Who is your preferred Democratic presidential candidate, and why?

Iceblade@lemmy.world to Ask Lemmy@lemmy.world – 64 points –

I'm interested to see what lemmy thinks of this, I honestly haven't kept track of the potential options.

100

Mark Kelly.

Astronaut, has absolutely been an amazing husband to Gabby Gifords, impeccable background that is literally the American Dream, and untouchable character.

He would absolutely destroy Trump.

I’ve never heard of him until just now—one glance and he is elite. This is easily the best candidate they could field.

I'm not even an American and I would be so psyched by a Mark Kelly run for president.

Then all we would need would be to get Chris Hatfield as or PM up here and it would be an intelligent astronaut super hemisphere.

And he has a twin with a nearly identical pedigree, it's insane. But I'd love to see a Harris/Kelly ticket.

jon stewart. because he would be excellent, and absolutely does not want the job

“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” — Douglas Adams

"I refuse to be a part of any club that would have me as one of its members" -Groucho Marx

Double edged sword. Jon would make a great President. But, I also bet he would be miserable doing the job and I would really hate to do that do him.

Yes, I'd be okay with him, but Porter is an electable candidate. And she's willing to go a bit left of center.

Been saying that for years! PLUS! He can't even use the excuse that it'll turn his hair grey, because, well, c'mon Jon. It's time to look in a mirror. That ship has sailed.

Seems like an interesting guy, and fits my two basic criteria: not being a geriatric and being a reasonable person. I've limited my expectations to avoid disappointment :'D

Kamala Harris/Mark Kelly

An astronaut for president? That's actually pretty catchy.

Also seems like an interesting guy outside of that.

Without a doubt the best option the Democrats have right now

Of course the Democrats are gonna run someone from offworld 🙄

I like it, Kelly is a superstar (pun intended)

Bernie Sanders / AOC ticket.

Other way round.

Any order is fine by me, but part of me wants some retired cop to see that the guy he dragged away from civil rights protests in the 70s is now president.

Let's be brutally honest here, those cops will have long since died of alcoholism.

I hear Katie Porter is available...

University prof? Witty? Sharp tongue?

I'm down.

badass veteran and working mother, current Junior Senator from Illinois, Tammy Duckworth

Why? No shade, just curious.

I think she's awesome in general. I think her service record and voting record make her a palatable or even desirable candidate for a wide swath of the population, not just Democrats — I'm not one myself, though I vote for more Democrats than any other party's candidates.

Thank you for replying. I considered her for my primary vote, when she ran, but ultimately wrote in my candidate.

Katie Porter + AOC

It would cause the right's heads to explode.

I like Porter. AOC needs a rest, I think.

I used to be really captivated by her leadership, but in the last few years, I think things have gotten complicated. Perhaps I'm being too forgiving, but during Biden's presidency it seemed like she lost her nerve to stick her neck out for what she believed in more and more. Maybe I'm inventing things, but I get the sense that January 6th scared the fucking shit out of her. I think her life flashed before her eyes, and afterwards she felt like being among the most progressive voices while trying not to rock the boat too much or draw too much personal attention from the right was enough, and that challenging Democrats on their bullshit was too stressful and risky.

If that's the case, I don't blame her. I still admire what she's done, but she does not have the spark she once did.

Just being in Washington makes a person more cautious. There’s a reason why sticking one’s neck out is considered brave.

Katie Porter would get me to the polls.

I like Buttigieg the most, but I don't think he has enough time to be built up for this election. I'd be excited to see him as a VP ticket, or for next election.

I think that Kamala is our best choice, but I worry that our country isn't ready to vote in a female president. We're still so ridiculously misogynistic that it would be comical if it wasn't such a fucking travesty

Pete needs to go mayor some more. He had a few good ideas during the primary, but as Transportation Secretary I'm astounded at his lack of ambition.

There are a handful of administration officials -- Lina Khan first among them -- who've learned to use their power assertively to make changes to broken systems. And Pete... he seems like he just pops up when another piece of infrastructure breaks to let us know that he's on it. Maybe he's doing something more, but if so he's doing it very, very quietly.

Bro... Lina got put in place to show that feds are "trying"

The judiciary is clearly not impressed.

