Like Elizabeth Warren drinking beer out of a bottle. I was afraid for her safety.
I’m kind of the opposite. As mentioned by others, plebiscites and initiatives are generally a terrible way to govern. Look at California, where the initiative process has been routinely hijacked by deep-pocket special interests to push their specific agendas.
But I also think it’s important to vote for individuals because we need someone to react to what we can’t predict. If there’s a market crash, or a 9/11, or a global pandemic, you need someone in the big chair who can handle the immediacy of the situation. A President is more than a set of policy positions. The biggest question for me when voting is, “how will this person react when the shit hits the fan?”
Quite. The best-laid plans often don’t survive contact with reality. As a former PM (Macmillan) said when asked what his greatest challenge was - “Events, dear boy, events”.
As a voter, one needs a sense of what the candidates’ instincts and inherent mindset are, so as to get a handle on how they might approach dealing with “events”. We do, after all, elect people.
I hope The Onion doesn’t give DeSantis too many good ideas…
I could totally see DeSantis delivering the John Edwards monologue. With less smiling and less likeability. But equal intensity and saccharin-fake attempted sincerity. The difference is that Edwards could deliver believable fake sincerity; DeSantis not so much.
I have to think the various not-quite winning politicians of the last 40 years, such as Edwards, John Anderson, Gary Hart, etc, have to be looking (whether from the grave or from the nursing home) at the current insanity and saying to themselves, “I was born 30 years too soon; I coulda RULED these midget morons”!!1!
You can’t be serious.
His last name is hard to pronounce?
About which part?
At least they didn’t eat pizza with a knife and fork!
@Llama_Llogophile said "People want leaders who are massively qualified…"etc, etc
You said, “Pete Buttegieg is pretty close”
He is not. He was the mayor of a city with a population of 100k, and is the Transportation Secretary. And in the last role has made many gaffes. The only Transportation Secretary that has even sniffed the POTUS position was Elizabeth Dole, and she was so far away.
Pete would need to become a Senator or Governor before the majority of Americans would be ready to trust him in the highest office. He’s popular because he’s openly gay and speaks well. The first openly gay politicain that will come close in the future to the POTUS spot is Jared Polis, governor of Colorado.
I’d be interested to hear why you think that’s so. Not disagreeing, more informing myself on a person I hadn’t really heard of before now. But that’s for another thread.
Has he? I’ve seen him blamed for a lot of things that weren’t remotely his fault, and I’ve seen him make a lot of intelligent responses to stupid questions. Which actual gaffes has he made?
Pete Buttigieg would win a Presidential election among Dopers by a landslide. Which probably explains why he was bulldozed in the Democratic primaries.
I think they were making the point that the stepping stone to the Presidency has recently been through Governorships (Carter, Reagan, W Bush, Clinton) and Senators (Kennedy, Obama), though I’d throw in Vice Presidents (LBJ, George H.W. Bush, Biden). Lower Cabinet secretaries are never seriously considered.
That’s not as lofty and distinguished a position as reality TV show host.
While Trump has never been “working class,” it’s true he’s from Queens, and grew up with resentment and envy of those smarty-pants, snobby Manhattanites — so there’s some basis for his ability to connect with the rubes in flyover country.