Let the fighting begin!
Peter Dreier, professor of politics at Occidental College in California, proposes the names of 20 Democrats who might be contenders in 2020.
Of the names he lists, there are some that I would never support unless they had a conversion experience and abandoned their ties to the privatization movement. The ones who come to mind at once as too cozy with the privatizers are Andrew Cuomo and Corey Booker. I would also want to know whether Julian Castro agrees with his brother, the mayor of San Antonio, who gave one-quarter of the seats in his city’s public schools to charter operators.
I expect that readers in Ohio will have a few choice words for Sherrod Brown, who has not said much about the rampant charter corruption in his state.
Feel free to chime in.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Please remove Booker from list immediately. He can be credited with bringing Anderson to Newark and increasing charter school market share in the city.
Cuomo was fighting hard to end the public school monopoly until recently when he quieted down. He backed Flanagan and he is buddy buddy with Moskowitz.
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And here we go again forgetting that we have elections every two years …
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Dreier also mistakenly dismisses Pence as an opponent. Not smart to brush him off. He’ll probably be President by 2020 after impeachment proceedings, and will run as the incumbent.
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Chuck Schumer: “Wall Street’s favorite Democrat,…”
Well, that’s a ringing endorsement. The fact that he could be on anyone’s list tells you that Democrats still don’t understand why they lost….
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There are no perfect candidates. If we are going to wait for Ms. or Mr. perfection, good luck. I’m not going through that Green party crap again. WASTED VOTE, WASTED ENERGY! This is a fight for the survival of the country. We now have an absolute disaster, a menace not just to the country but to the world = Donald Trump. It could have been different if more people had voted for Hillary but here we are with a very dangerous person in charge of our nuclear weapons. A person who spits on the environment. We need to get more Democrats in the Congress in 2018 and hopefully in the WH in 2020. As it stands, the SCOTUS will be lost for decades. Just wait for the screaming and gnashing of teeth when Trump starts appointing wing nut deplorables to the SCOTUS.
I would damn well vote for Cory Booker over Pence or Trump. I hope Booker does not become a contender and we have someone more progressive more independent than he is. As much as I like Bernie, he will be too old in 2020. Elizabeth Warren is a possibility.
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I would not wish the developments in Newark on the rest of the country. You are welcome to disagree.
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I hope that Booker does not run for president or governor. I would vote against him in the primaries. I would only vote for him IF (big IF), it was between him and some horrible right wing gargoyle like Pence or Trump. All that being said, Booker was an educational horror for Newark. I also would not wish the developments in Newark on the rest of the country and I don’t live in Newark. Booker deserves a huge chunk of the blame for what happened to the schools in Newark. He even did kissy-face with Christie over all that school choice blarney. Abigail, I would not blame you if you didn’t vote for Booker considering what you are going through.
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I expect that readers in Ohio will have a few choice words for Sherrod Brown, who has not said much about the rampant charter corruption in his state.
In Ohio. Sherrod Brown is a pleasant whimp.
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“Pleasant”, for the self-serving, who want some, of the $71 mil., to expand charter schools in Ohio. Brown requested the federal taxpayers fund the Walton agenda, when he asked the U.S. Sec. of Ed., whom he admired, i.e. Arne Duncan’s and Bill Gates’, John King, to release the money.
IMO, once Brown finds that Gates and, the other big money, like DeVos, he’ll admire her, too.
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I still support Brown. He was my House rep when I moved here. He was responsive to me then and as a senator as well. I agree that he hasn’t been vocal on education issues, but I’m willing to give him some slack given his committee assignments. He has demonstrated, in my experience, a willingness to listen and change his mind when educated and convinced about an issue. And I may have missed it earlier, Linda, and please forgive me if I did, but I cannot find any evidence, “fingerprints,” if you will, that Brown requested that $71 million for Ohio charters. If you have documentation you can provide, I will pledge to visit his office and will invite you to join me, to protest and ask for his reasons why he did so. And he did a pretty good job in the hearing with Price today.
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I’ll reply again. As I recall, Diane posted Brown’s letter. Ohio newspapers, like the Dayton Daily News, reported on Brown’s request for the release of $71 mil. to expand charters. Thirdly, those of us who wrote to Brown, received, form letters from Brown, stating his support for John King’s policies, as they related to charter school expansion. Included in Brown’s letter, asking for release of the money, were pleas for better regulation and praise for good charters. I drew the conclusion that Brown was praising Fordham-run charter schools. (The Walton’s fund Fordham.)
