One of the curiosities of the current Democratic primary
season is that neither of the two strong, initially promising Black candidates,
Booker and Harris [now dropped out] barely registers with Black voters in the
polls. I just checked a November 18
South Carolina poll of Democratic voters, and while Biden, Warren, and Sanders
pull 57% of the vote in that heavily Black voting pool, Booker and Harris
register at 5% combined. When just Black
voters are polled, Biden crushes all the others, with Sanders and Warren topping
the list of also rans. Buttegieg, I am
happy to say, clocks in at between 0% and 1% among Black voters, which suggests
he is not going anywhere.
Since I think Trump would make mincemeat of Biden, I
desperately do not want him to slide into the nomination. Do Sanders and Warren have to come to an
agreement to block him? It is hard to
imagine they could. By the way, this
time around, the superdelegates, who will probably overwhelmingly prefer Biden
to either Sanders or Warren, will get to
weigh in on the second and subsequent ballots, which could produce a bloodbath.
I'd say that Sanders and Warren have a moral obligation to come to an agreement to block Biden.
ReplyDeleteThat is, if they really believe that a non-neoliberal society is possible and crucial and aren't merely on personal power trips.
Ask yourself: what kind of person really wants to become president of the United States?
I can understand the kind of person who wants to change the United States, to make it a less imperialist, less unjust, less racist, less sexist, less neoliberal capitalist society, but to imagine that one is indispensable to that laudable project, that only oneself can carry out that project bewilders me and turns me off completely.
I recently spent quality time skimming Jane Butzner's compilation of "rejected suggestions of the Constitutional Convention of 1787," a book titled Constitutional Chaff, copies of which are freely available on HathiTrust. Among the suggestions pertaining to Art. II, sec. 1's provision that "[t]he executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America" were several urging multiple executive magistrates or at least a council "to give weight and inspire confidence." Personally, I'd prefer no Executive at all. Leadership is overrated.
ReplyDeleteBut Constitutional Chaff is truly fun to dip into.
I think you are exactly right.
ReplyDelete