Presidential Election: 11/3/20 ---Now the President Elect Joe Biden Thread

[Renegade7]

12 minutes ago, Momma There Goes That Man said:

Sadly Biden and his team (and probably Dems in general) aren’t savvy enough to pull this off. Who is Vp in this scenario

 

Big Gretch to shore up the midwest.

 

And I agree, it's wishful thinking to believe they will get every next generation candidate they want to give credibility for potential presidential runs in this administration at the same time.

 

Just as big a question is what do they do with Beto?  It's too easy to give everyone not yet ready to be president a cabinet position so even if they lose again they have more credibility to help win state level races. 

 

I wish Joe could make his wife Secretary of Education.

[Renegade7]

I'm also going to say something I probably shouldn't but probably needs to be said: 

 

Black folks can't say on one hand they voted for Biden because he gave them best chance to beat Trump then be mad if he picks a VP that isn't Black if he feels the person he picks gives him best chance to beat Trump.

 

If the primary goal is getting rid of the existential threat to all of us, then stay consistent and let's get this done.  We just had a Black President, let's not get petty because we didn't get a Black VP.

 

Miss me with that, please, and make sure you grumble while voting if it grinds your gears that much. Is what it is.

[tshile]

 

[DCSaints_fan]

its a tough call.  

 

I'm not sure the VP pick will really make a difference in getting their home states to flip.    

 

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/10/politics/joe-biden-vp-pick-kamala-harris/index.html

 

This makes the case it hasn't really made a diffeernce since JFK picked LBJ,though they admit possibly Gore helped Clinton carry Tennessee, he robably wins anyway.

 

Though I think Biden has to go with someone youngish, ideally in their 50s or less, to shed the Boomer label and counter his own age.   So that rules out Warren.

 

Kemala Harris is problematic because of the sparring during race.

 

Also the question of where they are on the spectrum.  I think they have to be left of Biden, but not too far because then you would lose the moderates.

 

 

[Corcaigh]

6 hours ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Trump says he'll accept nomination from either White House or Gettysburg

 

As the greatest General the Confederate Army never had, this makes sense.

 

And as an expert in history he knows the Confederates won a great victory at Gettysburg.

[88Comrade2000]

Biden doesn't pick any Senators in states lead by a GOP governor.  You guys want Warren in the cabinet or veep but if you pick her, your lose her seat.  Charlie Baker a republican, will pick a Republican to replace Warren. So, it's best to keep Warren where she is.

 

 

As for Biden's cabinet; I fully expect him to pick his old time cronies.  Biden is going to pick people, he's most comfortable with.  So, that will be long time Dems and not the new younger crop.

[Momma There Goes That Man]

13 minutes ago, Rdskns2000 said:

Biden is going to pick people, he's most comfortable with.  So, that will be long time Dems and not the new younger crop.

there was a lot of talk during the super tuesday week that people like Pete, Beto, Klobuchar were promised cabinet positions for their support heading into Super Tuesday giving Biden tons of momentum. 
 

Biden has said he’s a transition to a new generation. This would be a great way to start that

.

[88Comrade2000]

34 minutes ago, Momma There Goes That Man said:

there was a lot of talk during the super tuesday week that people like Pete, Beto, Klobuchar were promised cabinet positions for their support heading into Super Tuesday giving Biden tons of momentum. 
 

Biden has said he’s a transition to a new generation. This would be a great way to start that

.

Maybe for some minor positions like say HUD.

 

The big positions will be filled by Biden contemporaries.

 

Defense, State, Chief of Staff, NSC,Attorney General are likely to be filled by people Biden was in the Senate with or Obama administration people.   I can see Mayor Peter being giving something like HUD. The lesser cabinet positions are the ones Biden may fill in with some of the younger people.

 

[The Evil Genius]

1 hour ago, Rdskns2000 said:

Biden doesn't pick any Senators in states lead by a GOP governor.  You guys want Warren in the cabinet or veep but if you pick her, your lose her seat.  Charlie Baker a republican, will pick a Republican to replace Warren. So, it's best to keep Warren where she is.

 

 

Not sure about that. When Ted Kennedy passed in 2009, they had a special election for his seat.

 

Also this says Massachusetts fills them via special election 145-160 days after vacancy.

 

https://ballotpedia.org/Filling_vacancies_in_the_U.S._Senate

[visionary]

Mass primary between Kennedy and Markey is Sept. 1st by the way,  

[visionary]

 

[PleaseBlitz]

Just because someone ran for President doesn’t mean they should get a cabinet position. 

[visionary]

Remember, this doesn't rule out any names on there for the vp list, since it will likely change accordingly.

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd steer clear of having Hillary help sell the democratic nomination at this point.

[visionary]

Just now, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd steer clear of having Hillary help sell the democratic nomination at this point.

I wonder when everyone is speaking though and who will be watching at those times.

That said, it would be a hell of a slight to not include the only (mainstream party) female nominee for president a cycle after she ran.  

 

 

 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

4 minutes ago, visionary said:

I wonder when everyone is speaking though and who will be watching at those times.

That said, it would be a hell of a slight to not include the only (mainstream party) female nominee for president a cycle after she ran. 

I get it.  She can get an invite and all, just no need to speak.

[tshile]

13 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Just because someone ran for President doesn’t mean they should get a cabinet position. 

Yes but... support is sold and bought so... Biden and the DNC need to limit fractures and the people that help with that want to further their careers. 

8 minutes ago, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

Maybe it's just me, but I think I'd steer clear of having Hillary help sell the democratic nomination at this point.

not only does she bring baggage, she also won’t be able to help but say something she shouldn’t. Her ego won’t allow otherwise. 

