Posted on 03/21/2015 11:01:28 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Greetings from Exeter, New Hampshire on this snowy March morning!
In keeping with the New Hampshire way of letting everyone make up their own mind about things, I won’t be giving detailed opinions about the candidates for President in 2016 at this point. Instead I intend to give you a quick look at the most memorable points I’ve gleaned about each candidate thus far, then I will leave it to you the New Hampshire Primary voter to get out there and go to some house parties and town meetings, and find out for yourselves what these people are about. Just remember one thing: In our Democracy, nobody deserves power, candidates have to earn it by first of all being a person who knows something, second by being able to get support from people with resources, third by having some idea of which direction our nation should take in the next few years, and finally by being the kind of person we can stand to see on the TV news every night.
So I will try to give my quick reads on the people I’ve heard something about:
1. Rand Paul, Senator from Kentucky, son of Libertarian Presidential candidate Ron Paul. Rand Paul is an interesting figure. His father, Ron Paul, unlike just about any other candidate who has ever run for President, was completely above-board about all his peculiar ideas for running (or not running) the United States. I would like to hear more from Rand Paul. He may be a serious contender.
2. Joe Biden. I like Joe Biden. The Bidens are genuine good people. They can run my country anytime.
3. Marco Rubio, Senator from Florida. I know why Marco Rubio thinks he can win, because he has achieved great political success in Florida, which is a large and crazy state. The challenge for Marco Rubio is to project Presidential authority on the campaign trail. If his ideas are significant enough, he may do that.
4. Scott Walker, Governor of Wisconsin. His claim to fame is busting unions, so working people, watch out. Don’t let Hillary destroy Democratic Presidential chances on her way out or we may end up with a Union-busting President.
5. Elizabeth Warren, Senator from Massachusetts, formerly from Oklahoma. Harvard Law School Professor. Senator Warren is the most talented Democrat. That doesn’t mean she will win, but she should be given a chance to show what she can do. Senator Warren is right on point with all of the issues the real Americans care about: debt, getting our kids a college education without ending up in financial ruin, giving everyone an equal chance to participate in the world’s greatest hope for human prosperity and happiness that is America.
6. Martin O’Malley, former Governor of Maryland. Governor O’Malley has distinguished himself among all Democrats by presenting himself as a serious candidate regardless of whether or not Hillary Clinton chooses to run for President. That alone makes him a contender. Also, a highly placed Rockingham County Democrat favors O’Malley’s candidacy, and that means something to me. I am taking Governor O’Malley seriously. I will definitely seek to attend one of his gatherings.
7. Ted Cruz, Senator from Texas. Ted Cruz is probably the smartest person in the race, having demonstrated the ability to shut down the U.S. Government single-handedly. The question is whether we want someone like that to be in charge.
8. Donald Trump. There is no reason a bag of wind like TV star and purported billionaire real estate developer Donald Trump should not run for President. He has nothing to lose and we would all enjoy watching him fall flat on his face.
9. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Saw him on TV with Josh McElveen in the WMUR-TV studio yesterday. Senator Sanders is a Socialist. His accent seems to place him as being from New York, not Vermont. He has a lot to say and plainly favors lower income people over everyone else. My criticism would be that he appears to be too certain of all of his opinions. And the picturesque, classy, intelligent State of Vermont has not tested his ability to gain broader support.
10. Hillary Clinton. Hope she does not plan to try to win the Presidency without campaigning because it won’t happen. Personally, like much of New Hampshire and America, I’ve seen enough of the Clintons and the Bushes. Neither administration left this country in such a great position, and our current President Barack Obama has done heroic work trying to straighten out the errors of his predecessors, as far as the banking crisis, the Middle East crisis, the terrorism crisis, etc. In future years, after Bill O’Reilly shuts up, we will all appreciate Barack Obama much more than we do now.
11. Jeb Bush. He was Governor of Florida many years ago. He can’t run on his bother’s record on the economy. He has rejected his brother’s record on foreign policy. So there is not much left.
That’s all for now. As for the candidates I have not discussed, it’s up to you to make yourselves part of the conversation.
Ted Cruz is exactly that someone we want to be in charge; quite frankly all the others IMO are holdyernosers!
2. Joe Biden. I like Joe Biden. The Bidens are genuine good people. They can run my country anytime.
Just a minute, I have to clean up my keyboard.
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