I’m curious why, in your communications with Brown, about education, you didn’t receive the form letters that the rest of us (some like me who contributed to his campaign) received.
I contacted both Brown’s Washington office and his campaign office, asking if he received money from charter schools. His government office wouldn’t say and his campaign office never replied.
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Sorry if I wasn’t clear: I haven’t had discussions with Brown about education. I would be willing to organize a visit with him to discuss it. I also got the form letter on King and expressed my dismay back.
My recollection, and I may be wrong, is that Brown was surprised as anyone when the $71 million grant came to Ohio. His statement, as I recall, was that since the money had been granted, there needed to be strict oversight to avoid similar malfeasance as had occurred in the past.
My objection is by summarily dismissing Brown on this issue, as wrong as he may be, you engaging in “baby/bathwater” politics. Brown has been exceptional on health issues. He sponsored the provision in the Affordable Care Act requiring insurers to pay for clinical trial costs of insured beneficiaries. On banking, which is his biggest issue, he has been consistently supporting and leading the same issues that Sanders ran on. He is a reliable ally of labor, veterans, and women’s issues. Yes, I am disappointed in his positions on education, but I believe he is poorly staffed and it has not been on any of his committee jurisdictions. And I believe strongly that he can be taught. I think DeVos in USDE will make it much easier to educate him.
Josh Mandel would have been infinitely worse and he looms on the horizon again. He’s Ohio’s version of Tom Cotton: a rich kid who cynically joined the military to raise his political stature and uses it as cover for a radical, damaging agenda.
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We’re in agreement, that Republicans are worse than Republican lites. I presume Brown is ever mindful of the religious right and the Koch’s threat to his D.C. tenure.
The national Democratic Party hierarchy is throwing the game. The wedge that Trump provided, for an attack on the religious right, found no traction in the Party’s messaging. The opportunity to make the case that the Koch branch of the Republican Party was attacking the pensions of police and that all of us would be better, minorities included, with a professional force, was ignored. The opportunity to address privatization, linking it to poorly paid soldiers vs. Erik Prince’s mercenaries, another issue ignored. Any one of these could have found a voice in Brown. But, he stays on the safe side of the sidewalk where there’s no winning for the 90%.
Brown knew enough about the issue of DeVos’ fine for charter school promotion in Ohio, to ask for repayment. His staff replied to me that the office appreciated my information about Gates’ investment in Bridge international Academies, because it was new to them. He is on the Board of the OSU John Glenn College of Public Affairs which had a leadership conference last year, in which only privatizers were on the printed program and charter schools were deceptively identified as “public”.
Brown went to Yale. He is able to read Ohio newspapers. Why assume he is ignorant?
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I may have to eat my words, Linda. Wrote Brown’s office two sharply worded emails yesterday about his vote in committee to approve Ben Carson (and Warren too!?!?) as well as one on education using some of your points. Will work on scheduling visit with his Cleveland office soon. I hate eating my own words; leaves a long, bitter aftertaste.
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Ben Carson was a great surgeon. He is totally unqualified to lead HUD.
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Democratic politicians watched the success of Republican obstruction, when the GOP had neither the House nor Senate and, Obama was elected.
Now that the Dems are in the weaker position, they have embraced a conciliatory strategy, “picking and choosing their battles”. Most convenient for career politicians like Brown.
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Of all the choices Warren is probably the most electable. I don’t know too much about some of the others except from their appearances on Bill Maher. IMHO Gavin Newsom impressed. He was smart, reasoned and articulate. I know California is dominated by privateers, but I did find the following quote from Newsom.
Here’s an excerpt from the editor’s note in the current issue of the Guardian:
Tom Perez was just on Maher. While he seems like decent fellow, he was quiet and didn’t have the persona of a politician.
Overall, if the Democrats want to win, they need an exceptional person that is interested in rebuilding the middle class. They need someone with courage and conviction. Frankly, if they expect working people to get excited by a candidate, they should steer clear of neoliberals. The last three Democrats that have run for president have been free market neoliberals that have pandered to Wall St and Silicon Valley. The ideal candidate needs to reject privatization, which like unfettered trade agreements. destroys middle class jobs; and labor is sick of corporate handouts at the expense of working American families.
