Why I like Jon Huntsman

I am a liberal Democrat and always have been.  I want President Obama to win re-election.  So why on earth am I pulling for Jon Huntsman to win today in New Hampshire?  He has the best chance of beating the president.  And yet, here I am, hoping he pulls it out.  Intellectually, it makes so sense.

Even if Huntsman didn’t have the best chance of beating the president, I shouldn’t like him. He is really a conservative guy — ‘pro-life,’ supports the horrible Paul Ryan plan to dismantle Medicare, is all about the Second Amendment, you know, my type of person.  So what the hell am I thinking?

Running for president is serious business.  It’s a serious job.  I write political satire so the whole circus that has been the GOP presidential nomination process has been like a gift from God.  Come on, I was all about the Cain Train.  But as a citizen, the idea of a President Cain, Santorum, Gingrich or Bachmann scares the crap out of me. Whenever I want to bring up Ronald Reagan as a positive an angel loses its wings but one thing he had in his arsenal when negotiating with the Soviets was intelligence. (Oh, and hell just froze over a little bit.)  Can you imagine a Herman Cain in that kind of situation?  No?  That’s because we all probably wouldn’t be here now to think about it.

When did we go from picking the best candidate to picking the least insane?

That is why I like Jon Huntsman.  I like that he is sane and reasonable.  I like that Pew called Utah the best run state in the country when he was governor.  And to me, it is a plus that he served in the Obama administration.  What happened to politics ending at the coasts?  When I travel overseas, I am am American first and a Democrat second.  That is what I like about Jon Huntsman.

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should

Kind of ironic book title, huh?

Herman Cain, aka the pizza magnate and current flavor of the month in the GOP POTUS candidate, has made some interesting choices and statements. He seems to think running for president and selling books are not mutually exclusive activities.

To give him his due, the Cain campaign has bought a lot of his books so he is definitely selling a ton while running for president. And Governor Sarah Palin would tell you her VP run and the speculation about her possible 2012 run did not hurt her book sales but just because you can do something, does not mean you should.

This is not an anti-capitalist view I am trying to promote. Sell as many books as want but it seems a little unseemly to use a presidential run to do it. Any presidential campaign is really a multi-month (or year) job interview for the most (or one of) important jobs in the country. Nothing a candidate does will really prepare anyone to be president (and it’s not supposed to, you should be qualified to run before you make that decision) but it does give the nation a chance to get to know the would be candidates. This is not a time to bring anything but your A game. When you think about that, is this really the time to split your energy between running and doing anything else?

Running for president is hard. Not has hard as being the leader of the free world but it is hard. That’s why I criticized Cenk Uygar when he said that Mike Huckabee was “too fat and happy” to run. I have a lot of respect for people who admit that it takes a lot of time and energy to run and there are no guarantees. Good for you, Governor.

Governor Rick Perry has learned how much harder it is to run for national office (I believe he thought that his track record in Texas would prepare him better for the presidential race) than any state-wide. That’s one of the reasons he has said he may not take part in upcoming debates (not that his underwhelming performances have had any role, seriously, if you cannot stay awake past 8:00 pm, how can you be president?).

Congresswomen Michele Bachmann has learned this, too. Maybe that’s why her New Hampshire staff all quit in a huff. Maybe she thought she could make up facts as she goes along in this campaign the way she does every other time she opens her mouth but it doesn’t seem to be working as well as she thought.

So we come back to the current front-runner (in national polls, though, not the state polls, where it matters more), Herman Cain. It is worth noting that the title of this post could also refer to Godfather’s pizza. With all due respect to Chicago deep dish pizza lovers, you can theoretically make pizza outside of New York, but why would you?

Full disclosure, which is pretty obvious to anyone who has met me or read what I write, I am a liberal Democrat and have every intention of voting for President Obama. Having said that, I think having two robust parties and a vigorous discussion about where we want the country to go, is in everyone’s best interest. I was really impressed when Governor Chris Christie said that he believes in “small government, lower taxes and less regulation,” not because I agree with ANY of that, in fact I do NOT, but that’s where our conversation should be.

