There will be more….
Things ARE getting serious for Democrats….
The race is essentially between Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders….
2016 all over again…
Left vs the Centre for Democrats…
New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker has suspended his presidential campaign after his message of unity and political healing failed to catch on with voters.
Mr. Booker, the former mayor of Newark, had long lagged behind the leading Democratic candidates in national polls, and he failed to qualify for two consecutive Democratic primary debates, including Tuesday’s debate in Iowa.
“It’s with a full heart that I share this news—I’ve made the decision to suspend my campaign for president,” Mr. Booker said in an email to supporters on Monday. “Our campaign has reached the point where we need more money to scale up and continue building a campaign that can win—money we don’t have, and money that is harder to raise because I won’t be on the next debate stage and because the urgent business of impeachment will rightly be keeping me in Washington.”…
image…nbcnews.com
I’m surprised.,
Unless there is a late surge for Deval Patrick, Democrats will reach their first contest without a remotely viable showing by any African-American candidate (and likely any non-white candidate.)
Contrast to the open GOP contests of 2016 and 2012 when Ben Carson and Herman Cain had significant support within the party (not to even mention Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz.)
No surprise on the color thing…
Biden carries Obama’s feeling for those who long for his time in office…
I think that would probably describe a very substantial majority among Democrats, and yet Biden is not even hitting 30% in national polls.
Biden’s one path is to put together a coalition of older primary voters (white, black, and Hispanic alike) whom feel safer staying with him than going to an alternative.
It is an ugly fact that these voters are the ones whether for electability concerns or just personal preference will decide they do not want a woman (Warren or Klobuchar) a non-Christian (Sanders or Bloomberg) or a gay person (Pete) to be the candidate or the President.
I personally do not know anyone who supported Obama in the primary in 2008 who is currently actively supporting Biden in the 2018 – although I believe that Scott voted for Obama in the 2008 primary and he is leaning to Biden in 2020. Obama was not the establishment candidate in 2008.
We have had three elections since 2000 and in two of them the Dems nominated someone who supported Bush’s war in Iraq. Those two candidates both lost. Obama correctly opposed the Iraq war; he won.
Someone was watching “Meet the Press” yesterday. You might as well bring up that Trump “opposed” the Iraq War and he won too.
Obama taking that position as a State Senator doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal The 2008 election came down to the economy. After two Republican wins, and with the economic problems, it was the right time for a Democrat to win.
I did watch Meet the Press.
Had Obama been in the Senate at the time, I am confident he would have voted against the Iraq war.
Yes the Republicans can really teach the party that nominated Barack Obama twice about diversity through the flavor of the month campaigns of Hermam Cain and Ben Carson.
Silly.
Republicans should be irrelevant to the fact that Democrats seem to have fallen on their face in this regard this cycle.
You’re the one who brought up Cain and Carson for comparison.
How many primaries and caucuses did those two win?
It’s just a comparison. I also brought up Rubio and Cruz.
Democrats are historically the party that prides itself on “diversity” and yet this cycle has turned into something very old-fashioned for them.
We shouldn’t be voting for someone because of their race – and the vast majority of Democrats do not do so.
If CG thinks that the Republicans are more diverse or value diversity more than Democrats, then there is nothing we can say that will change his mind.
Democrats always preach that outreach should be made to ensure diversity.
Shouldn’t there have been better opportunities for minority candidates in the field? Democrats certainly have racial quotas and set-asides in terms of the actual delegates (and have since 1972.) Why did the candidates seem to have so much trouble raising money? At the minimum, it is a question Democrats should ask themselves, considering the responsibilities that put on the private sector to address these issues and concerns.
I am glad Zreebs believes in the meritocracy, as I do. That’s traditionally the conservative attitude. Democrats have spent decades though saying that the meritocracy is not good enough to produce acceptable results.
I do believe in meritocracy.
