeat the ogre, either. They're intelligent and experienced but can they maintain the public's enthusiasm for 18 months? Cory Booker and Kamala Harris are dynamic and earnest but they're not white. Only a fool believes that's unimportant. Beto O'Rourke likes standing on chairs. Uggh.
Pete Buttigieg is interesting and may prove to be a formidable obstacle to all his rivals, Biden included. But are Americans ready for a man in the White House who has a husband?
220
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
May you live long and healthy... and see the first female president to take oath in Jan 2021. Best wishes,
64
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18 While I'm hoping for a woman this time (Warren's my first choice), I like your last sentence. Talk about shaking things up--in a way Trump supporters would howl about.
24
@Red Sox, ‘04, ‘07, ‘13, ‘18
We would do better by not being so flip.
We will be voting for president of the US, not high school prom king and queen.
Let's step back and let these folks present themselves. Ask them good meaningful questions. Consider the options. And don't think you are some pundit able to see you will be more attractive to other voters -- the professionals have trouble with that.
39
A lot of candidates, a lot of choice, great. Democracy in action. My fear, though, is this will devolve into intra-party sniping — progressive vs. liberal, man vs. woman, old vs. young, white vs. nonwhite, establishment vs. new blood, etc., etc. — that will cause bitter losers to be unmotivated in making it to the general election voting booth. Now would be a good time for all Democrats to make a personal vow that they will get to the booth and cast their vote for the Democratic nominee, no matter who it is. There is one, and only one, moral principle in the 2020 election: Mr. Trump must not win a second term. That’s it. That overrides everything else. If you, for whatever reason, don’t cast your vote for the Democrat, that’s on you plate for life. You’re part of the problem. Be part of the solution.
449
@Alan
I agree Alan--the Democratic party's big strength, the big tent aspect, is also its greatest weakness. It is made up of a nearly infinite set of groups and strands, and often it is like herding cards to get them to come together.
It is almost certain that whoever makes it to the top of the heap for the nomination will have done so without a majority of the primary voters or caucus-ers overall voting for him/her. And that leads to the disquieting observation that many whose preferred candidate didn't make it will pout and then not vote, or vote for a third party person.
Turnout is the name of the game, and perhaps the winner picking a running mate from a different demographic will help with that, but all candidates should be asked in the debates if they will absolutely support whoever the winner is. And rank and file Democrats should be pledging that as well. AND the DNC and others should be making sure that the ground game and the test chains and the phone trees and the carpools and the lawyers to challenge voter suppression tactics (and you know there will be voter suppression tactics) are in place long before 2020.
Because the only thing that matters is getting Orange 45 out of the Oval Office.
34
@alan I think it is a marvelous idea for every democrat to pledge to vote for the party in November. In order for that to happen, the entire process of the party must be transparent, honest, and open to accept the will of the party’s voters without trying to sway them. The dishonesty of the party establishment has cost the Democrats votes and elections for many decades now (1968, for example). If they can clean it up and run an honest primary campaign season, they’ll have a much better chance of convincing turned-off Americans to show up in November to vote “D.”
10
Vote for blue no matter who is ringing among voters I hear.
13
Don't do it, Joe. It won't go well. You will be left behind
in the dust. You've got a great retirement income.
Be an elder statesman, write books, give speeches.
Your 'use by' date has past.
317
@jahnay -- has "passed", not "past". Joe is fine. He is an honest man who can work with both sides.
11
@jahnay
If your comment is not ageism, then I don't know what it is.
"Grandpa can't get married, start his own business, run for office because he's too old. You gotta be young like me."
Native Americans used to have their Elders make the big decisions for the tribe, not the inexperienced young ones. It's nature's way that the old teach and lead the young, for instance, parents supervise, admonish, and discipline their children, not the reverse.
One last example: Socrates, forced to drink hemlock by the young people of Athens for being a bad example and corrupter. (Reminds me of Bernie's situation)
3
@Jim Muncy
Native American Elders weren't expected to have a non-stop schedule that included regular international flight.
IMO Sanders, Warren and Biden are too old for the job (as is trump). Being a Senator, SCJ, CEO - fine. Being president - not. Besides, we may want whoever's elected to be able to complete a second term without question.
1
You know what? I think I agree with Ana Navarro, who supports Biden because he’s “normal.”
We could do with normal.
You know, someone who knows and respects the law, the Constitution, NATO, the right of every adult citizen to vote, environmental regulations to protect the world for our children, enough financial regulations to prevent another Great Recession, workers’ rights, etc. A president we KNOW will not insult our allies or pander to Putin and MBS. Someone who knows history and the complexities of foreign policy.
268
@SCZ Your third paragraph defining "normal"surely fits every Democratic candidate so far. So why is Biden more "normal"? I hope Ana Navarro's unspoken reason isn't that he's a white male, and therefore "safe" to those white blue-collar men Democrats are trying to peel away from Trump. He might peel a few of them away, but he might also put the majority of younger Democratic voters to sleep the day they're supposed to go to the polls.
18
@Jenny
"He may also put the majority of younger Democratic voters to sleep the day they're supposed to go to the polls."......well said. He may also put this old voter to sleep as well. Nothing will change should Biden win - vast income inequality will continue, for one - to the ultimate peril of our nation.
7
@SCZ
Yes, I guess you could call Joe Biden normal. They used to call him Biden, D-MBNA 'cause the credit card companies paid his way. Big cheerleader for the Iraq war. Claims he was just a bystander in the Anita Hill debacle when he practically ran the show. That's normal, and it's time for a new normal.
