I
cast my vote for in the Colorado Presidential Primary as part of the Super
Tuesday contests for…
First,
let me point out that this endorsement is for the primary and only the primary.
Once
the primary has concluded and there is a nominee for the Democratic Party, I
will vote for that person the moment the general election ballot arrives in my
mail box later this year. If you are already committed to voting for the
Democratic nominee, make sure you check your voter registration information for
your respective state, look at the candidates who are running down ballot (they
matter as much at the top of the ticket), and make a plan to go vote as soon as
the polls are open.
Any
of the remaining candidates are infinitely better than Donald Trump. I’m more
qualified to be president than Trump.
NOTE: I am not announcing a late entry for the presidency. Do
*NOT* write me in as a candidate.
While
my sample size of presidents in my lifetime is very small (Reagan, both Bushes,
Clinton, Obama, Trump), I truly despise this president, his enablers, and those
that voted for him - which also includes family members who I have ceased any
lines of communication with and likely will for the foreseeable future.
Previous
presidents have their faults and do what they can to leave a lasting legacy
that improves our lives.
This
president serves himself and only himself.
Not
only that, but Trump is untethered to our Constitutional norms due to surviving
impeachment because 52 senators felt it was more important to align themselves
with Trump than it was to protect and defend the Constitution, a document that
Republicans claim is sacred but proved their real loyalties during the Trump
impeachment and trial. A second Trump term will be even worse as he directs
whatever means to go after his perceived enemies in Congress and his critics.
Currently
there is a global pandemic - the coronavirus - and instead of monitoring the
situation, providing a calm presence, surrounding himself with experts in viral
outbreaks, and coordinating with government officials at the city, state, &
federal levels, Trump has done everything wrong.
Trump
proceeded with his plans for campaign appearances to raise money in Florida for
his re-election and followed it up with a rally in Charleston, SC with Senator
Lindsay Graham, a leading Trump sycophant. During the rally, he called the
outbreak “a hoax” which further contradicted several press conferences where he
downplayed the outbreak as well as made up the number of confirmed US cases and
citing it will be down to zero by April. Those in the Trump administration
continued those hoax claims at the annual CPAC meeting in Maryland that ended
with Trump doing his usual mocking of any of his potential Democratic rivals.
Instead
of appointing someone to head the task force or directing the press to ask the
CDC questions, Trump named Vice President Mike Pence to be in charge. Pence -
as Indiana governor - made an HIV-AIDS outbreak worse by banning a needle
exchange program. Pence along with this administration has a long history of
being deniers with anything evidence based - ranging from the receipts on Pence
believing that conversion therapy for LGBTQ persons works to climate deniers at
the EPA and of course the many lies that Trump has told across his presidency.
The
only reason Trump leapt into action was because his anger over how poorly the
stock market was doing and how it could hamper his re-election chances. Once
again, it is only about serving himself.
This
pandemic is serious and unfortunately, we do not have serious people in the
White House who are willing to do serious business.
I do
not make this choice for who I am voting for in the primary lightly. When my
ballot arrived, I placed it on my nightstand. I wanted to see how the results
in the early contests of Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina played
out before I voted. I - and I suspect many others in Super Tuesday states - did
not want to vote for a candidate who dropped out during this stage of the
nomination thus wasting my shot at voting for another viable option.
I am
still disappointed in how the process eliminated Booker, Castro, and Harris so
early without a chance to see how voters felt about them, and I addressed those
concerns in an earlier post. There certainly needs to be reforms in how
states choose their delegates as well as the order certain states go in. Going
forward, there needs to be pressure from people who can influence the necessary
improvements to our nomination process so that this can be avoided.
As
for who I cast my vote for, I narrowed my choices down to former Vice President
Joe Biden and Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren.
Why
is Sanders not under consideration for my primary vote?
I
have serious reservations about Sanders as a general election candidate, and it
could jeopardize Democrats chances in several critical down ballot races across
the country at the federal and state levels.
I am
also disappointed in that some of the more passionate supporters of Sanders
have spent their time and effort at going after Democrats who would be willing
to advocate for their issues while not turning their energy towards defeating
Republicans.
The
coronavirus outbreak has highlighted the persistent problem with the Trump
administration and that is this: the complete dismantling of our bureaucratic
infrastructure.
There
have been several departures and vacancies throughout this presidency. While
turnover in presidential administrations in nothing new, it is unprecedented
where critical governmental agencies go dangerously understaffed. Rachel Maddow
on her show tracked this that it began to resemble a departure board at your
choice of favorite major airport.
Whoever
is the next Democratic President will have the daunting task of rebuilding it
back up and will have to rely on drawing from the talent pools that have served
in previous Democratic administrations such as the Barack Obama and Bill
Clinton administrations as well with Hillary Clinton when she was Secretary of
State. One of the reasons why Obama picked Mrs. Clinton as his Secretary of
State was that he needed someone who could jump right into handling our
international relations while he worked on the domestic front to keep a deep
recession into turning into an economic depression.
The
next Democratic president will need to surround themselves with wise and
experienced people who can rebuild our frayed international relations that
Trump has damaged and take on the domestic issues to ensure that no like Trump
ever happens again.
Senator
Warren appeared positioned to do that. There are many things I agree with her
on such as this speech she gave at a house event during her 2012 senate run.
Unfortunately,
she has shown less than stellar performance throughout these nominating
contests. The only delegates she received was in the Iowa caucus and since then
she has failed to receive any delegates, especially in the New Hampshire
primary where she was a neighboring senator.
Instead
of trying to differentiate herself from Sanders and expand her support base to
best position herself as the better messenger for the party’s left flank, her
campaign appears to have entered in a non-aggression pact with the Sanders
campaign. I wish that the attacks on Bloomberg in the final two debates were
directed more at Sanders to show a substantial difference between the two throughout
the debates.
I
doubt that Sanders has as deep of a talent pool to draw from should he ascend
to the White House. While that might be an endearing quality to his most fierce
supporters, it does not impress those that believe that experience with the
complexities of government and how they interact with each other matters. The
same people who have worked in Democratic-progressive-liberal-left leaning
causes for the last 30 years have taken their share of abuse from his campaign
and might have reservations about working for him as well as those that
surround him.
The
final factor that played in my decision was how South Carolina voted which was
when the Democratic Party base - mainly black voters - would have their say.
Again, this nomination process has been criticized that two states that do not
reflect the nation’s demographics receive first priority and when a more
diverse state - Nevada - comes up on the calendar, they use a voter suppressing
caucus which may not reflect a state’s demographics.
South
Carolina spoke on Saturday night.
And
they did so
Loudly
It
might be best to listen to them and not dismiss them.
That
reason is why I cast my primary ballot for Joe Biden.
No comments:
Post a Comment