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There are more things in Heaven and earth, Peter Dreier than are dreamt of in your 24/7/365 Presidential campaign philosophy.
Maybe it’s time to take another vacation. 4 years might be good.
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Just when I start feeling safe to start doubting Trump could pull it off again in 2020, I see this list.
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Too true, but let’s hope that events put most of these placeholders. on the sideline.
With the possible exception of Elizabeth Warren, all of these people would guarantee a Republican victory in 2020. It would be another presidential election on which the Democrats would spend a billion dollars, as Hillary did, losing. And it would be a loss they will have earned and deserved.
I grudgingly voted for Hillary last year, but under no circumstances would I ever vote for the treacherous, insufferable Cory Booker.
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While it is anathema, buying Republican politicians, issue by issue, seems like a possible last ditch effort to get some wins, in an environment where the Democratic Party hierarchy is throwing the game…. Nah, too much peril.
7000 women, marching for bread, in France, hastened their revolution.
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True… but here’s a question: would Obama have been on a list of contenders in 2005? It may be a tad early in the game to figure this out…. of all on the list Gillibrand is the most intriguing— probably because she is a blank slate at this point… Elizabeth Warren, BTW, is now 67 years old…
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“Elizabeth Warren, BTW, is now 67 years old…” & your point, wgersen, is? Hillary is 69, Trump is 70, & we all know how old Sanders is (&, seeing him twice in person–bounding up to the stage like a 25-year-old & talking, non-stop at rallies, sometimes for an hour-&-a-half–he appeared to be half his age). Therefore, if Warren (& I say run, Elizabeth, run) runs in 2020, she’d start in 2019, at 69, & would be…70 in 2020. Gasp!!!
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My main point was that we may not know the 2020 contender at this point… my secondary point (as a 69 year old) is that we need to look past MY generation to find someone who can carry the torch forward for a couple of generations… Kristen Gillibrand and Zephyr Teachout (if she can make a national name for herself) come to mind… I may be wrong but I think by 2020 the younger generations will be tired of us…
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Why post this just here? Cut and paste and put comments like this on the original article. Spread the knowledge.
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Where are Tim Canova and Zephyr Teachout?
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The list includes enough suspect candidates to warrant review of Prospect funders. if funders include Ford, Joyce, Rockefeller, MacArthur (genius grants to Chetty and the “resilience” professor), etc. then, IMO, the article should be perceived to be, in the same stable as Media Matters and Walton-funded CAP/Podesto.
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Isn’t 4 years enough for Michelle Obama to gain some experience and perhaps get educated on education matters?
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How about Tulsi Gabbard? A veteran and woman of color. The facebook group set up to encourage her to run in 2020 has over 20,000 members, including Jane O’Meara Sanders.
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The litmus test for a politician is, his or her position on charter schools, the privatization of America’s most important common good.
Where does Gabbard stand?
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Linda,
Please identify one Congressperson who does not support charter schools. I am at a loss.
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“Please identify one Congressperson who does not support charter schools. ”
They must support them since they associate them with choice and that means freedom. So if they say, “I don’t support charter schools”, the other politicians immediately say “You want to take away people’s freedom of choice. Are you a communist?”, and with that, excommunication is assured.
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The confirmation hearings of Betsy DeVos, provoked Chuck Schumer’s new Eureka moment, “There’s a threat to public education”. Too bad for America, the national Dems, have no “will to power”. A Republican agenda is fine with the Walton-funded Center for American Progress, which ran Hillary’s campaign.
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Mate,
Did national Dems attempt to craft a counter response? I saw no evidence.
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Linda, I am just assuming that behind this unification of the senators to support charter schools is the sacred status of “choice” lies, and hence not supporting charter schools would mean political suicide. But they may just be ill informed.
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The Democratic Party needs to realize that they have alienated a lot of their base by embracing the charter school as reform premise. I know I lost my enthusiasm for Obama with his education policies. I am not even sure Clinton is that much of an advocate. II remember being upset when NEA endorsed Obama early even though his policies were not what we wanted. We need a candidate who fervently believes in the value of public schools and how the charter school movement (and the testing) has hurt the cause.
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At this point, a lifeline, may be the Working Family Party.
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