7
Way not relevant, Joe. We can't continue with business as usual. We need completely different ideas on policy and the path forward. You had your run. No interest in the middle & status quo. Things have got to be different in kind and degree. Stop with the collusion with corporatism and elitism. We recognize it and reject it. Medicare for all, free college, one person one vote, Black lives matter, living wage, stop perpetual war -- these are the policies we need in 2020. You speak to these; you speak to me.
624
@Terri Prelli
The weaknesses you outline for Joe Biden are really his strengths. Biden has political savvy having been around the block many times, so he knows the ropes. He has been thoroughly vetted. He has been polling ahead of other Democratic candidates even before announcing his candidacy. He is now polling ahead of Trump. He will decimate Trump in debates. He also carries the Obama aura. Biden knows foreign policy. And he knows how to get things done by reaching across the aisle. He is “old school.” That is a very good thing, as people are tired of division, rancor, insults, and the pervasive ambience of “fake news.” Biden is the real thing. He will serve as a bridge for more progressive Democratic candidates the next time around. Democrats should not get overly creative now. The primary goal is to ensure that Trump does not win another term. Joe Biden is our best chance. But most importantly, we need to unite behind the eventual Democratic nominee … whoever that turns out to be.
54
@Terri Prelli
No, Joe Biden is straight out of 2020. He is experienced and respected and, as such, will be able to be effective at home and re-build our alliances around the globe.
He will outline and implement the "right" policies on and health care, climate change, immigration, trade, national security, income inequality and student debt.
That's what matters.
32
@Terri Prelli
Apart from the comments of his age, Biden may be a nice guy but he has gathered a nice collection of baggage over the years. He has a history of cozying up to wall street, he was instrumental to place Clarence Thomas on SCOTUS as he refused to allow witnesses for Anita Hill to testify against Thomas , he voted for the war Iraq war, his top campaign donors have been banks, he voted to deregulate banks, he voted to weaken bankruptcy protections for consumers, he also voted to gut welfare and many other positions that will come out in a campaign. He is not the right choice for the USA at this time or ever.
13
He is 'nice', he is experienced, he is younger than Ringo, and has... has
No, none, no ideas of what it might mean to lead the nation or the world into the 2020's, and prepare the nation and the world for the existential and catastrophic changes that will happen without global leadership.
Climate change needs to be fixed within 10 years.
Your democracy needs to be fixed. The world of economic inequality needs to be fixed.
Joe Biden is not the guy who is capable of leading the charge.
253
@Jean
We cant accurately predict the weather 2 days from now, but you have proof that were in for climate calamity 10 years from now?
Please.
5
@Jean -- yes, a lot needs to be fixed, but will it? Take Senator Warren's suggestion that the very rich be taxed an x-amount so childcare, etc. could be cared for. Do you honestly believe the rich will give up money without a fight? Before they give money to the country they take their riches elsewhere. There are already a bunch of Americans or former Americans (latter giving up their citizenship) and live abroad where taxes are much more favorable.
You cannot provide everything for free. The middle class cannot take any more taxing...and this is where the money would come from.
Years of exporting jobs to China, do you honestly believe better pay and job security can be restored. The jobs we once had are no more. And contrary to what anyone says they are not coming back. Get used to job insecurity and not making as much as your parents did. It's a new way of life. You can't tax people to change that.
1
@Jean
I thought it was 12. Back in on earth Social Security is predicted to go bankrupt in less.
Hear Joe out. He will bring a lot of D.C experience and wisdom to the debates. We need a centrist who can win, not a far right or left advocate. We've seen that nothing gets done in this warfare and compromise, not "my way or the highway" is needed for our nation to move forward. You know this is true, right?
May the best candidate win, and may we stand united behind them. This psuedo president and his accomplices in Congress must pay a heavy price in 2020. Stick together. Get 45 outa there. gain power, then we can fight.
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@Hal Paris
It seems as though the Dems believe anyone can beat Trump in 2020. This is dangerous and misguided. Current polling of the Democratic field of presidential wannabes illustrates the daunting task of finding a candidate capable of unseating Trump. In the latest Morning Consult/Politico poll, “Joe the Jester” is leading Trump by 8 points. Going into the election, Hillary was Leading Trump by 12-14 points, with a 90 percent chance of winning. What happened?
18
@Hal Paris
Priorities:
1. Get 45 outta there.
2. Dems take control of Senate. It can be done.
3. Keep control of the House.
All 3 will bring Truth, Justice and the American Way back to the USA.
Let's do it.
17
@Dwight Donatto
Not only that, in reading through the 'NYT picks'
I haven't seen any suggestions about reaching out to Independent voters. That is vital, as is choosing a candidate capable of earning votes.
3
We have sprinkled among the declared Democratic candidates both “the wisdom of age and the vigor of youth.” Ideally, the one in whom the two optimally combine is the person we need to lead our country.
2
Joe Biden's 1990s politics are just what we don't need in 2019.
Go on home, Joe. Take it easy. You had a great run. Go get you a corporate sinecure gig that pays millions and where you won't even have to show up. Oh, but I don't need to tell you how the corporate donor money game is played, you've been a player for years.
Your campaign is dead on arrival, buddy. DOA.
You best campaign day will be the day you announce, and then it's downhill every day after. People have videos, Joe!