Herman Cain is not advancing our political discourse at all. His economic plan (the “9/9/9” or “9/0/9”) would be disastrous. His ignorance of foreign policy is scary. It is his lack of interest in running for office, while he runs, that bothers me the most. With little or no campaign infrastructure, few details on his policy proposals and a general laissez-faire attitude towards the process, I am left with the thought that if he doesn’t care about his campaign, why should anyone?

John Edwards ends his campaign where he started it

As you probably know, former NC Senator John Edwards officially abandoned his run for the White House today in New Orleans and followed his speech with an afternoon of working on a Habitat for Humanity house there.  Sometimes it is bad to be a white man (it's rare that this is true but when your two opponents are an African-American man and a woman, well they get all the press).

It does not matter what party you like or which candidate you support, John Edwards is a classy and decent man.  In my opinion, there are few people I have ever met in politics who are as nice and genuine as he is.  I can say the same thing about every member of his family that I have met.  I have spent time with Elizabeth, Cate (his eldest daughter) and parents.  They are all wonderful people and I would walk through fire for any of them. 

It was sad to see this campaign end today and as many in the media have already said, he may very well decide who the Democratic nominee will be as both Hillary and Obama made statements declaring how much more like Edwards each is. 

I wanted to be neutral here but was an Edwards supporter.  I saw a woman wearing a t-shirt last week that said "Edwards for President — even if he is the white guy."  The woman had made it because she liked him for his health plan.  It could be because he was nice or remembered that I worked for him and seemed to know me when he saw me or because he reminded me why I care about politics and why we all should.  He seems to bring that out in people and I applaud his decision to run and maybe to jump out.  I hope it was just a matter of number crunching and that Elizabeth is not sicker than they have said.  It's none of my business but as I said I like her and don't like it when bad things happen to good people.

The upside of all of this is maybe the others will do what they said they would do and talk and DO more about the issues that made up the core of his campaign.  He is right about our country.  We do not have poverty like some other countries such as India or Nepal but one in seven of us cannot get health care and it is criminal.  It's also threatens the people who do have it.  We all pay for health care for people who lack coverage.  We pay for it in higher premiums and drug prices.  While the pharmaceutical industry is one of the most profitable in the country, thousands — probably more, have to decide whether they will pay for medicine or food.  That's not a decision anyone should pay.  Drug companies will say they need to charge what they charge because it costs so much to bring a drug from the lab to the store and they are right.  The catch is they get a lot of help from us.  Our taxes pay for a lot of that process.  Moreover, a lot of the research and development can be written off and they get access to space and equipment thanks to the government.  They can use research done by governmental agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and get to charge whatever they like for 11 years after a drug gets approved before generics can be made.

John Edwards understands that.  We have been told that lawyers are bad.  They prey on the public and sue anyone for a profit but our founding fathers didn't share that view.  They seemed to like them a lot.  I see them and the press and guardians of our rights and most of the things that we cherish about our way of life.  The press is there to keep our government honest, they were not considered so bad by the people who wrote our Constitution either.  Lawyers protect us from an overbearing government that sometimes oversteps its bounds.  Edwards has always been one of the good guys.  The cases he took were for people who needed a voice but did't have one.  That's what he always did and would have done as president.

For the moment that option is off the table but there are still millions of people don't have someone to fight for their interests.  I hope Senators Clinton and Obama will remember that as their campaigns continue.  It is not enough to lay claim to Edwards' ideas and statements.  Those statements need to be followed by action.  We need to know how they plan to help those people who feel left out by our system.

Thank you, Senator and Mrs. Edwards for reminding me why participation in our crazy political process matters and for showing me it is possible to be bitter, jaded and still care.  I hope you will both remain active and in the public eye.  Your example makes it easier to show other people why they should vote.

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