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I heard a clip of Amy Klobuchar being asked about her thoughts about single payer and free college and she answered by saying that while she finds those ideals to be aspirational, she didn't see them as reasonable or realistic (I'm paraphrasing). While I love those ideals (being a commie lib), I agree that they aren't currently reasonable or realistic. However, I'm concerned. I'm concerned that if you don't see those things as realistic and you're trying to sell yourself as a centrist that you're going to have a hard time exciting people about you or your candidacy. This isn't me saying she, or anyone else, needs to run out and stand on a mountaintop and shout about single payer healthcare, but some of these candidates need to take a serious stand about something. Anything. Whatever it is, they need to take a stand that will excite people. Trump is a fucking liar and idiot but he has figured this out. His cult is about 35% of the population and they will support him even if he turns out to be a serial killer.
I really like Amy Klobuchar. I like Harris. A few others are cool, too. But just being a centrist will leave people wondering what you really support. If you are going to run and have success as some kind of reasonable centrist, you had better have some pretty defined views or people will kind of just wonder what exactly lights your fire. Bernie was a wacky lefty, but he had a passionate following because he had a strong view about something edgy and people got on that train with him. What strong view do we know Hillary had? I don't know of any except that she thought Trump was a clown. I think we're failing to understand that this is why AOC is so popular. She takes a huge stand that advocates for the little guy and doesn't fucking care if it's unreasonable. She just figures if the rest of the world can afford single payer, then we can, too. And whether that's reasonable or not, I know she's on my side and on the side of my relatives who struggle to just keep their health insurance premiums paid every month. Maybe I'm just nuts...but I'm beginning to believe that the person that can beat Trump is going to be someone with daring ideals that dare to advocate for the masses, and not someone trying not to be too provocative. Pretty sure Biden can figure out how to do this. Harris might. Warren isn't afraid but she's a whacko who won't win. Maybe Beto?
Sorry to belabor it, but this has been bothering me lately. Not sure I see how some centrist without defined views is going to excite turnout or excite young voters.
I really like Amy Klobuchar. I like Harris. A few others are cool, too. But just being a centrist will leave people wondering what you really support. If you are going to run and have success as some kind of reasonable centrist, you had better have some pretty defined views or people will kind of just wonder what exactly lights your fire. Bernie was a wacky lefty, but he had a passionate following because he had a strong view about something edgy and people got on that train with him. What strong view do we know Hillary had? I don't know of any except that she thought Trump was a clown. I think we're failing to understand that this is why AOC is so popular. She takes a huge stand that advocates for the little guy and doesn't fucking care if it's unreasonable. She just figures if the rest of the world can afford single payer, then we can, too. And whether that's reasonable or not, I know she's on my side and on the side of my relatives who struggle to just keep their health insurance premiums paid every month. Maybe I'm just nuts...but I'm beginning to believe that the person that can beat Trump is going to be someone with daring ideals that dare to advocate for the masses, and not someone trying not to be too provocative. Pretty sure Biden can figure out how to do this. Harris might. Warren isn't afraid but she's a whacko who won't win. Maybe Beto?
Sorry to belabor it, but this has been bothering me lately. Not sure I see how some centrist without defined views is going to excite turnout or excite young voters.
