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| Great Cloud of Witnesses |
I do not pretend to be a genius when it comes to politics and I sure don't know if Biden should or shouldn't step down. This is not a call for him to step down. Having said that, however, if his health is failing, it would not be unreasonable for him to step aside. He's certainly earned his rest. Clearly, him considering stepping down is now on the table, so let's talk about it.
So, IF he steps aside (many are asking), who could possibly run? I've seen conservatives say things like...
"All the names put forward have significant negatives and don't seem to be particularly strong candidates."
I would just respond to THAT notion by saying... setting aside that conservatives disagree with Democratic policies for whatever reasons, are you kidding me? "Significant negatives..."? Especially as compared to the GOP alternative (but truly, even aside from that)? Really?
Just three examples of many great choices.
1. Kamala Harris
A. She's the vice president!
B. Before that she was a successful senator and before that, a respected lawyer.
C. All of which is to say she is highly educated, smart and has political history and savvy.
D. Additionally, she's been an inspiration to girls, women, women of color and their allies in reaching the heights she has. She is the first woman vice president. She's the first person of color in that role.
E. She's relatively young, so no worries of her being "too old."
F. And, of course, she's not irrational nor does she talk like an idiot or make promises of prosecuting her political enemies.
For 1,000 reasons, she's an extremely qualified candidate and far and away better than the convicted candidate. I'd love to see her debate Trump.
2. Andy Beshear
(I'm sort of hoping that IF there's a shift away from Biden, it would be a Harris/Beshear ticket, but then, I'm prejudiced for the Kentuckian)
A. Governor of Kentucky
B. The very popular Democrat governor of a very red state. Kentuckians, by and large, love Andy.
C. Highly educated, clearly intelligent, well-spoken and familiar with and experienced in politics.
D. Like Harris, although he is a highly intelligent and skilled lawyer, he has never promised to use the justice system to prosecute his political enemies.
E. Like Harris, I would love to see Beshear in a debate against Trump.
F. Also quite young and yet, educated and experienced with a clear history of wise political leadership.
3. Pete Buttigieg
A. Another highly educated, clearly intelligent, very experienced politician
B. All of the above points about Beshear are true for Buttigieg, as well
C. Military service
D. Multilingual (maybe not completely fluidly in all cases, but clearly familiar with multiple languages and able to answer questions in multiple languages - that compared to Trump, who tends to speak English at about a 3rd to 5th grade level).
E. Would destroy Trump in a debate.
That's just three super strong candidates right off the bat.
In ALL of these, it would be nice to have intelligent, respectful, respectable adults in office. In each of these people, they have lovely and supportive marriages (not that this is a requirement) and are actually part of and relatively faithful to their particular faith tradition. They each have demonstrated that they know the Bible better than the other candidate (not that knowing the Bible is a prerequisite for being president, but if you're going to present yourself as a religious person, you should actually be familiar with that religion - Trump is clearly not, although he is willing to shill a poorly-made, overly-expensive Bible to people willing to lose their money in Trump's name).
None of these very intelligent, very experienced leaders have any scandals or arrest records, whereas their opponent is NOT intelligent and is a moral disgrace for many reasons and is clearly corrupt and a felon, to boot.
With each of these candidates, none of them are perfect people, of course. Each of them have things I strongly disagree with in their politics and policies. But are they qualified and strong candidates? Of course, they are. "Significant negatives" for these (and other) candidates? I just don't see it.
++++++
I will note that I didn't mention Michelle Obama. I think it is a given that she is of course an extremely qualified and strong candidate for the office if she wanted to run. I think she would almost certainly win in a landslide, so strong she is as a candidate and just a clearly wise, good person. But she's been consistently clear that she's not interested in the job and so, I didn't mention her.
Beyond her, the list of qualified, strong candidates is pretty long. I just chose three of the most obvious candidates from my point of view, not to say there aren't other qualified candidates.
4 comments:
Given the number of stupid people living in the states, why should it surprise anyone that someone like Michelle Obama could win in a landslide? I've never seen a president I have liked in my lifetime, and I am old!
1. Because of the reality of fake bots making "comments," I need to know you're a real person, "anonymous." With no name or verification of who you are, I'm forced to assume you're not a real person, just a Russian bot or something similar. You need to provide your name or some proof you're a real person if you want to comment here.
