We need to run a goody goody two shoes,i.e. super clean guy like Jimmy Carter in 2020.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

This has nothing to do with the Carter presidency. I am speaking to his messaging. His message was simple. I will never lie to you and America deserves a government as good as it people. He had no skeletons in his closet, real or perceived. This was the first post Watergate general election and his simple message had a powerful resonance.



That will be the antidote to four years of the Lying King.

[Auggie]

1. I like it

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. He ran in the aftermath of Watergate. It was an excellent message and he was an excellent messenger.

He has led an exemplary life, by any metric.

[Auggie]

11. Spot on. The DNC needs to identify a few individuals NOW and groom them ASAP.

They need a national spotlight on them too -- a highly visible position where they get airtime.

[NRQ891]

2. exactly nt

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. Political jiu-jitsu

We need to use Trump's strength which is his arrogance and braggadocio against him by running a candidate full of humility.

[NRQ891]

6. Carter wan't a bad president, a lot of long brewing problems blew up at once

Eisenhower's meddling in Iran

Inflationary fallout from Vietnam

and Reagan did a very cynical job of pinning all of it on Carter (I'll never understand how he got away with the hostages being released on inauguration day, if that didn't stink of dirty tricks, who would?)

[DemocratSinceBirth]

7. And fall out from Nixon's wage and price controls.

I think he could have survived the bad economy. I don't believe he could have survived the bad economy and the hostage situation.

But guy led an exemplary personal and public life.

[CincyDem]

4. "It's only lying if you don't believe it"

Unfortunately, in today's world of managed truth - to many of his supporters he isn't the lying king. He's just telling them what they want to believe. He is the new keeper of the echo chamber.

I agree that truth without skeletons is an admirable goal but I don't think it's what will influence those 80,000 voters in MiWiPa whose votes were 30x more valuable than a voter in...say...California.

Dems have let state level leadership erode for so long that it's back to ground zero time. it's time for the pick and shovel work of state houses and state governor mansions.

It makes me wonder if at some point, there's an equal protection argument against the Electoral College...it was created in a time that lacked the diversity of population and ideology vs. today. Equal protection clause is near and dear to the republican judiciary. It would be such sweet karma if it was applicable here. Never happen but I can dream.

[HassleCat]

8. Trump could set that up for us, but...

It's like the old joke about sacrificing a virgin. "Where do you expect to find one?"

[DemocratSinceBirth]

9. All they could get on him is he told Playboy "he had lust in his heart".

[marybourg]

43. Have you forgotten The Rabbit? nt.

[ismnotwasm]

10. Martin O'Malley

Not that I think he's a goody two-shoes--but he's such a decent guy, and I really loved his platform

[Auggie]

13. He's one. I'd try to identify a few more and test who has the best chemistry.

[ismnotwasm]

22. Found this

None of them are exactly "goody two shoes"--I could really be happy with a Warren run.

Elizabeth Warren

Tim Kaine

Amy Klobuchar

Kirsten Gillibrand

Tammy Duckworth

Cory Booker

Martin O'Malley

Chris Murphy

John Hickenlooper

Michelle Obama


http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/11/democrats-defeat-trump-president-2020

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. Tim Kaine is a really, really good guy and fits the bill but I was underwhelmed by him.

[ismnotwasm]

37. Yeah--I don't think he wants it either

Whether Trump actually "wanted" the presidency or was running a showmans game, is academic. His show is clearly going on, and I for one don't plan on underestimating his showman appeal. Or his ground game.

So the counter strategy of running a "decent" candidate is a good one-because Trump is many things, but decent is not one of them. But we also need personality, which Kaine doesn't have on the political scale anyway.

As an aside, I have a friend who met Trump, and she says he's very nice. She is tiny, blond and very cute. Another friend, overhearing this, muttered "of course he's going to be "nice" to her" --she blond and cute--now this particular other friend is tiny, of Filipino decent and also very cute.

There's a lesson there somewhere.

[Auggie]

44. Same here

[Laffy Kat]

41. Forget Hickenlooper.

He's been a mediocre Gov. at best.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

54. I believe Tim Kaine has already said he's not running in 2020.

And Michelle Obama clearly has no interest in doing so.

Cory Booker strikes me as something of a sleaze bag.

Some of the others might be okay.

My main problem is that all of them are already on the scene. An important reason Trump did so well this year is that he truly was an outsider to politics. A lot of people thought that was refreshing. A lot of people think that government can be run like business, and while they're completely wrong about that, it's a meme that has been gathering strength for quite a while now.