Republicans has sent decades saying they believed in meritocracy, but they fail to see white privilege when it is staring right in front of them. Again, blacks are more willing to get stopped by the police, when they are stopped, they are more likely to get charged, when they are charged, they are more likely to get convicted, when they are convicted, they are more likely to receive a longer sentence. And blacks are more likely to receive the death penalty. That is not meritocracy – and the problem still exists today.
Yes Z….
Then philosophically speaking, if the problem is so persistent that not even a meritocracy (along with complete legal equality) can deal with it, then the same steps would have to be extended towards the Democrats’ lack of racial diversity in the last two (both open) Presidential cycles.
Obviously, Biden, Warren, Sanders, Buttigieg etc (so everyone other than Patrick, Gabbard, and Yang) that are still in the field have benefited from unfair white privilege.
I don’t agree that racism is as prevalent among Democrats as it is among Republicans. – which is certainly NOT saying that all Republicans are racist. With that said, I do think that even among the Democrats, whites do benefit from white privilege and men benefit from male privilege. For example, my sister prefers Biden because she believes that a white man has the best chance of defeating Trump.
I will vote for who I think is the best candidate without regard to race or gender. I believe that most Democrats will do the same.
As I said, if Biden is to be nominated, it will be because of people like your sister (nothing against her personally) who simply will vote because they want a male, Christian, hetero nominee. Biden also happens to be white.
But the point is if Democrats took such drastic steps in 1972 to mandate all sorts of diversity requirements in terms of delegates to the convention, should they now take the same sort of action to to have fairness for candidates, i.e, minority candidates are automatically awarded a certain amount of delegates and are given automatic access to debates, party matching funds, etc.
I believe that the ultimate strategy with regard to race relations is to have a color blind society. Some of us are closer to achieving that than others. For example, it is possible, but unlikely that I would have noticed that Burger King is largely brown and McDonalds is largely white.
I just ate a restaurant 15 minutes ago. I honestly don’t recall the waitress’s race.
You would have noticed such a discrepancy. There’s nothing wrong with that. I am wondering if the McDonald’s closest to me has a policy of only hiring white people.
And how would you know then that it was a waitress and not a waiter?
Although this discussion went on,in some form, well into last evening,Scott’s post said it all.
Am not sorry I missed it.
Yep. You missed nothing . CG can call me when the Republicans nominate someone other than a white man. Till then his thinly veiled “analysis” is best ignored.
Just as Castro was quick to endorse and hit the stump for Warren, I bet Booker is trying to latch on to either Biden or Sanders fairly soon if he thinks he can make a deal to get on a ticket.
Kudos to Michael Bennet for seeing this through til the bitter end. #savage
John Delaney too but he doesn’t already have a job.
This is unrelated to anything political, but I have wondered for a long time as to the fact that the staff at my most local Burger King is always completely Hispanic and the staff at my most local McDonald’s is always completely white.
Has anyone ever noticed anything similar? How can Mayor McCheese get away with this?
(I think the rare times I go to Taco Bell, the staff is mixed between the two groups)
Not me here….
Very few places are all white around my way and what i’ve seen in the NYC/LI Metro area…
In more expensive eateries the servers are mixed….
That might be a very good question for tonight:
Will your presidential Cabinet reflect the diversity of your local Burger King or McDonald’s (or Wendy’s or Starbucks or …)
😉
I sort of thought Booker would have caught on here in S.C. where nearly 70% of the Primary vote will be cast by Blacks.
I opined awhile back that ,if he (and Kamala ) could hang on till SCs primary and if Biden did poorly in Iowa and New Hampshire, then possibly one of them could catch fire here.
Not to be this year.
I pointed out that Biden carries the Obama aura on his back and THAT will help him get the nomination ….
Black voters do NOT see another Obama in either Harris or Booker…
A LOT. of people simply do NOT ‘get this”….
Bidens association with Obama certainly helps hm among Minorities.
Still, if he lost both early sates there would be an opening in my view for other candidates to get a second look from Black voters in S.C. and elsewhere.
What if a Democrat is elected and President and in putting together their Cabinet, picks only white people?
