General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI want Jerry Brown to run for President in 2016.
There are plenty of reasons why he won't - he's Reagan Old at this point; his state is Deep Blue, so he adds nothing electorally; and he appears to be serious about focusing 100% of his time on rebuilding California from its Prop 13-induced decline and Lost Decade(s).
Here's the thing though: He's succeeding. California is recovering on a deep, fundamental economic level, for the first time in decades. Budgets are steadily rising, and in a way that adds to rather than subtracts from the future. And he manages Republicans in the legislature in a way that suggests he is quite the Asshole Whisperer.
Brown clearly knows something about governance that most of the rabble in politics have either lost or never knew to begin with. I wasn't around for his original gubernatorial career, so I won't dignify the attitude that had dominated about "Governor Moonbeam" by assuming it was justified. Either way, there seems to be general consensus that his political talents have aged like fine wine.
Now, that isn't to say I'm necessarily discounting any other candidate - even in saying that I want him to run, my primary vote would still be contingent on the delivery of a campaign worth rallying around. And despite my skepticism of the political talents of, say, Elizabeth Warren or Bernie Sanders in delivering results, I would certainly give them fair time to prove they can generate a strong and broad national movement. But I definitely want Brown in the mix.
He's basically Eisenhower - people like him, but nobody loves him enough to inspire hatred in someone else. And he just keeps delivering good results without generating much drama. Strikes me as the sort of leader who tunnels through mountains instead of trying to climb them. Which is an apt metaphor given that he's almost the only Governor in the country (possibly the only period - I'm not entirely sure) who's actually delivering on plans to build high-speed rail, however technologically flawed the specific plans are.
Plus he has a superb relationship with Silicon Valley and its rapidly-expanding network of enterprises (it's now deep into clean energy, automotive, and spaceflight), and at this point in our nation's history it's about the only productive sector that still makes us relevant. Most of the rest of the US economy is just noisy entropy (Wall Street, banking), poverty-promoting degeneracy (big-box retailers), or vicious, politically destabilizing corruption (oil, gas).
Overcoming systemic problems that decades of politicians have not is a skillset you can't buy or fake. So, while most likely Brown has no intention of running, for the reasons stated and probably others, it's worth noting that he is a valuable resource.
NYC_SKP
(68,644 posts)tk2kewl
(18,133 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)cali
(114,904 posts)He's been in the House and Senate for a combined 28 years, winning election after election.
tazkcmo
(7,419 posts)And more. Personally, I think the more candidates we have in the primary talking "lefty nonsense" is a good thing. Makes it harder for the media to ignore the popularity of the message that I believe will become evident.
woolldog
(8,791 posts)Please. No chance. Jerry Brown would make a great President. And he can win a general election. Bernie Sanders has absolutely no chance of winning a general election .
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)You seriously don't see the galactic difference in scale and political complexity?
Dems to Win
(2,161 posts)I've voted for Brown and agree with everything you've written, but I'm looking for a younger candidate.
The presidency is the hardest job in the world, it visibly ages people. President Obama is at a good age to take on the job, he's been able to keep up with it and maintain his health. But he's aged a lot in the job, as well.
We also need to excite and motivate young people. Look forward with new ideas.
I like Bernie, Warren, and Jerry Brown. But I really want some younger names to be mentioned as possibilities for 2016.
Kamala Harris for President!
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)but directly from AGCA to POTUS would require Julius Caesar levels of political depth to pull off.
merrily
(45,251 posts)in their 40s, 50s or 60s. Plus, Obama was going prematurely gray so that exaggerates it.
Mike Malloy is also younger. I don't much about him, but his name is being mentioned in "real life" and on DU.
Jim Lane
(11,175 posts)Mike Malloy (born 1942) is a liberal broadcast journalist -- much admired on DU but I haven't heard him mentioned as Presidential timber.
Martin O'Malley (born 1963) is the current Governor of Maryland. He's been mentioned as a possible 2016 candidate and is clearly putting himself in position to run, although he hasn't yet committed to the race. He's generally seen as being to Clinton's left.
merrily
(45,251 posts)I meant O'Malley, but I messed up. I have no excuse. (Good thing I wasn't pretending to know much about him!) Thanks for the info as well.
BrotherIvan
(9,126 posts)I want a statesman or stateswoman who is willing to fight for the working class of this country. That's pretty much the number one priority I have. As people watching the FDR documentary have pointed out, the number one priority during his terms was domestic. We need a lot of that now.