Carter was an outsider to DC and national politics, although he'd been Governor of Georgia. I was living in the DC area when he was elected, and I recall that the inside the Beltway types were completely unhappy with him. It's my opinion that eventually his administration will be looked back upon as a genuine model of honesty and decency, and if the ONLY thing he'd accomplished were the peace accords, that should put him in the history books as one of our better Presidents.

[treestar]

63. But then by 2020

maybe the idea of an outsider being good will have faded? After the Orange creature has screwed things up royally.

[lake loon]

30. Yes!

Gov. O'Malley indeed!

[LisaL]

62. And he has gotten nowhere in the primary.

[GeorgeGist]

12. How'd that work out for ya?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

14. How did what work out for me, Mr. Gist?

He was preferable to Ford and Reagan, no?

[ismnotwasm]

16. What?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

18. Maybe he liked Ford or Reagan.

I will add both are preferable to Drumpf. especially the former.

[ismnotwasm]

19. True that

[DemocratSinceBirth]

21. With the passage of time Jimmy Carter looks better and better.

He is a fundamentally decent man and role model.

[ismnotwasm]

23. Yeah

He got bushwhacked by a bad actor

[Orsino]

15. Where will we find one with the guts and the messaging to be able to turn down the money?

The money causes the lies--and by 2020 will we feel able to demand purity? Or will we rationalize, saying that our candidate needs to be competitive?

[PatsFan87]

17. Why are there so many posts about 2020 lately?

That's 4 years away. Let's focus on rebuilding and making the party stronger. And 2018 is just as, if not more important. Many vulnerable Democratic senators and opportunities to win more house seats.

[ismnotwasm]

20. We can do both

Believe me, we are very interested in 2018, as well as strengthening the party

[PatsFan87]

24. I haven't seen any threads talking about

which house seats have realistic chances of flipping, what candidates should be run in those races, what their message should be, what worked and didn't work for the candidates that ran there this year. More of that please.

[ismnotwasm]

25. Start one

People are still grieving, still hashing out the primary bitters---it will get better.

Start a thread on 2018--I'm just not much of a thread starter except on feminist/social justice issues.

[PatsFan87]

26. I'm new here but I suppose I shall.

It's just kind of discouraging seeing a lot of people focused on something further away instead of taking the time to focus on the here and now. It is what it is I guess.

[brer cat]

48. I can't speak for others,

but I am still reeling from the election, and haven't found where to light yet. After an adjustment period we will settle into what needs to be done sooner rather than later.

Welcome to DU, PatsFan87.

[yallerdawg]

27. Obama came out of this strategy.

He was encouraged to run because he had no baggage like most politicians.

And to understate the obvious, he won.

[PatsFan87]

28. Fair point.

Do we also have strategies on House, Senate, Governorship seats? There's tons of focus on the presidency, very little on all of these other races that matter as well. Kind of scary.

[LiberalFighter]

29. Someone like that would lose in a landslide.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

34. A squeaky clean guy or gal who appeals to our better angels would lose in a landslide ?

[stevenleser]

47. Those kinds of people tend to be boring and unaccomplished. Not all, but tend to be...

... they also tend not to take risks of any kind.

Think of the Democratic Presidents of the last 100 years. Think of the ones you would consider the most dynamic and charismatic. Only Obama is squeaky clean.

Bob Graham is a guy who comes to mind when I think of a squeaky clean guy or gal who appeals to our better angels. Love the guy, met him several times and talked to him at length. Would have made a great President but couldn't get nominated. Not exciting enough.

[gwheezie]

31. Well trump hosting bunga bunga parties

In the wh for foreign businessmen he owes money to while they grab women by the hoohah will make almost anyone seem squeaky clean. I know he came in 2nd in the popular vote but enough dopes voted for him to make him president. But I think when he actually is president & we have a couple years of his embarrassing nonsense & some failures with the requisite unhinged twitter outburst, the country might be more amenable to a calmer government. Hopefully in 2 years not 4.

[mainer]

32. Trump ran on an "I'll lie if I feel like it" platform and he won

It appears that telling the truth just puts you at a disadvantage.

[hollowdweller]

35. Somebody like Thomas Perez

If Hillary hadn't fucked up and nominated Kaine and had Perez instead I think he could have countered Trumps populist appeal.

Kaine just did the same stupid stuff as Hillary did just trying to sling mud at Trump first and say what she was for second.

I knew the campaign was in trouble when she chose him.

[Paladin]

36. It won't be that easy.

Even if our candidate is pure as the driven snow, Trump will make up some shitty, insulting nickname for her or him, spew it dozens of times a day, formulate some filthy lies to go with it, pass out a few thousand ugly hats, and then his ignorant, racist, goober base (probably aided and abetted by the same more-or-less-Democratic malcontents) will vote for him, once more. And the electoral college will do the rest.