8
OMG. Too similar to Hilary Clinton - another politically entitled non-populist centrist democrat who will be more interested in the interests of big donors than the ordinary person. If Biden gets nominated after the primaries, it will be another “big league” win for Trump to crow about because the ordinary person seems to hate condescension more than corruption and lies.
7
So does this mean Buttigieg's 15 minutes are up, now that the Heir to Democratic Centrism has stepped into the ring?
3
He may be younger than Ringo but he's gonna need way more than a little help from his friends.
10
No Joe. It is too late. Time to move forward.
9
We havent heard of fake news humm and it seems the overseas countries control the press lets see how it works . talk about collusion been happening for hunderds of years. on the flip side we are unaware of it right. Now lets talk about how all industry was destroyed. And sent over seas. And a service industry is to be which is failing. Any ideas or is it the rich against the poor but history said it does work through revolutions after equablity anybody knows your own revolt not the countries you colonize is the downward . They will sit and wait as did rome did fall. to what extendent does eroupe have a controll in the USA which is a foreign european country sets policy and is acceptable. If any one has a basis education on the history of the USA they will question whats going on.Europe is ready to hang them high they sold out their own people research it it happened often. will American sit in shame or stand up.
Pretty jaw dropping comment from Cory but it's not like he was relevant before. He's even less relevant now. Biden, Bernie, Beto and Buttigieg you've all got some nice qualities but none of you are the leader I'm looking for in 2020. We seem to have some excellent female candidates however.
8
I used to become spastic at the thought of Biden running - age, "friendly" tendencies, deja vu, same old, same old. Then I came to grips with the fact that he doesn't have the sense not to run. So - he runs - so what - and loses. I guess the problem really is he will take votes from more appropriate candidates - in the process of narrowing the field down to the nominees.
After the debacle of Trump's running in last election cycle, it became clear that some specific standards need to be articulated for those who would run for the position. Something more than ...."age." Obviously we haven't taken the issue to heart and here we are well into our next cycle. No criteria have been established for those who would be President.
I would like to see a cut-off age - in addition to the younger requirement. Say maybe 65? 70 is pushing it for beginning a four year term.
As far as corruption goes, DJT has a history of it with relation to his business experience in NYC. Why did none of this come up for review and why was it not deemed unacceptable for POTUS?
And how come NYS AG is only now pursuing corruption on Trump's part. And how come the southern district ace prosecutors weren't onto Trump's business practices way before he decided to run for POTUS? If only Preet Bararara had latched onto the dishonesty that is DJT's modus operandi before Trump gained the power to fire him.
5
The corruption of Trump was reported on during the primary. The GOP party could have told him he could not run under their banner. He was Republican in name only. The corruption of the GOP is now complete. Trump is only the clearest manifestation of it. Millions of voters are suffering in our current economy and they are only making it worse. The Tea Party types are going to vote for him anyway. The desperate people are looking for someone who is going to deliver positive change and Trump has not delivered anything for them. "The rich are gonna pay more, I'm gonna pay more." he said. "We're going to bring manufacturing back." "No cuts to social security" He has not delivered. We need a fighter who is going to make those points and offer an alternative. That is what I am looking for. Blue wave 2020!
2
Biden has already run and lost TWICE. Trump calls him, "Sleepy Joe" and it fits. The day he announces will be his highest level of support. It will be all downhill after that. He's not the man for our times. He's not a fighter. And he thinks things are OK -- Things are not OK for most Americans. Compared to their parents, most of us would say we are underpaid, have fewer job-related benefits, lack job security and/or the ability to ever retire. Meanwhile, the GOP focuses on cutting taxes and then cutting back on Medicare and Social Security.
2
What the Democratic party (or country) does NOT need is more ''triangulation'' (pushing through republican lite policies to slow down the erosion of social policy) regardless of the person's age.
What the Democratic party and country DO need are candidates that will be fearless in promoting a Progressive message for all and for them to debate calmly in front of the American electorate. (no more sound bites)
THEN, the political spectrum might be pulled back from the truly extreme right that has been going for decades.
103
@FunkyIrishman
Yes! No more sound bites.
1
@FunkyIrishman
Yes! In the name of equilibrium we need to pull FAR left to balance out getting yanked so far right over the past few decades. Then we might be somewhere around the middle.
1
I hate that the two non-Republican candidates most people know, and many people will support most, are two shouty, white, male septuagenarians.
This sentence stops me from complete despair: "Cory Booker just promised to pick a woman for a running mate. It’s an interesting position, but not nearly as interesting as a woman picking Cory Booker for a running mate." Thank you, Gail.
196
@jkrnyc
As an opinionated, white, female of just Bernie's age (77), I resent the ageism of your post. Ruth Bader Ginsberg is a vigorous 85, Bernie would run circles around me for energy - and I'm pretty spry - so please forget the isms about age. As for Biden, he has two failed runs at the presidency and the ideas of a corporate Republican lite candidate - no thanks to him, based on his policy viewpoints alone (as it should be).
20
@jkrnyc
Promising to pick a woman for a running mate is just as sexist as promising not to pick a woman for a running mate.
In any case, I'd like to see a Sanders/Warren ticket. They're basically on the same page, and Warren is young enough to take the reins when Sanders' time is over.
4
@JA in RI Nothing about the word "interesting" implies endorsement. That you were so quick to go there says more about you than it does about Gail (or me).
At this point, I would take a dog, as one named Duke was voted in as honorary major of a small town in Minnesota, Cormorant, in 2014, and voted in 4 times. He was a Great Pyrenees, which is a livestock guardian dog, and he just died in February. This is what I am personally ready to vote for! The temperament of these dogs is affectionate, confident, fearless, gentle, patient, smart, which is what we need in a leader.