All would be highly qualified for their job with proven records of “progressive” values and whatnot and none have a hint of scandal personally or professionally.
Would that be ok though? Would it send the right message?
How is it fundamentally any different than the fact that in the last two (both open) Presidential elections, the Democrats have had this lack of racial diversity. The last election saw not a single non-white candidate and in this cycle, in which nearly 30 people entered the race, no non-white candidate will do any better than Andrew Yang’s showing.
No – Putting together a cabinet of only white people would not be appropriate. That would hurt efforts to create a color blind society, Presidents should be aware of unintended consequences from their actions.
There are not that many black Senators or Governors from either Party. Part of that has to do with racism of the electorate – so it follows that serious presidential candidates are less likely to be black.
I believe Obama was the best candidate in 2008. I recall both you and Kyle Rice said that I was for Obama because he was black. You failed to see his genius even back then and largely only saw him as a Black man.
I don’t recall saying that at all or even remember you being for him in a primary. I was posting in 2004, right before the IL U.S. Senate primary, that he would be the toughest Democrat to beat, and not the easiest, as many Republicans thought. After that, I praised his 2004 convention speech immensely, in terms of effectiveness. So, I never underestimated Obama politically.
Is your long-term memory really that more reliable about your short-term memory regarding the waitress from today? I wouldn’t be so sure.
I supported Obama in 2008, and worked a trivial hour or so on the very end of his Rhode Island campaign, doing GOTV in the rain just before the polls closed at 8 p.m. in an affluent Providence neighborhood whose Democrats had almost all voted already.
I left a rather downbeat post-election party (they’re always called victory parties), early after Hillary Clinton had won a clear victory, as she did that night (as I recall) in Ohio & Texas; leaving us the cold comfort of denying her Vermont.
In 2016, the situation was different: Sanders trounced Hillary in the R.I, primary, but all 9 of the ex-officio RI superdelegates were for (as one might expect) for Clinton and they outnumbered those elected directly by Rhode Island Democrats.
I should add that in 2016, RI’s directly-elected delegates were apportioned, following DNC rules, in proportion to the Sanders and Clinton votes. The 9 superdelegates were each free to vote for their individual choice, but all of them supported the established presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton.
Bernie Sanders is scaring the Democratic establishment as he did LAST time….
Those here that question my repeating that Sanders is NOT a Democrat ARE missing something…
The Democratic civil war IS a REAL thing….
Your 2016 scenario IS gonna happen AGAIN
You mean there are Democrats who believe in healthcare for all and who are generally opposed to foreign intervention? Who would have thought that?
James, I recall your stated position that Sanders should start a 3rd party instead of running as a Democrat.
You might have been dreaming…
I HAVE nearly mentioned that Sanders isn’t a Democrat about a million times? ….
But in seriousness?
Never wanted him to start a 3rd party….
He rolls with Democrats in the Senate…
THAT benefits both him and the Democrats, no doubt…
Your first question sounds like people ain’t just ain’t one thing?
Let me be the 1st person today to say you are brilliant!
He, he, he😆
A President of either race, Trump excluded, WOULD, make sure to have a cabinet that has minorities …..
On second thought?
Trump HAS a Asian-American and Black cabinet member….
He had at least one Latino briefly, but one can barely keep up with all his Cabinet changes.
True That!
Bush II had a black woman as Sec of State…
Bush II also had a black Sec of State….
Obama had a black Nat Sec Asst….
Obama had a black AG….
I said I didn’t remember the color of her skin, nor did I remember the color of her shirt. I am far more likely to remember the gender of a person – especially when she is attractive (not so much in this case).
How can you be so sure she was a Cis female? Did she/he/they give you their preferred pronouns at the table? You never can be too presumptuous these days.
I have incorrectly assumed ones gender in the past, so it is at least theoretically possible that it was a man.
People do not like to be called she/he. In real life I try not to insult. In my blogging life, I have no such inhibition.
Anyway, I am rather certain it was a woman, but I don’t recall the details on how she looked. I’m pretty sure she had dark hair.