On the other hand I think Obama should absolutely speak. 

[BatteredFanSyndrome]

2 minutes ago, tshile said:

On the other hand I think Obama should absolutely speak. 

They could just have him speak, drop the mic and call it a convention, imo.

[tshile]

Just now, BatteredFanSyndrome said:

They could just have him speak, drop the mic and call it a convention, imo.

the man is an amazing speaker. For many reasons including his ability to put extremely talented people around him (like writers) but also because he’s just damn good at it (thinking of non scripted interviews)

 

he brings energy, especially with a group the dnc desperately needs. 
 

he’s the opposite of Hillary 😂

[PleaseBlitz]

3 minutes ago, tshile said:

Yes but... support is sold and bought so... Biden and the DNC need to limit fractures and the people that help with that want to further their careers. 

 

Thats fine, but should we make the mayor of a medium sized town in Indiana SecState when that person is going to basically have to rebuild the post WW2 world order?  Or should that job go to someone that has worked at the State Dept before?

[bearrock]

24 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Just because someone ran for President doesn’t mean they should get a cabinet position. 

 

....

Puts away "Bearrock 2028" sign.😢

[tshile]

Just now, PleaseBlitz said:

Thats fine, but should we make the mayor of a medium sized town in Indiana SecState when that person is going to basically have to rebuild the post WW2 world order?  Or should that job go to someone that has worked at the State Dept before?

oh don’t get me wrong, I agree that it’s a dumb way of doing things and my preferred approach is to pick the most qualified person. 
 

but that’s not the world we live in. 
 

otherwise Biden wouldn’t have painted himself into a corner with the woman vp thing. You can’t possibly tell me that a genuine search for the most qualified person starts by excluding a specific race, gender, or religion right off the bat? So they’ve already admitted, without being provoked, that this all centers around something other than “who is the most qualified person”

 

and it’s not like it’s a secrete. It’s routinely a thing that’s discussed. McCain picked plain for the same reasons. I don’t think you can say the same things about Obama picking Biden (though I’m genuinely curious if him being white factored into the discussion, and that’s not a knock on the obama campaign if anything it shows an understanding of how screwed up our society is/was), and I’m not sure ryan was picked for the same reason for Romney. But we know it’s done. 
 

Even Obama and Clinton’s meeting that resulted in her finally dropping out, then getting sec of state (then resigning when that position stopped being a political resume advantage and started being a detriment), was ripe with political horse trading. 
 

so yeah, I agree it’s a dumb way to do things. But it’s the way we do things because too many people care about appearances and shallow gestures more than qualifications. 
 

if we cared about qualifications trump would never have been nominated and warren probably would have been a major nominee by now, we wouldn’t have nonsense like “it’s time for a woman president”, and we wouldn’t be having an ongoing discussion about how important it is that the VP is black. 
 

[Renegade7]

6 minutes ago, PleaseBlitz said:

Thats fine, but should we make the mayor of a medium sized town in Indiana SecState when that person is going to basically have to rebuild the post WW2 world order?  Or should that job go to someone that has worked at the State Dept before?

 

I have to ask, how often do appointments actually have worked at the department they become in charge of?  That doesn't sound historically how we do things, even if it makes sense.

 

Pete is former military, speaks multiple languages, and extremely well-spoken.  Maybe he's not ready for State, but it would be total waste of his potential to just leave him in Indiana.

 

This conversation in my eyes isn't about "just because he ran for president".  Notice no one in here has suggested nominating Lady Gemstone for anything.

[tshile]

Add:

it’s possible for a search for the most qualified person to end with a non-white-male

 

its also possible for a search to end with a white male and someone else and their qualifications be very comparable (equal is a weird word to use with pitfalls so I’ll stick with very comparable) and to pick the ‘someone else’ for social reasons and that be ok (although I still hate the idea, but I get it, especially the way things are right now)

I also recognize that in a system that’s been historically racist and sexist, that there are barriers to determining “most qualified” and how that plays out when it comes to race and gender. 
 

didn’t mean to imply otherwise. Just posting Incase it came off that way. 

ps - this is the “identity politics” people like me hate. If the goal is equality then you don’t get there by excluding someone just because they are a male or white. 
 

pps - I’m aware the republicans engage in their own version of this. I don’t like it either. In fact I hate it more because it’s roots are in racism sexism and bigotry. At least the Dems roots are in trying to push for equality, even if I don’t agree with how they’re doing it I can at least understand why and respect the root motivation

[bearrock]

2 minutes ago, Renegade7 said:

 

I have to ask, how often do appointments actually have worked at the department they become in charge of?  That doesn't sound historically how we do things, even if it makes sense.

 

Pete is former military, speaks multiple languages, and extremely well-spoken.  Maybe he's not ready for State, but it would be total waste of his potential to just leave him in Indiana.

 

This conversation in my eyes isn't about "just because he ran for president".  Notice no one in here has suggested nominating Lady Gemstone for anything.

 

And that's the conundrum with people like Buttigieg and Abrams right?  Their path to statewide office is just so much harder than many other Dems.  Yet people like Castro shows that lesser Cabinet position doesn't move the needle too much while it feels (emphasis on feels, not necessarily being correct on logic) like a prominent cabinet position seems too soon.  Dems have a lot of young rising stars in their party.  It'll be an important job for current Dem leadership to cultivate and support those stars (which quite frankly, feels like Sanders and AOC has done a pretty good job of doing).

 

I guess one counter argument to Mayor Pete being too green for SoS would be is that if the Dems were ready to vote for him as POTUS if he won the nomination, can we really say he's not ready to be SoS?  I think reasonable minds can differ on that.