12
As much as I hate to say it, America is probably not ready for true diversity. Trump’s election and nagging, if minority, support, shows that there is a lingering deference for rich, old, white, men. Part of Trump’s attraction for voters is that America is a democracy (of sorts) whereby, in a snub to the establishment, a buffoon can be made President in the knowledge that he can be removed in the same way by the will of the people when their populist joke becomes worn. Joe Biden is sage like, compared to Trump, who can return the US to its pre-Trump equilibrium with a chastened loyalty to the traditional democratic base. It depends if the vox populi is ready for old business under new management.
I personally believe Elizabeth Warren to be the best nomination for democratic governance. She is presidential, brilliant, experienced, hard nosed, practical, compassionate, and pragmatic. She needs to capitalise on her strengths and reinvent the Democratic Party as the only voice of working and middle America. She needs to reinvigorate organised labour, drive Obamacare home, tax the wealthy, curb corporations, and resist hypocrisy and lame duck policies that hobbled Obama. I believe her time has come for greatness. A Warren/Biden ticket would probably clinch 2020, but I doubt Joe would settle for another vice position making this order unlikely.
The election is a long time off in Trumptime. One may wonder what new horrors daily await in the interim.
45
@Marcus Brant
Agree. It’s Warren’s time. Thank you!
6
@Marcus Brant "America is probably not ready for true diversity." Recently, America had a black president for 8 years, and 2 1/2 years ago, a woman won the popular vote. As for a Warren/Biden ticket, 16 years as a vice-president??
1
It is sad that, now that women are coming into their political own, they are being led by fire breathing valley girls bent on guilt and open borders. Maybe Joe can set them straight.
6
Yippee, another man in the race with an uncomfortable record that animates discomfort.
8
I don't care if "Mayor Pete" is gay; I don't care about his academic pedigree; I don't care about his shirtsleeve shtick; I don't care about his "youth"; and I don't care about his military service. What I do care about are his policy priorities, which seem to remain a state secret. The exuberance surrounding him reminds me of Obama's 2008 campaign, where everyone could project their own boundless hopes upon him, but once elected revealed his true colors by giving away the store to Wall street, ritualistically caving to himself before even beginning to bargain with the GOP, and choosing a Citibank chairman to pick his cabinet. I don't want history to repeat itself just so we can feel good about ourselves for a few months by electing a fresh face. Mayor Pete, put up or shut up!
47
@stan continople If you are ignorant of Buttigieg’s policy priorities you have obviously not bothered to hear him speak. Get informed, you will like what you learn.
2
Joe Biden gave us Clarence Thomas. He shills for big banks, credit card companies, and supported the Hyde Amendment. And Trump will tear him apart.
48
Brilliant. The Dems line up behind a Wall Street corporate hack, who has lost multiple times running for national office and who literally told younger voters to stick it where the sun doesn't shine (LA Times Patt Morrison interview) and is so gaffe prone he has his foot permanently inserted in his mouth. What brilliance. Well, count me out. I'll be voting third party. At least I'll have my integrity. Something I lost in 2016 when I voted for Hillary.
9
Joe Biden: A corporate Democrat in the Clintonian model. Please, no joke, say NO to Joe!
24
I so missed Gail's columns this past week, although I made do with her conversation with Brett Stephens. I must say she outdoes herself in this column, which is funny but honest in a way that makes me hope she will never retire. At best, she makes me laugh out loud. At the very least, she makes me smile. Oh, my. That last paragraph is such a winner. Nothing against Cory Booker, but that remark of his is ridiculous. You know what's going to happen, don't you all? Some of these candidates will make fools of themselves, but it's okay if Joe does so because we already know him -- or think we do. Glad to have you back, Gail. I thought maybe you were on book leave again.
9
Another ex-Democratic senator who voted to green light the Iraq war. If you liked the results, then Joe is your man. Not for me.
9
Say it ain't so Joe.
4
I misread this sentence... “Biden is going to be asked why he weakened GUM control...”
I think this was very, very funny...
Thanks Gail...You and Amy Sedaris are the wittiest women ever.
3
If Democrats apply purity tests, we’re going to get another term of the sleaziest administration imaginable.
10
@NM
I know I’ve been beating up on Joe Biden at every opportunity. But, I’ll rally behind him if he were to be our nominee (God forbid)... no worries.
(I can’t believe The Times is posting all my responses on this column...)
I don't care if an asexual purple warthog that lives with a hermaphroditic sea cucumber wins the Democratic primary. I'm voting for them because if I NEVER see anything orange in a white house again (a pox on Halloween pumpkins) it will be too soon.
42
@crystal
The sad thing is that the Bernie supporters don't feel the same. They tanked Hillary, seems like they have not learned their lesson, pray they don't deliver us to Trump again.
@Liam Jumper you claim that "Biden's time has passed" and yet you asserted that he is not that old. I will settle for the latter. Biden's biological age shouldn't enter into the equation as his cognitive reasoning appears to be sharp. Nancy Pelosi is thriving!!! what we currently have in the WH is destroying our democracy behind repair!!!
5
Younger than Ringo? Looked it up--by more than a year. Ringo is sooo cool. Biden seems older---
1
Ringo and Mick are still on tour performing, and Gail Collins at 74 is writing for the Times. With age comes perspective, - something that's missing in a 37 or 40 year-old.
