If bloomberg ends up being the nominee, I’ll still enthusiastically support him. Getting trump out is the imperative, everything else is secondary.
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Obama is very careful in what he says because he knows everything he says will be carefully examined. He’s now said that he thinks women running things would be an improvement, and that the wealthy Democrats need to support Warren if she wins…considering how she has slid in the polls in the last month, he may be giving her a small nudge. And, it makes sense, Warren is probably the closest to him in the race in terms of how he approached the presidency and how he tried to aim it at helping people through things like his tax policy, CFPB, and Obamacare. Warren says the same kinds of things Obama did, and she has realistic policies to pursue them, so it wouldn’t surprise me at all if she was his choice.
Warren is also suffering under “centrist bias”, the idea that “the center” is what should rule the conversation and anything outside of that deserves skepticism. That’s clear in the framing of questions in the debates…we get “M4A won’t work” questions to her and Sanders, but I can’t recall a “how will you give health care to everyone?” question to the centrists (Biden, Pete, etc). Doing this to Warren plays the Republican game for them…the primary should be an exchange of ideas, not the destruction of ideas before even one vote is cast, but we’re seeing the long term goal of the Democrats (health care for everyone) get trashed before the voting starts, which may damage the candidate who comes out, either because they will have been attacking improving health care or been attacked for trying to.
In the end, any of the candidates is far better than Trump, and will have policies that will make the nation better for all instead of just the billionaires. Obama is reminding everyone of that here, with perhaps a subtle nudge at who he would choose if it was up to him. Let’s see if he gives any more indications before Iowa…in the end he’s going to have to come out strong for whoever wins, without him campaigning hard we’ll have lower turnout and that just can’t happen this year.
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Same for me. But I’d still consider it unfortunate that we nominated a billionaire who doesn’t favor progressive fiscal policies. But I will hold my nose as I pull the lever, so to speak, because the imperative is removing Trump from the halls of power.
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Warren and Obama, two liberal law professors with Midwestern roots. Not surprising that they see eye to eye.
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This time around, I’m perfectly happy settling for “patriot”.
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No, anybody but Trump is what Obama said.
“Look, we have a field that is very accomplished, very serious and passionate and smart people who have a history of public service, and whoever emerges from the primary process, I will work my tail off to make sure that they are the next president,” the former president said in a question-and-answer session at a Democracy Alliance event in Washington.
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No, this seems like a completely outlandish sentiment. Obama was a moderate pragmatist, and none of Warren’s cornerstone policies are remotely realistic.
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“one of his legacy changes– the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.”
I think that was pretty much Warren, probably before he was a senator.
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Warren is from Oklahoma, which is the Southwest, but she definitely combines Midwestern pragmatism with the progressivism that used to characterize Wisconsin.
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This isn’t the first story suggesting that Obama is leaning towards (or possibly expressing a preference for) Warren. Nor is TPM the first or only news outlet to report that Obama appears to be … encouraging … Democrats to back or at least seriously consider Warren.
I’m leaning towards Warren myself, so it’s possible I’m reading more into an anodyne expression of support than is … wait for it … warranted.
That said, the general tenor of Obama’s comments on the race so far do seem to lean in Warren’s favor, at least to the extent that he can comment on the race without upsetting any of the other presidential candidates. And I think Obama is probably a pretty good judge of what qualities are useful for the job.
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Speaking of WI, I think Tammy Baldwin might have a broader appeal than Warren. Not sure if she’s a good campaigner though. If it weren’t because her seat is too valuable to take a risk, she should be on the shortlist of vp for all candidates. I’m not confident a generic moderate could carry WI, and if we lose it again, it’ll probably turn into another OH.
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If Bloomberg is the Dem nominee, I’ll support him and show up to vote for him - because, as you point out, ending Trump’s misrule is imperative. But I won’t be enthusiastic about it. I’ve already seen how autorcratic Bloomberg can be when he was mayor here in NYC.
That said, I’m not sure Bloomberg even wants the nomination. I suspect Bloomberg may have entered the race simply because it might be the most convenient way for him to spend the kind of money only a multi-billionaire like Bloomberg* could spend on ads against Trump without running afoul of campaign finance laws.
(*or a few other equally rich multi-billionaires like Gates or Buffet)
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Great. He gets that she knows what she is talking about. He gets that she is capable. He gets that she is a fighter. Go Warren go.
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“according to The Hill” should always be in quotation marks…
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So he’s not so far promoting the old guy who was (self) made cool by his association with the cool black guy. Got it.
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Fair point.
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Every one of her policies is completely realistic, what’s required is the will to believe and the political courage to act.
“No We Can’t” gets you nowhere
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As opposed to thin cat billionaires?
The assumption that wealth automatically disqualifies a person from being capable of doing the right thing and actually doing so is poorly considered.
If Bloomberg ends up elected with my vote in the general, I’ll never say a short wealthy Jewish guy from New York City won’t be elected president in our lifetime ever again.
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