Another View -- Jay Surdukowski: This Democrat is not ready for Hillary

[BP2]

RESPECTFULLY, I am not Ready for Hillary. Not yet, anyway.

Recently, I stood two feet from former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley as he spoke not about his governorship but about the rebirth of Baltimore, a troubled place when he was elected mayor. There was back-and-forth about “The Wire” (the TV crime drama set in Baltimore) and anecdotes about filling potholes within 48 hours and writing thank-you notes to city workers, O’Malley was earnestly engaging.

I was struck by his ability to face each member of his audience in turn, direct in the eye, unflinching. After two winters of Ready for Hillary, something awoke in me; a wellspring of memories of our unique place on the threshold of history. Something about what it means to weigh options, to talent scout for the nation.

I remember:
• Voraciously reading John McCain’s autobiography — how had this little white-haired figure captured New Hampshire’s heart? Or dinner with Steve Barba, then manager of the Balsams, on primary eve in Dixville Notch. A waiter solemnly interrupted, in those days when cellphones were still a rarity. Steve had to excuse himself because McCain was calling to confirm he had Steve’s vote.
• Riding on a bus for 17 hours with John Kerry when he had slipped to third place. Between interminable chili feeds, he took time to court a student who was late to back a horse.
• Perching on a perfectly manicured hay bale in the front row to hear Hillary Clinton make her case in the face of the Obama revolution. I was struck by the clear brightness of her blue eyes, her infinite smarts, and her assistant Huma Abedin’s grip on not one but three Blackberries.
• A 20-something legal aid lawyer named Dan Feltes convincing me to support Barack Obama despite one rival’s emissary telling me America would never elect someone with the middle name Hussein and a senior party official announcing with glee during an early debate, “she will grind him down like Mondale in ’84.” Later, at a park in Concord’s South End, I saw someone speak to my heart and to a nation’s hopes.

Picking a candidate is deeply personal and a decision not to be rushed.

Recent news gives pause. What if the front-runner’s campaign is too big to succeed? Or voters decide this is not a country in which only two families will govern? (Most polls as of this writing show a final match-up between two families that have produced three presidencies between them in a span of 20 years).

O’Malley says there’s yearning for new voices. One hundred and fifty people, who recently crowded into Arnie Arnesen’s house to hear grizzled firebrand Bernie Sanders, are testament to that yearning. So, too, are the 75 people who awoke before 8 a.m. to have breakfast with O’Malley. There’s a reason the Senate Democratic Caucus also met with O’Malley.

I reject the view Democrats don’t have choices.

- See more at: http://www.unionleader.com/article/20150313/OPINION02/150319563

[MADem]

1. The Manchester Union Leader is a virulently right wing RAG.

Why do I have the feeling that this NH lawyer was only "allowed" to be published in that paper because he said what they wanted him to say?

Nothing would suit the GOP more than a knock-down, drag-out Democratic primary with plenty of blood on the floor. It would give them an exhausted nominee and plenty of "gotcha" video.

He has every right to his opinion, of course--I'd just give it a bit more weight if it wasn't published in that nastyass paper.

[BP2]

2. Ah, I was wondering about the author's reference about McLame. n/t

[MADem]

7. The guy says he is a Dem, and I'm sure he's telling the truth.

It's just that the Union Leader is a heavily agenda-driven publication that is well to the right of Attila the Hun. They limit dissent to the dissent that works for them; kind of like the Fauxsnooze model. This guy's views served the paper's purpose, so he gets a platform to air them.

[freshwest]

8. Just sounds a bit too concerned about how Dems pick a candidate. Just sayin'

[MADem]

9. I suspect he's got another favorite in mind (O'Malley, maybe?) and he's trying to

see if he can't dig up a little traction for his favorite by playing the 'big field' argument. Since his argument works so well for the right wing (divide and conquer is always a blast, they figure), they're only too happy to publish it.

But make no mistake, that Union Leader newspaper is no friend of Democrats.

[elleng]

3. We surely do have choices.

Who says we don't, and why do they say it?

[elleng]

4. The author

Jay Surdukowski is an attorney at Sulloway & Hollis in Concord and most recently served as counsel to Gov. Maggie Hassan’s re-election campaign.

He also said: Beside O’Malley, there’s the vice president, a man the American people have elected to work in the White House twice, and a man, say what you will about Joe Biden’s rough edges, who has not forgotten the working people he has served since he was 28.
There’s Jim Webb, a Reagan Navy secretary turned Democratic senator from Virginia. This veteran’s modest service translated into one of the best speeches at a New Hampshire Democratic Party event.

There’s Sanders of Vermont, an unabashed believer in the notion we are all in this together, rich or poor.
And there’s Elizabeth Warren, whose recent speech on CitiCorp was a declaration of conscience rivaled only by a Margaret Chase Smith or a Robert La Folette or a Robert Kennedy. I didn’t think senators gave speeches like that anymore.
To anyone who says this fledgling field is obscure, I’d cite two unknown Southern governors in our lifetime who were crazy enough and brilliant enough in the right measure to challenge the world, to come to New Hampshire and go on to history.
To this field, I say, run. Run, so that the American people may soar.

New Hampshire Democratic Party Chairman Ray Buckley recently implored Democrats to be measured in their words about potential candidates. He urges welcoming those who would lead our country. I agree we must be welcoming stewards, to consider new faces, to imagine not just what we have been, but what we hope to be. Our duty is a sacred one. I am ready for a primary.

[msongs]

5. probably multi-hundreds right here on DU that meet the presidential qualificiations. Let the

race begin!

[pansypoo53219]

6. this is john anderson redux. the anti-hillary crowd is playing into the gnewz media + GOP hands.

DIVIDE & CONQUER. go ahead. elect another GWB. i am sure ya'll be fine.