8
Nice closing line. Ah, the hubris of men.
1
Broken down Biden, he puts me to sleep.
Sanders/Warren.
3
I absolutely do not understand the interest in Harris. She is a complete phony. She speaks in platitudes, promises everything to everyone, spent a fortune in campaign contributions on the fanciest hotels and spas in DC when she took unnecessary trips there as AG from CA, angered African Americans with her support for corrupt police, and brings zero new ideas. She couldn't even impress black women at the "She the People" conference today. Warren stole the show.
40
"Buttigieg said it was important not to overwhelm people with too many specifics “before we’ve vindicated the values that animate our policies.”
The only policy that politicians really have is getting elected, or in other words, don't really tell anyone what you think until you get elected. Until then, skip the details, i.e. if the politician really has any (viable) details to share.
4
How does Elizabeth Warren go over in the mid west ? I hope she talks more about her humble origins when campaigning.
9
@Guy
She’s doing fine. Her strength is her town hall format. She’s not going to get 10K people in the audience. So, she has to have more events and town halls. She knows how to tell a story. She’s not caught fire because of that “electability” thing. When voters stop acting as pundits and go with who they like in terms of ideas and plans... they will pick her. She CAN breakout with the debates. Plenty of time.
9
@Patrician
Thank you. Yes much punditry on " electability".
1
@Guy
She was fantastic at Shethepeople forum today (Houston). See it on her twitter page:ewarren (you don’t need an account, just see it on the web) when she talks about maternal mortality in African American women. The crowd loved her. Only one to get a standing ovation later.
I was very heartened. A few more events like this and she can break out with a key demographic she’s been lagging in (minorities). People see her authenticity on race.
7
Of course, none of these 20 (and counting?) "runners" has a hugely inflated ego more interested in looking at itself in the mirror than figuring out how to keep Agent Orange out of the White House in 2020. They're all selfless genies with the survival of American democracy in mind. And I'm the reincarnation of Abraham Lincoln.
PS, a little less arm space, though. It's too posed and priest-like, and the latter could be lethal. Imagine our predicament if we have Biden evoking mass and Trump possibly sending white power signals.
I worked for Bernie but when I herd him being OK with the Boston bomber voting I cringed. And the touchy feely Uncle Joe. Oh, pleease! It's a new era. Nor will I vote for a glib Mayor Pete although he holds great promise. He would be a great sidekick to Kamala who is ready; they could be a formidable Democratic ticket to pull the country from the morass Trump plunged us into.
4
Hey, when I was 5, my mom took me to the Howdy Doody Show. I wouldn't trade that for missing Woodstock (for lack of a trip-worthy car.) I loved the experience: I was in the Peanut Gallery watching Buffalo Bob and the other characters. We still have contributions to make. Lets hear it for the Peanut Gallery folks!!!
2
This is the best final line ever! Thank you Gail Collins!
1
Alien happy meal : “ a beer and a burger “. What, exactly, would be the main ingredient in this meat ??? Not that I’m paranoid or anything. “ To Serve Man “, Twilight Zone.
I’ll just have a beer. Cheers.
Each Democratic candidate deserves to be assessed for who they are beyond their age. If someone presents as wet behind the ears or out of touch, then we’ll talk, but let’s not prejudge.
And please keep in mind that the eventual nominee will face a man who lacks any adult maturity, whatever his birthdate.
2
"Plus two folks who have never been elected to anything and are safe to ignore unless one of them saves a drowning puppy."
TRUMP had never been elected to anything,
Was Trump" safe to ignore," Ms. Collins ?!
2
Oh Gail, I'm so sorry that his name isn't Hillary. More columns like this, and maybe, oh Gail, I know you're praying hard for it, she'll join the race, win the nomination, but then lose even worse. And you can spend 2020-2024 continuing to claim gender discrimination.
As far as I know, Biden is the only candidate whose history includes extended periods of human decency wherein he did for others at a high cost for himself. I'm talking, in part, about those long train rides to/fro, work after his wife and daughter died, to make it home every day for his two sons. He's not my type in many ways, but out of all those whack-o-moles on the democratic field, he's got the most experience, though a lot of good that did Hillary. He's also got a popular ex-president on speed-dial. I'd like him to run with Amy Klobuchar; they seem pragmatic to me. As for age, not an issue.
5
Gail, I have learned from you that sometimes being facetious is the best, even only, way to present a serious subject of the kind we put under the headline, "Oh, we Americans don't talk about that, that is even harder to talk about than sex."
So here is my try at age 87 writing in Sweden at 4 AM to facetiously present the question I want to ask each of the 20 and then watch them fumble to find an answer..
"Do you understand that contrary to popular belief in America, we are all members of the same and only race, the human?
The candidate who says "Yes, I agree" will then be asked, this follow up question:
"Will you act to implement the proposal made by former US Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt to eliminate the USCB system so that the 2030 Census will have only two boxes:
Race = human
Race = inhuman.
Give me a candidate who will say yes to both of those questions nd she has my vote.
Gail, I am counting on you to write a column based on my proposal. You can have a ball formulating answers from Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, and all the others.
Looking forward to it.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
10
@Larry Lundgren
Larry, you raise an important issue, which many of us outside the USA have raised over the years. Here's my take:
In the USA, American English rules. In American English, the concept of 'race' differs from that used in the TEFL English taught to schoolchildren in Swedish schools.
In Sweden, it seems that the concept of race that exists in the USA does not exist. This is for historical and cultural reasons.