2. Given the reality of your vague nothing of a comment, I'm not really interested in what you say even if you are a real person.
3. In reality, intelligence is fairly consistent within humanity, so a comment saying "those people living in the states are unintelligent" is just rationally nonsense, given the known data.
4. Michelle Obama and her husband are clearly intelligent, reasonable people. Given the former idiot in the office of president, why is it not rational that Michelle Obama would win in a landslide? People long for intelligent leadership.
5. We have had at least two clearly wise, reasonable, good presidents in my 61 year old lifetime - Obama and Carter. Whatever one may think of their policies, they have demonstrated that they are good and intelligent people. Even George W Bush was/is probably a relatively good - if not especially intelligent - man.
I haven't had any presidents I've fully agreed with in my lifetime, but then, good and reasonable people don't need to agree with me. I'm okay with good, decent, reasonable people disagreeing with me. You?
Again, if you aren't a real person, don't bother commenting. If you have nothing reasonable and adult and intelligent to say, don't bother commenting.
The question: WHY should it surprise anyone if Michelle Obama could win in a landslide if she won?
It shouldn't. She's amazing, intelligent and a great leader.
But the "question" came along with an irrational and unsupported premise intended to insult a woman this person (or bot) doubtless doesn't know or know anything about. I don't think it pays to feed trolls or Russian bots.
Answering irrational, attacking, demeaning questions is pointless. If this commenter were actually a person (almost certainly not), they could choose to engage in respectful, adult conversation. They/it are choosing not to do so.
Likewise, when you - a real person - chooses to make this sort of unsupported claim...
Nothing provided which suggests true intelligence or wisdom from either Obama, except for pushing their marxist ideology on the aforementioned considerable number of stupid people.
It's beginning with a slew of false presumptions and attacks built into the comment. ANY adult in our nation who is of reasonable intelligence and understanding knows who Michelle Obama is. If they're informed, they know she is a highly intelligent as evidenced by her academic excellence and achievements at Harvard and Princeton. Which elite university have you graduated from with a law degree and with the Cum Laude and other high achievements she has on her record?
Not that there's any shame in anyone - you included - to not have reached the level of academic achievement or demonstrated intelligence of someone like Ms Obama, but there is a problem when such a person chooses to try to (poorly) demean the intelligence of one so clearly intelligent.
Further, she's demonstrated not just intelligence, but moral and civic excellence in her work at various charities and non-profits, helping to help the poor and marginalized achieve greatness.
Are you aware of her high achievements in education and in her work for the people? (Not even counting the work she did in assisting Barack Obama).
IF you are ignorant of her excellence, then maybe you'd be better off not attacking someone you are ignorant of.
The people of the US love and admire Michelle Obama for good reasons - her obvious intelligence, compassion, wisdom and leadership skills.
Don't be jealous of a great woman, it's not a good look.
Given that your comments are unsupported and attack a person in a low-grade and vulgar and undeserved manner, I'll probably remove it. Again, Marshal, IF you want to comment here, you have to support your claims and be respectful. It's a reasonable and respectful thing for me to require of you.
how in the hell could you ever have insisted Biden represented such a person?
Biden may or may not be as above and beyond in intelligence as the Obamas were, as the Carters were/are, but he's not unintelligent. And certainly not as compared to Trump, whose main areas of genius are in attacking people and conning people into a wide range of cons. He's an excellent con man and that IS a sort of "genius," but not a good sort of genius.
The data is out there. Trump was not a good student. Period. He could only get through school because his wealthy parents paid for his education and there, he only managed to get a Bachelors degree.
Again, not that there's any shame in not having higher education or not being academically gifted. But you can't try to denigrate the intelligence of others when your candidate is so... not intelligent. Demonstrably so.
Trump talks in an unintelligent, grade school manner. Trump's reasoning is demonstrably grade-school and less-than-rational. Trump has clear mental health deficits. Trump doesn't read - he may well have reading deficits and certainly lacks intellectual curiosity. He's just not a smart or wise man. The data shows what it shows.
Biden also struggled with school, but nonetheless, he managed to graduate with advanced degrees which demonstrates a struggle through his difficulties, itself an academic achievement. He certainly didn't have a rich daddy to pay for him to get his degree.
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