Wall Street Pete is there to cover up railroad accidents and Boeing bullshit. I don't think he even has good intentions, just management consulting zombie being put in place to do corruption for the elites.

If I can be frank, I'm reading from your tone that you're not here for polite, factual persuasion. But if I'm wrong, or someone else sees this, I gotta drop a fact check on the 'Lina can't win cases' myth:

https://www.thebignewsletter.com/p/out-with-a-bang-as-ftc-beats-the

More practically, this loss discredits the main argument from Wall Street. Dealmakers, and thinkers like Larry Summers, have often said that while Biden antitrust enforcers are aggressive, if corporations are willing to go to court, the government is likely to lose because judges won’t let them rewrite the law. This narrative was so strong that Lina Khan and Jonathan Kanter were questioned in Congress as to whether they were even trying to win. It’s always been a narrow and bad faith critique, but this victory, plus, the win in the Fifth Circuit over Illumina, should put that narrative to rest. Antitrust lawyers will tell their clients to go to court at their peril.

It's kind of a deep dive, but it's worth it.

This issue won't be solved via executive agency.

It requires an act of congress since the current regulatory regime is broken.

She just got put in place for act like feds are doing something. It is a circle jerk.

I get that y'all spinning anything you can latch on as a W for the Democrats such as people are making more money under biden ... lol

If you think that limp dick FTC has the power or the legal underpinning to regulate mega corps in 2024... Have fun!

You know, for a guy with the username "Sunzu", I feel like you're demonstrating a remarkable lack of vision of power dynamics.

First, I'm not a Democrat. I'm not invested in holding up that party.

Again, I'm talking more to any audience than you in particular: when someone says that any attempt to use power creatively is a waste of time, I think that is either ignorant or in bad faith. The SIZE of any given effect or the use of resources in one place or another can be certainly debated, but the logic of the revitalized antitrust movement is very, very sound. Power has been left unused, and now people like Khan and Jonathan Kantor are learning how to use it again, and showing others.

The logic you're outlining runs in contradiction to what we might call "The Bork consensus". A lot of the issues we face WERE developed through regulatory capture rather than legislation, led by Robert Bork under Reagan. If you don't want to use that power for anything, feel free, but I'm going to evangelize using every tool available. And these are pretty big ones.

This was sort of my impression to. Like I loosely liked him, but couldn't really tell you what he's directly responsible for. Which isn't a bad thing on its own and doesn't mean he wasnt doing a good job, just that I don't know much about him.

I would disagree. The only reason the last woman to run for president failed was because she was Hillary Clinton. If she'd have been virtually anyone else, she'd probably have won.

The reason she lost is she let someone media hack convince her to wear that smile.

Anyone under the age of 50

Why? Because they will have the energy, experience and ability to take on such an important position.

I don't think that there are any that I would back 100%. There are a lot that I could support 90% or more, like Sanders and Warren. Even AOC.

OTOH, I also strongly believe in 2A rights--in addition to freedom of/from religion, freedom of speech, freedom of choice, etc.--and there simply are not any Democratic candidates that I'm aware of that support 2A rights. They always say, "I support 2A rights, but...", and that "but" immediately precedes ideas to restrict 2A rights in significant ways. ("I support 2A rights, but I just don't think that anyone needs a gun other than a muzzle loading Kentucky long rifle.")

In short, I'll never support any Republican more than, at most, 40%. I have yet to find any Democrat that I can support more than 90%.

How about Mayor Joseph Fitzgerald O'Malley Fitzpatrick O'Donnell The Edge "Joe" Quimby?

Seems like a great pick for the role /s

Turd Sandwich always struck me as an upstanding guy.

Don't forget Giant duche has a really compelling platform

I think Cory Booker has potential. But a ham sandwich is the most electable candidate today. Just be somewhat alive and not problematic.

Quick question, serious question.......can we make Zelenskyy a dual citizen, dual president? I'd be good with that.

One presidency is more than a full-time job. Whilst I do like him cut the poor guy some slack.

Article II, Section 1, Clause 5:

No Person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President; neither shall any Person be eligible to that Office who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty five Years, and been fourteen Years a Resident within the United States.

Even if he were a natural born citizen, he'd have to live in the US for 14 years first to be eligible.

