Fuck Inslee for running a lousy campaign.
I like Jay Inslee. He’s a decent guy and a decent governor. I sent him money this year and have supported his campaigns in Washington. In my opinion, however, Mayor Pete is smarter, more articulate, and would be a better president. Inslee is better than the others, for sure.
Also, as others have noted, Inslee has almost zero support from the Republicans in Washington State. He’s not a uniter. (I’m not sure it’s even possible anymore).
I like Inslee a lot. I like his clear-headed thinking, his ability to speak and transmit his ideas with eloquence. He’s smart, savvy and comes across as trustworthy.
He had two problems this year: He’s a relative unknown and he’s from a coastal state. Jay Inslee is smart enough to recognize he never had a chance.
But gee, how do you get known to a national audience? You jump onto the national stage. He picked a good, important issue and he went out and started answering the “Who is Jay Inslee?” question.
I’d estimate at least half the people running in the Democratic primaries were doing the same, as well as learning the rigors of running a national campaign. A practice run. In addition to Inslee, Booker, Hickenlooper, Harris, Gillibrand, Castro, Swalwell, Buttegieg, Bennet, Bullock, DeBlasio (remember him?), O’Rourke, Moulton, Patrick, Ryan, Yang and others who didn’t do even as well as these, all were simply trying to raise their profiles on the national stage. Few had any real expectation of winning… this time around.
I don’t characterize it as a stunt. It’s just politics.
This, exactly. He could have taken a lead and run with it, but never seemed to really be serious about it. If he’s learned anything from this and tries again, I’d give him chance, but I’d have to genuinely question what he’s going for and why.
I like Inslee too, by the way. I’d certainly prefer him to Biden.
Washington’s high minimum wage has nothing to do with Inslee. The paid leave rules are nice.
He has done a good job of standing by Washington’s existing strong environmental laws in the face the current administration’s gutting of federal standards. But I would hope any non-Republican governor would do that.
So I remain meh.
You would have heard a little more in state - but not much. He’s not a flashy guy. He’s a good guy and a competent politician who tends to do a pretty good job most of the time, but he’s not exciting at all. He’ll be governor again because the state republicans are bound to coalesce behind someone bizarre, but no one is going to get their ballot and think “Yay! I get to vote for Inslee.” There’s more excitement around the Lt. Governor, an interesting person in a blah office.
He’s not the first person from the NW to be overlooked (I still think that Locke would have made a fantastic VP candidate 4 years ago).
The WA State Republicans are currently trying to walk the line of claiming to disapprove of this guy without actually kicking him out (they don’t actually want him gone, they just want him quieter). Not having their support isn’t a bad thing.
Sanders was a better more interesting more activist candidate in the early running.
Now at the prospect of a true contest we are all askeered of our shadows.
Absolutely agree. I was just commenting on the OP’s suggestion that Inslee has strong bi-partisan support.
Time and time again it is shown that the most important thing in politics is name recognition. If people don’t know you, they won’t vote for you even if your views line up with theirs 100%.
I had never heard of Inslee until this thread.
If he was actually running for something (was he? President? Which ticket?) then he did a terrible job.
…and screwing the country out of a quite alright* president.
- high praise in PacNW dialect
Yup. No ads, no news stories. Never heard of him.
Hey! I usually take your side. 
I think this is the answer. Early in the cycle, candidates are trying to attract “journalists” and moneyed activists rather than voters. But all people — especially journalists — **are attracted by razzle-dazzle rather than competence.
**
Inslee would have gone further if he’d peddled Uncle Jay’s Snake Oil instead of Environmentalism.
Inslee would sure have made a better President than what we have. He hasn’t been a perfect governor, but he’s been extremely proactive regarding COVID-19 here in WA.
Well, Inslee was one of about three dozen Random White Males That No One Had Heard Of in the race. Lessee, there was Inslee, and Delaney, and Bullock, and Sestak, and Swalwell, and Hickenlooper, and Bennet, and a bunch more that I’m sure I’ve forgotten. That’s a tough group to rise up out of, when there are so many struggling for scraps of recognition. Inslee may have been the best of 'em, for all I know, but he had a very long way to go to break out from that pack.
Also, as has been noted, even if he wasn’t a one-issue candidate it sure seemed that way. And while he was probably more passionate about climate change than the average candidate, that’s a matter of, um, degree. There weren;t many (any?) folks up on that debate stage who thought climate change wasn’t a significant problem. Doesn’t make it any easier to break out.
Same here. Who?
It’s much easier to blame progressives who donate billions of dollars and contribute millions of votes and volunteer hours to democratic politics.
I will say, blaming us for inslee losing us a new one.
Trump calling Inslee “a snake” and instructing Pence not to be civil to him on Pence’s Coronavirus tour yesterday probably boosted Inslee’s visibility considerably. (I’d post a link, but I’m on my phone and it keeps picking up the long redirect URL. Just Google it.)
Another vote for this. If I’d heard of him before now, I don’t remember it.
Why not just make this your sig?