The only thing that will prevent such an outcome is if Trump is the sort of huge fuckup we're hoping for, and we get to reclaim whatever's left of this country from his henchmen---sooner rather than later, one would hope.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

38. He lost the pop vote by 2,500,000. He won the EC by 80,000 votes.

He pulled a veritable inside straight.

[Paladin]

39. Three cheers for red, white and motherfucking blue.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

40. The E C is an anachronistic crap shoot that is more likely to screw us than them.

But we were extraordinarily unlucky.

[Buzz cook]

42. Al Gore was a purity candidate.

For those that don't remember Gore was chosen as Clinton's running mate because he was a Boy Scout Metaphorically and literally. Gore had a reputation for honestly and integrity.

See how that worked out?

Don't put your faith in a single trait.

[Txbluedog]

45. LOL! America just elected the anti-boy scout

I doubt a boy scout will "excite" the electorate in 2020. I am beginning to think that if Kanye ran he'd probably get elected

[bigtree]

46. Hillary is a goody two shoes

...dirtied by republican lies.

[JI7]

49. like Tim Kaine ?

[LisaL]

50. All that baggage sure held Trump back.

[Lithos]

51. Disagree

We need to run an honest and transparent campaign, yes

But we do need to be able to go places someone like Carter would not go. Carter would never call a lie a lie...

L-

[Warpy]

52. We could run somebody we found in a monastery

and the Republicans would still pillory him in the press.

I think we need to run a wily sleazebag who knows how to con Republicans and get things done.

Being afraid of Republican finger pointing is a great deal of what has gotten the party to this sorry state.

(I remember the Carter years too painfully. He was obstructed by both parties. Nobody trusted an honest man)

[Zen Democrat]

53. I don't think Trump is going to last through the first term.

[StevieM]

55. The Republicans will make up fake scandals against any candidate we run.

They would have labeled Sanders and O'Malley bad human beings too, if one of them had been the nominee.

And they often have a lot of success at it, no matter who we run.

[loyalsister]

56. It only works if there is some truth behind it

The birther controversy had legs because of two truths.
1. "Barack Obama" is an uncommon name that is unusual to come across in the US.
2. Obama's father was from Kenya.

With Clinton, there were lies, but there were a lot of truths that could reasonably be associated with dishonesty and corruption. They may have found something on Sanders and O'Malley. But with Clinton, they had facts to work with that were so glaring that they had to answer reasonable questions and disprove assumptions.

It worked with Clinton because there was enough there there for it to be believable. I agree with the OP. We need a squeaky clean candidate. Not just for 2020. We need candidates to be responsible about running only when they do not have a bunch of easy to spin into controversy facts in their history.

[LisaL]

58. Trump has so many facts in his history and that didn't stop him from running or being elected.

So I really don't see the logic here.

[loyalsister]

60. The OP was about our future candidates

And, the media did not look into it. And, the government has standing to question and investigate when people are public officials. Thus, if they want to they will and if there has been a trail left, it is the fault of the person being investigated.
Trump's dealings and corruption have been private and shielded because of it.

[LisaL]

61. Media looked into it plenty.

[saltpoint]

57. Partisan positioning aside, I'm not sure the political

arena is the place I would begin looking for a goody two shoes type.

Also I'm not sure a goody two shoes type would do us any good if he or she could not rise to the occasion of the frequent knife fights out in the alley, which IMO more accurately defines politics than peanut farming.

On a more personal note, Carter's post-presidency has been wonderful, but for some time in the party he was from the Scoop Jackson wing (and even placed Jackson's name in nomination at our convention). Ted Kennedy challenged Carter in part because Carter was not felt by many of the core Democratic constituency groups to represent them.

I want somebody who's street savvy, not afraid to fight back under challenge, and who stands tall for those core constituency groups.

[fwgmaryland]

64. O'Malley

Martin O'Malley was so overlooked in this election!!

[saltpoint]

65. Agree. He was overlookied, under-reported,

and way too underestimated.

An extremely capable soul. We need to turn to people like Martin O'Malley for this midterm.

In fact, I think he would be sensational as our Party Chair. As far as I'm concerned, he can start Monday morning.

[volstork]

59. It's interesting to me that

almost every reply in this thread references a man or a male pronoun. Why can't we run a tough, honest woman?

Not that we didn't just do that, but don't assume that the best or only option is a man.

Elizabeth Warren comes to mind....