POLOG--July 5, 2019

(Sorry for the blogging hiatus--I've been traveling for the last month, and I'm still deciding whether to post travel notes here or forbear.   I should be able to pick up the pace of new posts now.)

So, the big rally went off OK; the military resisted that impulse to 'AnwarSadat' him, and Trump resisted the impulse to go 'full Mussolini' and whip his crowd into a frenzy.  Congress surely will not do anything to end the rule by arbitrary Executive Whim, so it falls to us to vote him out. Maybe there's still the possibility that this can be resolved fairly through the electoral process.  There may need to be some civil disobedience in the meantime, though;, such as if Trump imposes a citizenship rider on the census by Executive Order.

I was traveling the nights of the June debates, so I didn't see them (and haven't YouTubed them yet).  It seems the major outcomes--Biden and Sanders down, Warren up, Harris tackling Biden on racial grounds, most of the rest crowded out--were predictable, but still, it will be the transformation of  results from among the many theoretical storylines that will become the history of this truly critical race.

My preferred candidate--the one I seek to answer when the email pseudo-polls ask me who I would like to see as the nominee--Sherrod Brown, that is, well, he's not running.  So, I am holding off completely on making a firm endorsement.  (OK, I did go "all-in" on Elizabeth Warren, back before she took off in the polls, but I am pulling back some of my winnings for the next round of betting.)

One point on which I am very firm is that the VP nominee should be Pete Buttigieg.  If not him, then Stacey Abrams.  It is time to make that clear signal that things are changing, and posing Buttigieg or Abrams against Mike Pence would make for a devastating contrast.  That said, I don't think Mayor Pete can or should win the nomination this year, though he has already established himself as a formidable nationally appealing young statesman. I'm endorsing him for 2028 (or maybe 2036) right now.

The Big Issue of this election is The Past vs. The Future.  Or, it should be.  That is why my preferences lean away from Biden and Sanders (though it must be said I can easily get behind a scenario in which either wins).   As for Warren, who's just a little younger, she has the look of someone whose time has come, though it is also arguable that it should have been 2016. Anyhow, i think Sanders will ultimately give way to her candidacy this time, as it is the movement that is the priority for him.  Or so he says.

My take on the big post-debate Harris emergence is that people have perceived she does indeed have the mental toughness to take on Chief Twit.  That alone takes her from a contender to a leading contender. *

So, Warren-Buttigieg.  Or Harris-Buttigieg.  Or Biden-Abrams.

You heard it (them) here.  Also postulated in the "Train Democrats" series of emails, among other ticket combinations.. What the heck is that 'group'--some kind of AI Machine Learning bot?  If so, it should be savvy enough to have a better name than that and disguise itself just a little:  even just switching the words, "Democrats Train"  would be a big improvement. Or "Democratic Train", which is almost inspiring.

* I would tend to agree with Trump, who wants Biden to run, that her actual argument of attack was not really so strong:  Biden's position on busing way back then was, indeed, centrist, though it does him little honor.  And Harris was fortunate; some have bitter memories of their experiences.