The Campaign
By Hank
Silverberg
No, this is
not another plug for the novel I published in 2017. You can find details on that
at the end of this blog. This is about the real-life drama of 2020, which is already hot 18 months before the election
and six months before any primary voting.
I have lost
count of just how many people are running for the Democratic nomination. It’s
more than two dozen. Next week there will be two debates, a top tier and a
lower tier, where most of the Democratic candidates will get a chance to tell us their
vision of America’s future.
I am not
going to predict who will be the winner, and anyone who thinks they can make
such a prediction should stay away from
the betting window at the race track, because they are likely to pick the wrong
horse.
Here are a
few things I hope the Democrats will do:
1) Give us a reason to vote for you, not
just a reason NOT to vote for Trump. (We know hundreds of those without your
help.)
2) You can differ on policy, that’s
healthy debate, but don’t attack someone’s personality or private life.
3) There is little debate that our country’s
current immigration process is broken. Tell us how you will fix it, rather than
pointing fingers at who messed it up.
4) Some domestic issues that should be addressed:
the cost of health care, the proliferation of guns, clarity on abortion rights, and cyber security.
5) Avoid the use of the word “Socialism.” It has been abused and misused by Republicans, and is
misunderstood by much of the
electorate. Give us practical solutions, not ideology.
6) Set a positive tone for the party and the
election this time around. Words the public does not want to hear include “collusion,” “emails,” “Benghazi” and “impeachment.”
I would also
like to hear some frank discussion on how to repair our foreign policy, which
has been mauled by the Trump Administration. Or, how do we deal with Iran, North
Korea, Russia and China? Tariffs and
their negative impact on our domestic economy fit in here. We also need to hear what you would do to repair
relationships with our allies, which Mr Trump has severely damaged. The primaries and caucuses don't start until early 2020, beginning in Iowa. So there's plenty of time. Here's a map on the primaries.
(Courtesy DNC) |
(Primaries,
by color)
February
March 3
(Super Tuesday)
March 7–8
March 10
March 17
April 4–7
April 28
May
June
No 2020
date
For those of
you who can spare a few hours of your busy schedule to watch these debates,
listen to the candidate’s words,
but also watch their body
language, general demeanor and ability to deal with both complex questions and
the inevitable stupid ones. Also, watch how they deal with each other. Four years ago, the Republican debates were a rowdy disgrace.
NBC made a major mistake by including highly partisan MSNBC commentator Rachel Maddow among the panelists in the upcoming debates. But the rest are highly experienced and qualified journalists, including anchor Lester Holt, and Meet the Press Host Chuck Todd among them, so hopefully the questions will be to the point and productive.
(The debates are June 26 and 27th, in two panels of ten candidates each night from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. on both NBC and MSNBC.)
Some other
observations about the campaign so far:
President
Trump has said more than once he wants to serve a third, fourth, or even fifth
term. That, of course, is against the 25th Amendment which limits a President to two successive terms. I would like to think he knows
that and that he is just joking about
three or more terms. But even joking about it is crossing a line that shouldn’t
be crossed, and with Trump you never know when he is serious.
The
President also said this week that he would look at any
dirty information on his opponent even if it came from a foreign source. And
then “maybe” if he thought it was improper, he would turn it over to the FBI. He
later changed his mind and said he would turn it over no matter what.
https://nypost.com/2019/06/14/trump-now-says-he-would-report-dirt-from-foreign-countries-to-the-fbi/
There IS a
federal law prohibiting candidates for public office from accepting ANYTHING of
value from a foreign government, even a friendly foreign government. That includes information on an opponent. It
appears once again Mr. Trump has no knowledge of the law or more likely no understanding of it.
News Briefs:
We also learned this week that two tankers
in the Persian Gulf were damaged by mines, which the U.S. government says were
planted by Iran’s military. There is video showing what looks like an Iranian
patrol craft removing one that did not explode.
(Courtesy of the U.S. Navy)
Our allies are questioning whether this is
true—another example of the deterioration in our relationships with friendly
countries. How will the unpredictable Trump Administration react? We should be worried about that!
Ironically,
that novel I wrote in 2016 entitled “The Campaign,” had a war with Iran as a
focal point of a Presidential campaign. Let’s hope the plot stays fictional.
(Your suggestions or comments on this blog are welcome below)
I believe I subscribed, just not positive Hank.
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