At this stage of the 2016 presidential campaign, the United States has no worthy candidates running in either party. All the entries are deeply flawed, particularly the front-runners. Washington itself is severely dysfunctional and perhaps this has frightened potential candidates from throwing their hats in the ring. Looking at the trouble Republicans are having finding a Speaker of the House reinforces how difficult it is for politicians to get things done. But how can America not have a single candidate that elicits admiration from the majority of the electorate?
On the Republican side, the leader in the polls is Donald Trump, a man with absolutely no experience in politics or government. His main attribute is a big mouth which he opens frequently to denigrate other candidates or government figures. His major policy pronouncement is that he knows how to get things done, giving few specifics when questioned. His conservative bona fides are littered with past positions that would make most liberals happy, that he subsequently reversed to run as a Republican. Yet a significant portion of the conservative base loves this blowhard and his campaign rallies draw larger crowds than any other candidate.
Running right behind Trump is Ben Carson, a soft-spoken pediatric neurosurgeon who thinks he’d make a fine president. Yet his off the cuff comments make one wonder about his supposed wisdom. He got it all wrong giving advice to parents regarding children’s vaccinations, an area about which he should have known better. He also said that if the Jews in Germany had had guns, Hitler would not have been able to exterminate them. Obviously he was unaware that Jews were only 1 percent of the German population and fighting against the SS, the Gestapo and other Nazi organizations would have gotten them nowhere. And his comment that abortion has killed more blacks than anything else was complete nonsense, as was another comment equating Obamacare with slavery. America is still awaiting definitive policy positions from Mr. Carson.
Carly Fiorina did a lousy job at Lucent Technology and ruined Hewlitt Packard, a major American corporation, with 30,000 workers laid off during her tenure and the stock price plummeting 55 percent. With that resume, she now wants to run the whole country? If she were a man we could say she really has balls. Anyway, her stock now seems to be dropping.
Marco Rubio of Cuban origin seems to be gaining some traction. However, he once pushed for comprehensive immigration reform, changing his tune and becoming anti-immigrant in his run for the presidential nomination. His attendance record on votes in the Senate has also been a matter of concern, as he has been a persistent no-show.
Jeb Bush, the Bush entry in the presidential sweepstakes reminds one of a wet dish rag. His charisma rating is in the toilet and his candidacy appears to be going nowhere despite his early entry and accumulation of cash.
Ted Cruz is Ted Cruz, a one-man wrecking crew who wants to take down the U.S. government. Since his Senate election he’s been trying to make a name for himself, throwing a monkey wrench into the wheels of the Senate whenever he’s been able. Presidential stature? No way.
The remaining Republican candidates have not been able to gain any traction with the primary voters and the chances of any of them winning the nomination are nil. The Democrats have a limited number of candidates vying for the nomination, with only three of them of interest.
The current Democratic leader in the presidential sweepstakes is Hillary Clinton who has dropped significantly in popularity since her entry into the race. Some of this decline can be ascribed to the Benghazi Committee’s purposeful leaks regarding her use of private email to transmit classified information and the pounding she has been taking from Republican Super PACs. But the fact remains that she did use private email to handle State Department business. The Republicans can also go back and tar her with Whitewater, her failed attempt at developing a comprehensive health plan, her work for the Rose law firm in Little Rock, and so forth. There’s a lot of dirt under Hillary’s nails that the Republicans can use, much of it known and some of it perhaps unknown. And a majority of the American public (57%) does not consider her honest and trustworthy (CNN/ORC June poll). Not a good starting point for a presidential bid.
Bernie Sanders is a nice man with some good ideas and he’s 74 years old. He has also been against gun control because he’s from Vermont, a rural state. Frankly, that’s a lame excuse for a supposed progressive and shows his values are shaped by expediency, rather than doing what is right. He also likes his “democratic socialist” label which will not earn him many votes from centrists or independents.
Joe Biden has waited too long to enter the race and would not make a good candidate given his history of gaffes. Raising adequate funds would also be a problem at this time. No go Joe.
How can it be that America does not have any decent candidates running for its most important and powerful office? Are our politics and government so dysfunctional that no one suitable wants to make the effort? How would Mike Bloomberg do running as an independent?
Resurrecting Democracy
www.robertlevinebooks.com
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Political junkie, Vietnam vet, neurologist- three books on aging and dementia. Book on health care reform in 2009- Shock Therapy for the American Health Care System. Book on the need for a centrist third party- Resurrecting Democracy- A Citizen’s Call for a Centrist Third Party published in 2011. Aging Wisely, published in August 2014 by Rowman and Littlefield. Latest book- The Uninformed Voter published May 2020