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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWith this week\u2019s debates, the Democratic presidential primary race is officially upon us. So here\u2019s my official position on the contenders: I love them all, and would be happy to vote for any of them. In fact, I would happily vote for anyone with a pulse and a \u201cD\u201d after their name. Even those whose name I can\u2019t recall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oddly, the Democrats have gone from having no bench to an\nextremely crowded one that could cave under the strain of all those people\njockeying for position on it. It\u2019s an embarrassment of riches, whereas the\nRepublicans just have rich embarrassments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Still, enough is enough. The two dozen (and counting)\ncandidates perversely echo the effect of Trump\u2019s lies: so numerous that we tune\nthem all out. Let the winnowing begin! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019ll share my opinions on specific candidates from time to\ntime, even though these opinions will no doubt change weekly from now until the\nConvention. For now, just some general observations to kick off 2020.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Electability.<\/strong>\nIt\u2019s the mysterious \u201cIt\u201d factor, even though nobody has a clue what \u201cIt\u201d is.\nMost simply, \u201celectability\u201d means whoever gets the most votes. Except the\nElectoral College makes it not so simple, as Al Gore and Hillary Clinton can\nattest. So we have to consider the whole body politic as we try to squeeze,\nSpanx-like, all the weird excesses and lacks into some pleasingly redistributed\nconfiguration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since the highest priority of almost all Democrats and many\nswing voters is to get Donald Trump out of office rather than assert moral\npurity (aka \u201close\u201d) by refusing to vote for any non-preferred candidate, this\nshouldn\u2019t be that hard. To recap, if everyone who is alarmed by Trump pledges\nto vote in the General Election for anyone with a pulse and a \u201cD\u201d after their\nname, problem solved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Year of the Woman or\nB is for Boy?<\/strong> Until recently, none of the super-qualified female candidates\nwas gaining much traction. Biden, Bernie, Beto, and Buttigieg formed the\nalliterative core of Boy Power. That\u2019s shifted some, with Elizabeth Warren and\nnow Kamala Harris gaining ground. Plus, the only bumper sticker I\u2019ve seen so\nfar besides \u201cBernie 2020\u201d and \u201cAny Functioning Adult 2020\u201d is \u201cTulsi.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unconscious (not to mention conscious) bias is real. After\nthe 2016 election, HuffPost<\/em> ran a piece<\/a>\nby Max Weiss called, \u201cThings I Blame for Hillary Clinton\u2019s Loss, Ranked.\u201d It\nbegan, <\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is my response to the Slate<\/em> article<\/a>, \u201cSo We\u2019re Still Blaming Jill Stein and James Comey, Huh?\u201d This is a partial list of the things I blame, ranked.<\/p> 1-199. MISOGYNY<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Of course, Hillary won the popular vote by nearly 3 million\nvotes, so except for the Spanx Problem, it\u2019s hard to argue that a woman can\u2019t\nwin. What worries me is that I\u2019ve been to many dinner parties in which someone\ninvariably says, \u201cElizabeth Warren is such a school marm.\u201d And these are people\nwho LIKE Elizabeth Warren! A little while ago there were many stories about women\nwho would love to see a female president but were afraid to vote for one. Even\nif legitimate, this worry can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. (Michelle\nGoldberg just wrote a compelling post-debate piece<\/a>\non this dilemma.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Of course, Democrats and women candidates prevailed in the\nmid-terms. Trepidation about a female nominee has abated some, and the term\n\u201cschool marm\u201d has mostly disappeared from my own social circle. We have to\nreckon with our own unconscious bias, just as I did in 2008 when I came to view\nas racist my conviction that a black man named Barack Hussein Obama could never\nbe elected president. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Feeling anxious? <\/p>\n\n\n\n I have a plan for that: vote for the nominee with a pulse and a \u201cD\u201d after their name. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" With this week\u2019s debates, the Democratic presidential primary race is officially upon us. So here\u2019s my official position on the contenders: I love them all, and would be happy to vote for any of them. In fact, I would happily … Continue reading