Look at it this way. For centuries, Vikings from Scandanavia sailed the Northern seas of Europe, crossing the Atlantic to Greenland, made their way through the Mediterranean and into the Black Sea, sailed and rowed up the great rivers of Europe and what is now Russia.
Viking raiders founded Kiev. They founded Moscow. They created a kingdom in Northern France from which they invaded England in 1066.
From their mighty and terrifying longships, the Vikings invaded, murdered, raped, pillaged, enslaved, traded and colonised their way across much of the ancient world.
Vikings were bound by loyalty to their band, to their family, clan and tribe, but largely indifferent to the cultural and ethnic groupings amongst other cultures they encountered.
In the USA, by contrast, the dispossession of the First Peoples and the enslavement of African Americans needed a philosophical justification. This justification was founded on the concept of 'race'.
Joe... I know you see this as your last chance, forever, but please don't take it personally when the primaries tell you otherwise.
We'll always have the Clinton years. Here's looking at you!
Note to Gail Collins: Sure, he's younger than Ringo, but can he recite the lyrics to Octopus's Garden by rote? The voters need to know...
5
@BA_Blue
Correction: We'll always have the OBAMA years.
Can't believe I conflated Biden with Algore, but it is what it is...
Oh, look. It’s Shoeless Joe Jackson. The champion of the forgotten man... well, in actuality, “the Senator from MasterCard”.
“
The bankruptcy wars, as Warren calls them, stretched on for a decade. In her telling, many senior Democrats joined the Republicans in betraying the middle class. In “The Two Income Trap”, a book she co-wrote with her daughter Amelia Warren Tyagi, Warren describes briefing Hillary Clinton, when she was First Lady, about the bankruptcy bill backed by the financial industry. “It’s our job to stop that awful bill,” Warren quotes Clinton as saying. But, several years later, when the bill came up for passage, Senator Clinton voted for it. “The bill was essentially the same, but Hillary Clinton was not,” Warren wrote. As a Senator, she could not afford such a principled position. Campaigns cost money, and that money wasn’t coming from families in financial trouble.” When the bill finally passed, in 2005, then-Senator Joseph Biden was one of its biggest backers. “Senators like Joe Biden should not be allowed to sell out women in the morning and be heralded as their friend in the evening. Middle-class women need help, and right now no one is putting their economic interests first.” Warren wrote. (P. 161)
“
This is before she entered politics. Who, exactly, have YOU been fighting for, Joe?
One of the two quoted above is funded by big dollars, while the other one is taking no PAC money, no lobbyist money, no wealthy donors... I pray to the Lord for Justice.
16
Obviously you've been doing this longer than me Gail - you know to avoid jokes involving sheep and gumboots. Very sensible and very funny. Thank you.
I love the thinking in your last sentence. "Not nearly as interesting" indeed. Well done.
2
Ms. Collins, you gave your readership a great rhyme recently in order to memorize the Democratic candidates for the presidential elections; one that I failed to keep in mind. Let's see: Beto, Buttigieg, Warren, Harris, Sanders - All of whom might be a great vice-president to Joe Biden.
'Howdy Doody' at this time in our history might be a welcome relief to replace the current occupant in The White House. The Big Crowd, in reality not a crushing affair, should not be confused with the maddening crowd that appears to be accumulating like bunnies.
We still have time to deliberate, but not as much as we realize, and while giving a warm welcome to Biden, I see O'Rouke by his side, as his running mate.
The really big crowd of bought off corporate hacks. Just the kind of do nothings wealthy donors and the news media love.
2
I held my nose and voted for Hillary and I would do the same for Biden. However before the primaries I tried to persuade my friends and family that Hillary would be likely to lose to Trump and got laughed at. With her it was because her negatives were so bad and her personality so off-putting. With Biden I think he would lose due to his lackluster record and lack of charisma. As for his position on issues, I think that global warming is an existential threat to our civilization and I do not see Biden as having the capability to accomplish anything there. But if you want 4 more years of Trump by all means vote for Biden.
8
In a different era, Biden would be a serious contender. Today, everything he has said or written for the past 70+ years is compiled somewhere to come back and haunt him. The weight of his own history will be his personal millstone.
As for the rest of the pack, why don't we push the Reset button and send them all back into their previous lives. Call a 12 month moratorium on ALL presidential campaigns, rallies, and fund raising. Let the legislators and the mayors go back to their capitols and their cities and actually govern. Give them time to think about a wide variety of policies rather than one issue. This will immediately reduce voter fatigue, candidate fatigue, and media fatigue. In May or June 2020 voters might be ready to pay attention to the nominating conventions in July or August. A side benefit would be the money saved by not having to fund the Incumbent President's all-too-energizing pep rallies, since he would be subject to the moratorium as well.
2
@Suzanne But, then the money interests of media would not be happy. No, instead we provide platforms for those who happily take corporate/PAC money and do their bidding. Heaven forbid a paper or news outlet, relying on big money revenue, do what is best for the people of this country. It's all about the money and always will be until the people demand a change.
I totally respect and appreciate real journalism. The speculation and insinuation being peddled in today's click bait "journalism" needs to be put into the dust bin of history. It gave us Trump, after all.
1
Sue,
Warren is not taking PAC money at all.
