And hopefully Newsom gets knocked out of the ring EARLY. Fuck that footsie playing with fascists / French Laundry dining / prison guard union vax exemption granting fraud. (Angry Californian here).
It's not just the stylistic phoniness (which grates, but whatevs), it's his willingness to curry favor with the hard right elements of California politics + the outright fascists on the national scene that make me favor any and every other serious contender.
Newsom is competent, but as a Californian I’ve held my breath voting for him each time. He’s only a Democrat because that’s how you move upwards in San Francisco politics, and it shows. I particularly hate his homelessness policies.
I desperately want senators to run. Governors don't know the federal government. Biden was the most effective POTUS since '72. We made a huge mistake by becoming disillusioned with government and making expertise in federal governance a disqualifying trait.
Yep, and he has DC quals. But every election since '76 has been about who's less beltway. Executive experience in a state, insulation from exposure to the corruption of DC. We need people who know the machine, who can make it work.
After 4 years of Trump-Musk, experience with the federal government the way it was before they wrecked it may be less useful that it would have been without them. My 2c is a governor has experience building and running a government, which may be the skill set we desperately need in 2028.
One thing we learned from Biden is going back isn't effective. We need to build anew, not return to old ways. Walz was correct, Trump gave us a gift in that sense. We should take it. Governors can do that better than Senators, I think. FDR was Gov of NY. So was Teddy. Both big rebuilding eras.
FDR came out of Congress. Nixon and LBJ were both enormity effective in standing up new departments. Biden got a huge program passed. Obama had some Senate time, and TR started as VP, he had exposure.
Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush II, and Trump 1 all had problems navigating Congress.
Unless something even more radical happens (and it's all been radical so far), the next president will still need to be able to navigate Congress. That's what's constrained so many presidents, not the exercise of power over the executive but working with federal lawmakers.
Governor is the best source. My money is on Pritzker. Illinois probably elects another Dem, and we need the Congresspeople to stay and form the active liberal legislative core
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Carter, Reagan, Clinton, Bush II, and Trump 1 all had problems navigating Congress.