General Discussion

IMHO the vast majority is not, and only a vast majority voting Democratic will be enough to toss Republican rule, at least for a cycle or two, into a deep freeze. I think that using the vague slur of “corporate” to describe our own people, especially when they are beholden to no such interests, is about as useful as Republicans yelling about “liberals,” which they are at a similar loss to accurately define.

Of all the prominent American politicians who describe themselves as progressive, only AOC seems (to me) to have both the youth and the perception of the political lay of the land to build a voter base sufficient to some day launch herself beyond the orbit of her current following. The third essential element, i.e. a willingness to so, is her decision alone, and she will have to balance being accused of failing the purity test with gaining more than enough followers to compensate for the possible loss of the puritains (small p). That is a burden that does not plague politicians like Jon Ossoff, Pete Buttigieg or Mark Kelly, although all three have their own hurdles to overcome if they want a place on the ticket. Jon is Jewish, a red flag to some on both the extreme right AND the extreme left. Pete Buttigieg is openly gay (need I say more?). Mark has a long career in the military, a no go to some who consider that a stain.

In the 2020 primaries, Joe Biden’s age wasn’t enough of a negative for Democratic voters—only Trump kept harping on that, and Democrats weren’t overly interested in what Trump wanted. Biden was the last man standing when the smoke cleared, and he rode that straight into the White House. If Democratic contenders for the nomination spend their time trying to tear down other Democrats, instead of telling the nation why their vision offers a better hope for the future, I believe that once again, there will once again be a “last man standing” who has found the vision and the rhetoric to inspire, and won’t attack his/her own flank instead of attacking Republicans. We need someone who can convincingly explain “I’m better” as opposed to “he’s worse.” We’ll also need behind-the-scenes people like David Simas, who was so essential to Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign (“we’ll tear our hair out so that you don’t have to” ).