3
This was a fun, light-hearted op/ed to read. On a serious note, despite some commenters opinions about “what the Democratic Party needs” and which candidate will be most successful nationally, I thought the 2016 election proved definitively that Dems must be mindful, above all, about how their candidate plays in the 11 recent swing states, and 5 possibly new swing states. That’s where the election will be won or lost. Therefore, whereas I lean toward a more progressive candidate with a fresh agenda, I’d give all that up in a moment if I knew from polling and focus groups that among new, returning, purple, and disgusted Republican voters, a moderate Democrat would do better in those 16 states, I’d bury my wishes and support what will win.
5
@Michael I def. see where you are coming from in this post, but didn't all the polling and focus groups tell us HRC was a shoo in? Maybe it's more important to nominate a candidate that will energize the base to get out the vote. Who gets people excited and able to volunteer for him or her? Centrists may seem like a great bet, but are they really going to generate the kind of enthusiasm we need to turn out the vote? Lastly, I fear what will happen if we nominate a person who takes big money. PACs and corporate donations expect returns on their investments. That is where we have been in the past no matter who was in the Oval and it has led to the biggest levels of income and wealth inequality since the Robber Baron days. Just my two cents but time will tell.
1
I was having a pretty lousy news reading day; after all it's hard to watch the country you were raised in and believed in, warts and all, head towards the equivalent to a banana republic. Than I read this,
"Biden is younger than Ringo Starr. Although older than Mick Jagger."
Cracked me up, thanks Ms. Collins; you're one funny writer.
Mick Jagger for President, 2020.
2
Oft overlooked is Joe Biden’s record during the Bosnia wars. His son Beau has a major street in Kosovo named after him in honor of his , and his fathers efforts there. . Joe may have some awkward history but being on the right side in the Balkans speaks volumes to character, something we need above all else in these rudderless times.
4
Gail, have you actually listened to any other interviews with Mayor Pete? Because he does take quite a few positions. He has some specific ideas on addressing climate change. Regarding that CNN town hall, had a very clear response to the question of allowing incarcerated felons the right to vote. I believe it was “No.” He added that voting rights should be restored once they have done their time. Harris wanted to have a conversation about it.
2
Joe Biden has aged quite well. I think he is better looking now then when he was younger. He has that distinguished and presidential look lIke Bill Clinton. Not that looks will win him the presidency but it doesn't hurt. By the way, Mick Jagger looks more like his father and he is younger.
2
This 67-year old has no interest in any candidate in his 7th decade. Call it ageism if you want, I'll call it paying attention to the facts.
5
It really doesn’t matter who goes up against Trump. All will lose. Interesting how wealthy many are and how very little they give to charity. The DNC field is weak with many or all promising far out and far flung ideas like Medicare for all and the green new deal which have zero chance of ever happening. Does anyone realize our US dollar is worth about 8% of its 1933 value? The US is flat broke with over 200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. You could tax the wealth at 100% and would still not have enough money to fund all of these crazy ideas. We have no option but to print money which will continue to erode the standard of living, your savings and retirement. These politicians all lie and have done nothing but pander to get your votes. Truly, just ignore these wannabes. They are clueless. At least Trump has a desire to improve the economy which in spite of everything including the Russian hoax and distraction, is doing very well.
@Sven Gall
A very interesting comment. I can’t accept having a criminal mafia boss for a President no matter how good the economy is doing; but let’s set that aside. What I wish I could talk with you about is the 200 trillion in unfunded liabilities. As a deficit hawk but believer in social safety net spending, and keeping Medicare and social security programs strong, I’d like to know what you call unfunded. For example, I’m guessing you would rightly call insufficient the revenue currentoy being collected from 13% of wages for social security and 2% for medicare, I’m guessing you would not call the Trump 10% increase in military spending unfunded. Also, borrowing money via selling Treasuries for infrastructure projects is fundamentally different than annual deficit spending. In the same vein, spending to develop renewable energy and energy independence could have an overall net positive effect on the US economy, tax revenue and therefore annual deficit spending. At any rate, it would be fun to sit down and talk with you about how you determined the 200 trillion and how you arrive at a statement that the US is flat broke. I do think you are fooling yourself that Trump will leave the US economy in better shape than he found it, even if you may personally benefit from the new tax code.
9
Sven Gall,
You seem to be a deficit hawk, yet Trump and the GOP cut already low tax rates and increased government spending, mainly defense. These two approaches have ballooned the deficit. Your last statement implies you will vote for Trump in 2020, because all the other candidates programs will explode the deficit. Either way the deficit will still be enormous. So, just what is your solution? Blue wave 2020!
@Michael Good luck getting a response. When someone says the D candidates gave very little to charity, he is stating that he has seen their tax returns. He must be one of the lucky few to have viewed Trump's.
Your response was brilliant, btw.
Without Biden, the DNC Politburo candidates would be empty circus balloons found on the moon many years hence.
The greater question: Will the party survive after Trump takes office for his second term? Think not.
1
"Joe Biden’s leap into the race will make, by The Times’s count, 20 people officially in the running"
Funny how Hillary Clinton ran unopposed by a registered Democrat in 2016, a precedent usually reserved for a sitting President. Only Bernie Sanders, an independent had the gumption to challenge a second Clinton coronation.
I truly wished Elizabeth Warren had ran in 2016 however that would have meant political suicide going against the Clinton dynasty and the DNC.
1
@mlb4ever Martin O'Malley's feelings are hurt. Not to mention Lincoln Chaffee and Lawrence Lessig. Assuming I actually remember them correctly, and they were not fever dreams.
2
Ringo shouldn't be President of the United States of America either, although he too seems nice enough.
