I’m not sure I like the idea of a mayor for President (at least, not without some other office in between). Sure, the larger cities like New York or LA are bigger than most states, and nobody blinks at a governor running. But those large cities are also very much unlike the rest of the country, and it would make it hard to portray such a candidate as caring about rural, or even smaller urban, issues.
I would also be worried that a big city mayor has a track record of corruption or dealing with corrupt people, because big cities in America seem to be cesspits of corruption.
“a noun, a verb and 9/11” AKA America’s mayor Rudy G ran in 2012 and went nowhere.
FTR, we’re talking about a big-city mayor from Texas who was also Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. If the favorite-son status would sway Texas (would it? I dunno) it should be very tempting to run Castro.
Nobody’s claiming that Julian Castro is the Messiah born again. I’m just looking for any alternative to Joe Biden whose 76th birthday is less than a month away.
And let me point out:
The first time I saw Dukakis debate Bush, I felt confident he would lose. Kerry also lacked “Presidential stage presence.” In 2016, O’Malley, Webb, Kaine, JEB! — none of them looked remotely Presidential to me.
As long as I’ve been alive, the more charismatic candidate has won, every time!
In the other thread I posted links to YouTubes for those who wanted to listen to Julian Castro. Those touting Booker, Klobuchar, whoever? I don’t seem them proudly showing off their candidates’ charisma.
I want to see Mitch Landrieu, former mayor of New Orleans. He’s a guy who cuts across cultural and racial barriers, and he has balls.
Quick search for Kamala Harris on the stump … found this from 2016 at the CA Democrats Convention, start at about 4:00 in. Yeah she’s good, real good, on the stump. And proven in other contexts, able to think on her feet.
I’m really warming up to her.
Just compared her speech to Julian Castro’s speech at the 2012 convention. He’s fine, but she’s better. More relaxed. More … real. And she comes off stronger.
But you are right - nominations and general elections are not won on the basis of resumes. They are won by those who can hit the chords that resonate with enough of the electorate, who have a vision they can express with believable passion.
Not hearing that level of charisma or toughness youtubing Hickenlooper or Bullock either.
Mitch Landrieu.
Trust me on this one.
Maybe a Kamala-Mitch ticket?
This is correct. This is how Trump’s polemic works, because initially he divided the Republicans, but they rallied around him. The division is among the opposition: how do they respond to Trump? That is the question. Do they respond with a centrist white guy or a hard left woman/minority. The hard truth is that a hard left woman/minority guy might drive away white centrists and independents - and simply depress turnout among others.
People point out that Trump’s approval rating is the lowest ever, and I say ‘So what?’ He won with the lowest approval rating ever. Hell, he won even though he lost the national vote. The hard reality is that Trump can win election after election after election with only a 40-45% approval rating. We’re in a new age. About 10 or 20 years ago, party leaders were assured of at least - minimum 45-50% of the vote because people were loyal to parties. Not anymore.
Trump could have 40-45% approval, but then we’d have half of his opposition saying we should move to the center and half saying we should move to the hard left. Trump’s 40-45% can beat a divided progressive front. That’s why I opposed Bernie Sanders’ protest campaign. All he did was divide the vote. And unfortunately, I think opposition is still divided.
Mitch sounds too much like bitch or witch which are not a words you want even subconsciously evoked when a woman runs in the general election.
I’d go with Sherrod Brown of Ohio myself.
But whenever he wins a debate or a race, we can say that his opponent got…Mitch-slapped.
A slight addendum to that: What matters is not the charisma itself, but its absolute value. Hillary Clinton had zero charisma, while Donald Trump has a very large but negative charisma. Clinton’s charisma was therefore greater, but the absolute value of Trump’s was greater.
asahi, in what sense did Sanders split the vote? He ran in the primary. He didn’t run third-party in the general once he lost the primary.
Google remembers I’m a McRaven fan, so it just put a video of this 4-star admiral in my YouTube feed. It’s from 3 years ago; McRaven is praising FBI Director Robert Mueller at a fund-raising gala. He seems charismatic enough to me.
Why aren’t we spearheading the Draft McRaven movement? The Texan who killed Osama bin Laden could hardly lose an election. All the other Democratic choices are quite iffy.
I’d be fine with McRaven. He seems principled and not a Trump suck-up. Pair him with someone who can bring in what he lacks and we might have some traction.
I’ve said McRaven paired with one of the following would be fairly unstoppable:
Hilda Solis, former Congresswoman from CA, progressive, union-friendly, Obama’s Labor Secretary, currently on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors. She’s female, Latina, the daughter of immigrants, the daughter of union members and a Teamster organizer. She’s got a nice connection to the Obama presidency at a time when many Americans are feeling nostalgic, yet wasn’t a high-profile member of the cabinet with a bright-red target on her head. Photogenic, good speaker. Only downside: From California, but with Mcraven at the top, that’s less of an issue.
Brenda Lawrence, Congresswoman from Michigan, progressive, worked her way up in government: former school board member, city councilwoman and mayor of Southfield, MI (one of the most racially, economically, religiously and politically diverse cities in Michigan), retired career Postal Worker (started as carrier, ended in HR), former union member, husband is retired UAW, African-American, has been doing a lot of cable talking head stuff. Downside: Largely unknown (which could also be an asset as she’s got no GOP target on her).
Elizabeth Warren (least favorite of the three, but would bring a good economic message and hardcore name recognition to the ticket).
Now granted, two of those three are very outside-the-box choices, but I think paired with McRaven (and facing off against Pence on the debate stage), they’d be awesome, filling in the gaps on the top of the ticket nicely.
Seriously, septimus, how do we draft this guy to run? You’re the only other person who seems to share my dreams here for this guy.
Yes, he looks good. Als of course Harris could be Veep. or Duckworth.
Here’s a CNN opinion piece from just two months ago that outlines reasons that Bill McRaven would be the ideal candidate. Another opinion echoes the CNN piece and mentions Joe Biden’s recent praise.
But “Citing health concerns, McRaven has announced plans to step down from his current position as Chancellor of the University of Texas System later this year.” Whether true, or just an excuse, this doesn’t bode well.
We now know that competence and policies don’t matter to a large plurality of American voters. Without a flamboyant hero like Admiral Bill McRaven opposing Trump on the stage, I fear the nightmare may continue for another four years.
In recent history, it seems like military flag officers have generally not been interested in running for office.
I have sort of a theory about why. Among the military people that I know personally, a very common topic of conversation is how much of a pain in the ass the bureaucracy of the military is. To hear them tell it, the only thing that’s more of a pain in the ass is having to deal with civilian bureaucracy.
It could simply be that after all the years of putting their time in, these people simply want to be done with it, rather than volunteer for even more.
The only flag officer that I can remember in my own lifetime running for president was Wesley Clark, and his campaign did not go well.
Edit: oh, also, James Stockdale was Perot’s VP. That also did not go well.
Because of his health issues. He has chronic lymphocytic leukemia (since 2010) and as mentioned recently had to step down as chancellor of UT due to those issues. It was not just an excuse; he had been hospitalized earlier in the year.
His current health would likely not allow him to handle the demands of a campaign and would be considered disqualifying by many voters.