We could us the Republican style of argument that "years" had a different meaning in the founding father's era as people died a lot sooner. Therefore "a year" was only the length of what we call "a day" now.

Dude's got more than enough on his plate, but maybe we could find an American comedian who plays piano with his dick

Mao Zedong and Vladimir Lenin have said some positive things about workers' rights. The others are too far right and would be considered conservatives in other countries.

The duopoly choice is Bernie Sanders, even though he betrayed his movement and the people that helped fund and grow his grassroots campaign. 

A non-duopoly choice is a 3rd Party candidate, Jill Stien, Green Party. 

How did Bernie betray his movement?

The anti Bernie propaganda is scared of people rallying around him since Bidens departure

Theres no real replyabout his "betrayal"

yeah, and everyone knew exactly which accounts they would be.

While I don't traffic in such forceful language, I can answer what @criitz means:

Bernie Sanders raised millions of dollars on the promise to lead a political revolution. For many supporters, that proposition was taken literally. They thought that his campaign was not simply a vehicle to give him the power of the presidency, but was the organizing structure for a persistent movement of activists reengaging with democracy each and every week BETWEEN elections. And when he dropped out, a lot of those people lost their connections to social and organizing structures that were giving them hope and an outlet for meeting like-minded people to find ways to make their communities better. So when he ended his campaign and all that money and infrastructure got instantly packed up and taken away, they felt like they'd been misled.

Some found their way into activism through the DSA or climate groups, but for many, the way in which he disbanded his campaign without following through on the implied promise to transform it into something durable was a very unexpected and painful surprise.

I see, thank you for explaining. I believe Bernie has done pretty much everything he could for decades, but I get how people may have felt misled. It can be very disheartening to try and enact real change in this country.

i hadn't heard this angle articulated before, thanks for sharing.

Here's a tip: you ever see the above user say anything, ignore it because it's stupid.

A non-duopoly choice is a 3rd Party candidate, Jill Stien, Green Party.

Reading her platform, I'd say it's a no go for me.

Two bullet points back to back are "Have the UN Security Council hold Israel accountable" and at the same time "end the UN Security Council". So which is it, use the UNSC to hold Israel accountable or the UNSC is a bad thing?

Also on her platform, disband NATO and stop giving Ukraine aid. If we do this, then Ukraine and Russia will just hug it out and everyone will be happy. A few unrealistic things like this where it's way too optimistic and paves the way for things to go horribly wrong.

Then there are the good intentions, but bad consequences ideas. Pay reparations to third world countries for climate. Historically, "just dump money and resources" has been tried and you just give those to regional warlords that will make things worse. Need a more thought out engagement plan than that.

Broadly some decent domestic policy goals, but pretty impractical foreign policy ideas.

There was no betrayal, we just don't need another old white guy right now.

I think Bernie's earned it though. He may be old, but he's still mentally intact. Trump was never mentally intact, and Biden......well........yeah. Biden kinda fell off his rocker. Good man. I wish him all the best, and hope he gets the care he needs. However, we don't really need someone who talks about how we defeated health care running our health care.

I may hate Trump, but he did have one line that I think sealed the deal for Biden. He said "I don't know what he said, I don't think he knows what he said", and everybody just kind of saddly nodded their head, because it was true.

But Bernie will be a firecracker up your ass fighting the good fight for every American. And unlike a lot of these politicians, he's not a phoney. Harris can say that she's changed, and she now stands to legalize marijuanna, and all this other stuff.....but she has a track record. Bernie has a track record too, except he HASN'T changed. There's photos of him in the 60s getting arrested fighting for civil rights. I'd rather he be president than a younger person who may or may not be who they say they are. Plus I like his policies.

I'm right there with you. Bernie totally could have won the general in 2016, and we'd be in a hell of a lot better place now, but he didn't, and sadly that time has passed.

with a receptive white house, Bernie will be a firecracker anywhere. I would be more than happy for Bernie to retain his Senate seat and get the committee assignments that give him maximal internal clout.

[Bernie] may be old, but he's still mentally intact.

At that age mental acuity can go fast. I would vote for Bernie over Trump or Biden in a heartbeat, but I would rather have someone younger.

I’d vote for Bernie Sanders because he has a podcast. Any politician that seeks out long conversations is a winner in my book.