The Hill reports: Democrats are expressing concern that advisers and aides to former President Obama have already begun signaling which candidate they might support for the White House in 2020.
Valerie Jarrett, one of Obama’s closest confidantes, and David Simas, the CEO of Obama’s foundation, have sent smoke signals urging former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick (D) to enter the race.
Simas, who once served as a top aide to Patrick, is an ardent supporter of the former governor, sources tell The Hill, while Jarrett has privately told friends that she would do what it takes to support him.
And Politico reported last month that Jarrett believes a President Patrick is “what my heart desires.”
At the same time, friends of Jarrett’s say that while she would love for Patrick to run, she is also open to other candidates.Others in Obamaworld have quietly been buzzing about the excitement behind a potential Patrick run. [Continue reading…]
Deval Patrick is even more neoliberal than Obama.
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/01/from-the-white-house-to-the-boardroom/
As Donald Trump perfectly illustrates, the ideological categories into which any politician gets placed are ultimately of little consequence. What matters (in my opinion) when push comes to shove is the depth (or lack of it) of an individual’s humanity. So far, and based on nothing more than a cursory glance over the possible options, Patrick seems to score high in his qualities as a human being. Let’s face it: when most Americans cast their votes, policy considerations are overshadowed by the visceral issue of which candidates they like most or least.
Alternatively, one can approach the question of who replaces Trump by negating candidates based on a process of elimination (no one with corporate ties, etc, etc) and arrive at the conclusion that there are likely to be no candidates truly fit to become president and thus on a perverse practice of principle decide not to vote.