The raucous chortling you hear from Iowa, New Hampshire, and DC today are far-left Democrats happy beyond measure that ideological wet blanket former Republican, then Independent, now Dem former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg decided not to run for president.
You hear even more mirth from the White House.
Bloomberg, given his realistic opposition to the Green New Deal, was a voice of cogent thought (at least on this measure) crying out in a Bolshie wilderness. He would have brought his vast wealth, grownup image, moderate credentials, perhaps the New York primary and delegation, and massive name recognition to a Dem race shaping up to be greatly populated by pygmies. The pygmies were nervous about him because, as with other top-tier candidates, Bloomberg might start out in double digits of support leaving the rest of the politically stature-challenged field to divide up the rest.
On Monday Hillary also said she wasn’t running. But then backtracked, according to a source close to her. She says she’s waiting to see what other hasbeens, like John Kerry, will do before she gets out for sure. What a sad attention trollop she is.
With Biden, Sanders, Harris, and maybe one or two others also starting out around or at ten percent, the pickings will be slim indeed for the many underdogs. Throw in Bloomberg’s perceived moderate image, worth maybe 15 percent in a Dem primary, and that made him a serious threat to Inslee, Castro, and the like.
That’s gone now and the majority of the field can prance merrily over a hard-left cliff with no voice of reasoned adult gravitas to arrest their plunge. One of the smart remaining Dems, like Hickenlooper, could shift to the middle to cover Bloomberg’s appeal and steal the march on the middle ground. However, that would mean abandoning dogma to gain sentience. Not something Dems are known for this year.
Biden is also perceived as a relative moderate and leads polls right now. But Joe has a consistent way of screwing the pooch in presidential races by unforced errors.
The White House knows that the farther left the Dems go the more unelectable they are. Bloomberg might even have shown formidable popularity in the primaries with the Clinton base, as kind of a non-goofy Biden, plus a bit more support given his business record. This would also be apparent in the general election. This made him worrisome to the GOP.
But the president is again saved by luck and the growing mania of his enemies. He may ride that mania all the way to well over 300 electoral votes in 2020.
Update: The piece I did yesterday praising Dems for a House resolution they were writing to condemn socialist bigot and raving anti-Semite Rep. llhan Omar? Eliot Engel, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee (where she sits) is already backtracking on the now watered down (by Dem House leadership) resolution. I guess they thought better of their one moment of sanity.
