Rahm? I like Pete just fine, but what does fucking Rahm have to offer? No charisma, no messaging skill, nothing, ISTM, but “fuck the progressives”.
IMO it’s all about genuine charisma and messaging skill. Emphasize the “genuine” part. Newsom (for example) is a skilled communicator, but not genuine, IMO.
I like AOC best right now. I think she might have the talent of Obama, though we can’t know for sure yet. If so, she’ll be able to use the primary to convince skeptical Democrats just like Obama did.
Agreed on Gavin.
I think the progressives have been fucking mainstream Dem politics long enough. Time for them to bend over.
AOC is a pick me girl. In her happiest dreams she’ll never have Obama’s talent and charisma. And yes, we do know. No matter how hard she tries to move closer to the center of the tent, she’ll always be a punchline.
We live in different universes, it appears. This sounds like bitter crankery to me, but we’ll see. If I’m right, AOC will sail to the nomination.
I’m tempted to mark this post as a favorite to come back to it later and take the piss.
But I’m better than that.
My political predictions are nothing more than guesses based on my feelings (same goes for political predictions from any Doper, IMO). Treat them no more seriously then you would from any other stranger on the internet.
Got it.
All political predictions portrayed are fictional. Any resemblance to real life persons are merely coincidental and unintentional. No actual politicians were harmed in the process.
Also, because incumbents, left and right, lost pretty much everywhere in the West. Probably really due to the spike in inflation.
Edit: Also, the premise of this thread is hilarious, given the outpouring of love and devotion that Republican voters have for Trump. Maybe the elected Republicans fell in line, but the electorate? Pure, unadulterated cult-like love. They adorn their houses, cars, and bodies with Trump crap, make artwork lionizing him, compare him to God and Jesus, say he was sent by God to save America.
The only potential candidate with any kind of appeal outside of hardcore Democrats IMO is Mark Kelly. If AOC gets the nod, the Dems are doomed. Again. As are we all.
Kelly needs serious work on speechifying, IMO. I don’t think a boring, plodding speaker is very likely to win primaries, much less the general.
And most of them have never been registered Republicans, if indeed they ever voted before 2016.
Welcome to my universe, I guess. Have some some tea and cookies. The bar is always open.
I doubt that most MAGA, as in the majority, were never Republicans. In any case, ask them if they’re conservative or liberal and I’m sure they would say they’re conservative.
If what the liberal/democrat side has to count on is another Obama-like phenomenon candidate, we’re in bad shape. For that matter so’s the conservative/republican side if what it has to rely on is another Trump/MAGA cult figure.
Which is depressing when you realize how many serious, competent candidates on both sides have failed.
Seriously? He’s openly gay. That’ll be a huge problem for a lot of the electorate, even some people who aren’t already firmly Democrat.
As someone who grew up in a conservative household in a conservative region, I was raised in the “You vote no matter what.” mentality. The idea that you don’t vote because you don’t love a candidate is beyond perplexing to me. It’s like that mentality doesn’t account for the idea that the other guy may be worse.
I was being facetious. It seemed too obvious to mention.
I do think he is highly capable and Dems could (likely will) do much worse.
No argument here!
I do think the Democrats seem to often be under the illusion that policy wonkery and qualifications are more important to getting elected than being “cool” and charismatic. Obama and Clinton got elected because they were dramatically cooler and more charismatic than McCain and George HW Bush, not because they necessarily had better policies or plans.
Having heard/seen Pete up close, I think he’s cool and charismatic. IMHO.
I grew up in a decidedly pro-labor, pro-civil rights Democratic household. But even more important than “vote no matter what” was that my parents - who were teenagers during the Great Depression - taught me the perfect is the enemy of the good, and we didn’t want to sit around and watch another Herbert Hoover get elected.
Yeah, I was and am flabbergasted by the people on the Left who sat out the 2024 election because Biden wasn’t progressive enough. As if somehow Trump was better? It was immature petulance, pure and simple.