Presidential Campaign Thoughts

Having had a day to ponder yesterday's debate, and listen and read the pundits, I'm at least beginning to understand my instincts and feelings about this campaign.  Some of my feelings are hopeful, some of them are pragmatic.  I hope that Buttigieg is as smart and thoughtful as he seems to be.  Similarly, I hope that those who imply that he is "slick" are just being politicians.  My instincts tell me that he definitely cares, and he's definitely smart.  Of course, I had similar feelings about President Obama. In the end, I've come to wonder if the country wasn't ready for President Obama, though I have strong  feelings that President Obama might not have been ready either.  The combination was ultimately lethal.  Should that dissuade me from voting for Buttigieg? Is the country ready for him?  Regardless of whether he's the right person or whether he's ready to be the President, it may not matter if the country isn't ready for him.  Pretty complex, isn't it?

I used to tell my dad not to vote for someone who was going to lose, especially if it might lead to the wrong person winning.  Many people vote for the lesser of evils.  There's something that feels wrong about that.  Aren't we supposed to vote for the person that we feel is right for the job?  Shouldn't we let time decide whether that's the right person?  When I listen to the candidates, I've always liked Buttigieg.  I honestly believe the his heart's in the right place.  I believe that everyone else's heart is in the right place as well. I love listening to Bernie Sanders rail against the pharmaceutical companies and the uber wealthy.  However, I absolutely don't think he has a rational plan to actually take them on.  I love listening to Elizabeth Warren speak out for the average person, and speak truth to power, but I'm also not sure that she will be able to effectively engage with enough legislators and voters to garner the type of support that is needed to bring about the change that is desperately needed.

I wish that Amy Klobuchar would drop her edge, and edge that I've read can extend to how she treats those who work for her.  We need a leader who inspires those around her, not one who inspires fear.  The edge I see and feel is real, and while she says the right things, I worry that she won't be able to carry them out.  I could be wrong.  This is my hardest choice, because I think that from a policy perspective she probably leans closer to my beliefs and opinions.

I just can't get myself on the Joe Biden train.  There are lots of reasons, including how he promotes the ACA as such a tremendous achievement.  I know, in fact, that it wasn't.  President's Obama that people would be able to keep their doctors was disingenuous at best and profoundly ignorant at worst.    The ACA helped insure more people, while sending the country's health systems on a death spiral.  For many Americans, their health insurance today isn't better than it was 11 years ago.  The signature legislation that Biden loves to own has not really changed health care, it just changed health insurance.

That leaves Mike Bloomberg.  He scares me, while at the same time, I think that he might actually have the best chance not only of beating trump, but of extricating our country from the path that trump has put us on.  Maybe he'd be a one term President, and the real issue is who he would choose as a V-P candidate?  I still have to decide who to vote for in the California primary in two weeks.  I guess that I haven't decided.