Updating from Undecided to Warren [View all]

[relayerbob]

I know this will matter to exactly no one, but after a lot of consideration, I am going to back Warren.

Why? Well, she's always been my first choice by a slight margin, and I was trying to help get her to run in 2015 before she opted out. She has good ideas, is a team player, isn't so hung up on purity that won't she amend her ideas to meet the larger base of Americans who may or may not want everything thrown at them at once, but knows to stick to the big picture over the long term. That's leadership. She's intelligent, funny, and can excite her audience. She'll be able to play Trump like a fiddle in a debate, and laugh about (and, most importantly, at) him in a debate or campaign. That's charisma. She has a positive message, even if she goes a bit too negative once in awhile for my tastes.

All of the candidates bring good points and bad points to the table, and I've kept a sorta running score card of gaffes, attacks against allies (very important criteria to me), poor choices of words, staff and endorsements, as well as tings like ability to adjust and compromise with allies and to utter unpopular truths. She is currently leading with that scorecard.

While I am solidly in the vote blue, no matter who category, I've said for some time that I don't want any more old, white farts running the show - and I am an old, white fart. WE have fucked it up enough for one generation. Of course, I've felt that way since supporting Jesse in the 80s, but I digress. Pete had me going for a while, but as much as I like him, his time isn't now. He needs a cabinet position and some better exposure and experience. We will see more of him in the future. I like Amy, too, but I'm not sure she has enough grass-roots appeal nationwide to win the nomination. Again, I think we'll be seeing more of her in the future. Steyer has surprised me, I didn't expect him to resonate with me. However, I'm not convinced enough to support him. Yang has some interesting ideas, and some, well, not-so-much, and is improving, but I can't see him as President. Bloomberg needs to buy Fox News, but I welcome his pounding Trump constantly. It frees up more viable candidates' resources , while weakening the bad guys. But not President, thanks.

I'll leave opponent bashing to others, IMO, that's why Democrats have such a hard time winning elections: they give the GOP a ton of ammunition and cause divisive, hard feelings between supporters of different ALLIED camps. Goppers are used to following orders, and will fall in line no matter what. This is dangerous and destructive behavior. What I prefer is an open, calm, rational discussion, with all the facts and science laid out on the table. Then work together to find a solution to our problems. NO one has all the answers, and only through listening to each other can we find solutions to the critical problems we have in this world today. A true natural leader would emerge from such a discussion. There are more sane people in this country than we are led to believe, and the vast majority of them aren't really paying attention to all of this. Remember that the news networks combined only have audiences in the single digits, our fighting each other lets them drive the narrative, not us.

Anyway, that's my $0.02, for what it's worth.