Jerry Brown took his mandate and Democratic majority and got going immediately. Not all of his decisions are the best, but this state feels like it's moving in the right direction. I hope the entire country can embrace that.
tazkcmo
(7,419 posts)with Brown! Hey! That rhymes.
kentuck
(112,526 posts)although I know he's getting up in years. But his mind is still razor sharp.
reddread
(6,896 posts)the MOST brutally violent reprisals to anti-war and Occupy protestors
courtesy of this burning bag of
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)reddread
(6,896 posts)thats Jerry Brown in short, violent, indifferent to the environment (well mendacious anyway)
and utterly NOT a decent human.
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)reddread
(6,896 posts)they are large, but not grotesquely so.
as opposed to supporting the guy who did this-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2003_Port_of_Oakland_dock_protest
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/rubber-bullets-quiet-oakland-protest/
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Dozens-of-antiwar-protesters-injured-at-Port-of-2623403.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UC_Davis_pepper-spray_incident
JI7
(90,233 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)A lot of that budget-balancing has come on the backs of the poor. He slashed safety-net programs like Medi-Cal (our name for Medicaid) and CalWORKS (please don't call it "welfare" ) to the bone, and refuses to restore them even now that we have a surplus. Instead, he wants to use some of the surplus to pay down some of the debt that Ahh-nuld piled up, and sink much of the rest into a "rainy-day fund". FAIL.
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)Dental coverage of Medi-Cal, for instance, has been restored. I'm on it, so I know.
And your "FAIL" is just surreal, since his policies are working. Budgets are consistently recovering for the first time in decades, and each step forward is on a solid foundation because of the prudent, common-sense policies you're mocking.
Maybe if the poor bothered to vote, and gave Democrats a budgetary supermajority in Sacramento, things would be further along. Maybe we could repeal Prop 13 once and for all. But that isn't what happened, and playing make-believe isn't a solution.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)that I had actually forgotten it. One small thong he didn't veto.
True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)Having to fork over hundreds of dollars in cash to get a root canal leaves an impression.
merrily
(45,251 posts)Pity. And ironic.
I liked Jones a lot, too, but he is now at the Center for American Progress, another Third Way type think tank. So, I 'd want to listen very carefully to what he might say during a primary campaign. Voting for anyone I know to be third way/New Democrat at the primary stage violates my religion.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)I didn't necessarily mean right after he lost. I meant that he was considered uber liberal when he ran against Bubba, but seems to have moved right since then.
I had read on some board, maybe even this one, that we can "thank" his wife but I don't feel I know the scenario well enough to say that on my own.
RufusTFirefly
(8,812 posts)Until his reputation was trashed by a conservative smear campaign, Jones seemed to be following a steady presidential trajectory. I'm still hoping that he can recover and get back on track. He's an inspiring, visionary leader, who also happens to be incredibly smart as well as photogenic.
(By the way, Jones was actually born in Tennessee, but he's been a force for good in California for nearly 20 years.)
dreamnightwind
(4,775 posts)Hadn't thought of him, and don't know all of his positions, but every time I've seen him speak I was very impressed. Instead of "ready for Hillary" we could be "jonesing for Jones", works for me.
Jerry Brown, not so much these days. He's a tough-on-crime anti-pot fiscal manager, not as progressive as people assume. I believe he reacted to the Governor Moonbeam label that he was unfairly tagged with by moving to the soulless center, where he now resides. I used to think very highly of him.
merrily
(45,251 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)If he can overcome a smear campaign, that's partial evidence of his suitability for the Presidency.
If he can't, then that's proof of his unsuitability because an election is full of such tactics.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)I would TOTALLY be down with that! Maybe even be his running mate (although I'd have to move back East, a la Cheney )
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)jaysunb
(11,856 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)His best achievements were as Chairman of the DNC - get him back into that role.
merrily
(45,251 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)delete_bush
(1,712 posts)not only was the Bush administration a dictatorship, but
"The next Republican will not only be torturing and disappearing foreigners captured in war on distant shores - it will be torturing and disappearing journalists, college students, lawyers. Americans."
Now THAT'S the way to work the media!
merrily
(45,251 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)merrily
(45,251 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)WillyT
(72,631 posts)True Blue Door
(2,969 posts)Good stuff though.
nakocal
(605 posts)While it is true that Jerry Brown is doing a great job, please remember that Gov Brown is working with a Democratic majority legislature that actually wants California to do well. President Obama has from day 1 face a republican party that would rather have American became a third rate country then allow anything good to happen to America that President Obama could take credit for assisting.
merrily
(45,251 posts)oberliner
(58,724 posts)No chance of him running.
No chance of him winning if he did run.
Starry Messenger
(32,375 posts)It's a full-time job for the left to keep him working for Main Street. Believe me, it's much more productive to get Congress flipped than to worry about what the Gov. will be doing in 2016.