I still hold a grudge from when he was mayor of San Francisco (where I have lived since 1980). Sure, he allowed same sex marriage licenses, then he went on TV and totally grandstanded, saying something like “We’re doing this in San Francisco, and you can’t stop us!” That got immediate backlash in the rest of the state, and in 2008 we had Prop 8 which made same sex marriages illegal in the whole state. That stayed law until the US Supreme Court knocked it down.
I’m no political expert, and since I live in California I don’t see a lot of the national animus towards California and it’s “current state” (whatever that is supposed to be). I’m not against him because I think he can’t win (a topic on which I feel unqualified to judge) but because I think he would be a bad president. I don’t think he has the stones to stand up to much of anyone.
I am distinctly reminded of Bill Clinton, smarmy “vibes” and all. Looking back, the Clinton years seem like Nirvana compared to what’s ensued more recently.
This seems to be at the core of why a substantial proportion of Democrats dislike Newsom. Like it or not, being 100% fervently in defense of “LGBT+ issues and trans rights issues” is kryptonite for a Democratic presidential candidate. Rejecting Newsom on the basis of his position on trans athletes in women’s sports is shortsighted.
His greatest weakness in my opinion is his having been California’s governor, which sets him up as a GOP target over everything people resent and fear about California. We’ve come a long way since the Reagan days.
One thing I like about him is his willingness to get down and dirty and mock Trump in Trump’s own style. His enraging Trump and his devotees has been enjoyable.
To my ears Bill Clinton came off as much more sincere, but different people get different vibes. To me he had a great strength in being someone who often was the smartest person in the room but not giving the impression he thought so - he was just expressing what you already knew (without knowing that you already knew it).
I’m not really sure what you think he should have done, unless it’s not to have issued same-sex marriage licenses at all? Just hope nobody asked him any questions about it? Say “We’re going to keep doing this unless somebody objects, then we’ll stop!”?
Wow, Newsom haters reallly hate! Californian here, and I don’t hate him. Yeah, he’s done things I don’t agree with, but I don’t share the repulsion some people feel. At least in this thread it seems to me mostly men. Am I off there?
But when I think of him compared to someone like Steven Miller, he looks like Gandhi reincarnated.
Simple – I would have him not be a dick towards every other city and state who didn’t do what SF did. A strong but measured statement that SF did this because it was the right thing to do would have been fine; in fact, he made an excellent speech early on that pointed to the importance of moral leadership, a speech that was entirely unobjectionable. It was the actual crowing, which came a little later, that stuck in everyone’s craw. And to me, that appeared to be driven entirely by ego.
If that were the only choice, you would be making a valid point. Nobody is saying that he is evil, what most people seem to be saying is that they don’t trust his principles. That isn’t hate, it’s just observation and extrapolation.
I appreciate what he did, but the way he did it made unnecessary enemies, and it was obvious at all stages that he didn’t have a stake but was looking for a cause to attach his name to. Lots of other straight people had friends, family, and just general empathy without just seeing us as a cause that would generate publicity for them.
I would much happier with him as a Democratic nominee for President than with Steven Miller as the Democratic nominee. I’d vote for him over any imaginable GOP nominee in today’s world.
But relative to other possible Democratic candidates? Right now he leads my list of who I would most prefer not get the nod.
Newsom has a real chance at winning and a message that could actually make life better for many people. So if you’re an accelerationist extremist on either the left or right flank, that’s just about the worst thing possible for you. That’s where the Newsom hate comes from - people like that and the people they successfully manage to misinform.
What would be the point of manufacturing a constitutional crisis and hoping the troops side with you when you can just go to the court and they’ll side with you?
They certainly don’t see it that way; in their minds, the failure of the liberal world order is the only way for us to [return to traditional values/adopt communal ownership of the means of production] and anything aside from that is failure. So in their minds, things getting worse before they get better is the only way to avoid failure.
Both groups are horribly wrong about their analysis of the world and what its problems are, of course. It’s a garbage in garbage out situation.
Everyone is self-interested at some level. Newsom is at least intelligent and, I believe, reasonably principled, and is likable and charismatic. Kinda the “anti-Trump”.
I very much don’t like Newson, love the liberal world order, and don’t want it to fail. Just completely false that people that don’t like Newson fall into those categories.
Honestly this is the big issue of contention. Clearly some react to him as that and some don’t … it is like that dress that different people see different color stripes!
Bingo. I don’t like or dislike Newsom. I will vote for him if he gets the nomination. I prefer AOC, Ossoff, and Kelly. I don’t know who is running, but that is who I favor right now. I’m farther left than any of them except AOC, but I sure don’t clap my hands in glee waiting for the nation to collapse. I’m all about forming a more perfect union, and boy howdy do we have work to do. expecally after the craptacular mess the dumbass in the white house has wrought.
I’m think that just because someone doesn’t agree with every one of your opinions doesn’t meant that person is evil or plotting/hoping for the end of the US.