3
The young will carry this election. They are fired up about mass schools shootings, global warming, crushing student debt, unaffordable healthcare, big money corruption, racism, and homophobia. Gosh, with the exception of mass schools shootings, I just listed everything the Republican party represents and wants to maintain.
Now we keep hearing the argument that the young don't vote. When 58,000 got shipped off to die in Vietnam they sure did get involved. Between global warming and the conversion of America into a fascist oligarchy, they have plenty to get upset about.
The older folks need to wake up and get off the Trump train too. I'm 63 and and looking down the barrel of bankrupted Social Security and Medicare just when I'm about to collect. No one is talking about these pending disasters, certainly not Republicans, except when they want kill both programs.
I will say that people are sick of the same old retreads, such as Biden. I think Bernie has enjoyed a hiatus from the Republican attack dogs because they want him to get nominated. They will paint him as the second coming of Stalin. Too risky.
Perhaps our media people could give a little more exposure to reasonable candidates saying reasonable things instead clickbait that gets various groups all up in arms.
Trump could win if the Democrats don't pick solid candidate with wide appeal. They are out there. Talk to them. I like Pete and Amy the best. Kamala is my no. 3. No more Joe.
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"The Democratic Party has to change to survive." They're in the majority in America. Why can't they just vote and elect a Democrat. Any Democrat.
The Republican Party never changes. It's in the minority. (Unless the Russians get the go-ahead from Mitch McConnell to start voting in American elections.) But the Republicans run everything (into the ground).
Pass the BBQ potato chips...
@Queequeg Technically, that is not correct. The biggest part of the electorate identify as independents.
https://www.people-press.org/2018/03/20/1-trends-in-party-affiliation-among-demographic-groups/
Too many candidates will leave too many disaffected voters. Trump wins.
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How about Biden/Obama? It seems like all rules and norms are being challenged daily, why not give Barack a backdoor to a 3rd term?
2
I have many bad memories from the 90s of Biden's Nixonian criminal justice policy. He still brags about having created the Drug Czar and the ONDCP. The ONDCP was supposed to be a clearing house for scientific research on drugs so that we could craft policy based on our evolving understanding. But what we got instead was a propaganda agency that ignored scientific reports, like the one done by the Institute of Medicine for the National Academy of Science.
And they exploited small studies with poor statistics and methodologies for their shock value. The ONDCP went on a campaign to convince Americans that smoking marijuana causes lung cancer. They made this claim on the basis of small studies on people who used marijuana and crack.
They all but ignored the large scale study done by UCLA pulmonary specialists that concluded smoking marijuana does not by itself cause lung cancer. That study has been replicated several times and this is now considered a settled issue.
Science was being abused very badly by this agency that Biden claims credit for having created. That just hits me right where I live. An assault on science is to me an attack on what I consider sacred and holy.
This is why I consider Biden to be a Nixonian figure, in the arena of drug policy. Pushing public policy using lies that create false fears. I cannot see his name without my blood rising.
He's going to have to work pretty hard if he wants the time of day from me. Right now it's Liz or Kamala for me.
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@Patricia
Right with you. Liz or Kamala. Let’s hope it happens.
No. I'm a lifelong Democrat. Biden, a key architect of BAPCPA, does not get my vote. Regardless of his age.
1
I try not to look in the mirror to often, because when I do, it's "Yikes", I'm old, and Jumping Joe is 3 months older than me!
But, but, if he gets the nomination I'll vote for him. He may be old, but he's not stupid like the one in the Oval Office now.
I like Elizabeth Warren right now, and Cory Booker though.
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@cherrylog754
Yes. Let’s hope Liz breaks through. I think she’s on the cusp of doing so.
4
Biden should get in as a smart sacrifice. He should step-up and attack Trump and show the Trumpsters what Trump really is.
Trump attacking "Lunch Bucket Joe" would look like Trump attacking his Trumpster base. He'd lose votes. His Turnout would be damaged.
Then, having done his job, Biden should move off into the sunset with honor.
2
Can Biden get the nomination? If he does can he will the election?
Who cares. At this point I'd vote for somebody's pet goldfish rather than Trump. (Sure, I know a goldfish can't legally run. After all they don't generally live long enough, five to 10 years on average, to make the age requirement, but still.)
Just give me a 'D' after a name and they've got my vote.
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The reality is that Joe Biden is too old. The Dems have great young candidates. It is their time.
2
Well ...... Biden is also too old. He's a good man but well past his prime. He will have an opportunity to prove me wrong during the primaries and caucuses. I will strongly support the winner.
I was hoping the Dem's would finally move on past NeoLiberal corporate control politics. Hopefully his great pole numbers are just name recognition and not the wave of the future, or should I say the past.
2
We need you, Joe, but not for the reasons you think.
During the primaries, you will siphon off about 20% of the vote until you fade. By then the Democrats will have coalesced behind a serious candidate, such as Sanders, Warren, or Inslee.
The problem isn't you. We don't care about your age. You must be rejected because of your longtime support of foreign invasions, BFF's in the Banking sector, tepid environmental record, and everything else we've grown to expect from the "sensible" wing of the Democratic Party.
Enjoy your retirement. The banks are going to be broken up, and a love of peace will sweep over this country in 2021.
3
Well, the GOP flooded the field for 2016 and won the General. Of course, we got Trump out of that.
Hopefully this is a harbinger of things to come. In 2016 it was the Republican's that had an outrageously large pool of candidates, including a clown in candidates clothing. Perhaps the more candidates the more likely victory will be had.
1