Announcing for president on the Democratic ticket April 29, 73-year-old Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), shook up the Democratic race, firing salvos at front-runner former Senator and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. Straddling the fence on key foreign and domestic policy issues with moderate Republicans, Clinton positions herself well for the general election but antagonizes the liberal-leaning Democratic base. As secretary of state, Clinton stood with Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and other GOP hawks calling for a no-fly zone in Syria to help topple Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Sanders aligns himself on foreign policy with GOP-Tea Party presidential hopeful Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) who wants a more isolationist foreign policy, especially where it comes to Mideast wars. Sanders hopes to push Hillary into adopting a more leftist foreign and domestic policy.
Appearing on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sanders called on Democrats and Republicans to debate the issues together, not separated by Party rules. Bernie wants to take on all sides, confident that his socialist talking points resonate with Democrats and Republicans tired to Washington gridlock. Sanders plea for joint GOP and Democratic debates won’t get much play. When he’s debating Hillary, he’ll get his chance to contrast moderate Democratic and GOP positions with his own left-leaning views on key voter issues, especially on the billionaire-class wealth gap, driving more middle class voters into substandard lifestyles. Sanders wants to push Hillary into re-discovering her Democratic roots, not adopting moderate GOP positions. Promising to add some fireworks into the campaign, Sanders wants to serve as a lightening rod for lost core Democratic values.
Lurking on the GOP side of potential front-runners is 62-year-old former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, still an undeclared candidate. Bush’s fence-sitting on declaring his candidacy relates purely to the fact he hasn’t been bankrolled by any GOP billionaires. Responding to Bob Schieffer on his last broadcast a host of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Jeb equivocated when asked when he’d formally declare for president. “I hope to run,” said Bush. “I hope. I hope. I’m a candidate in the near future,” said Bush, demonstrating why GOP donors haven’t committed to his candidacy. Saying on the stump “he’s his own man,” in contrast to a clone of his brother, former President George W. Bush, Jeb’s equivocation show the fatal flaw in his expected candidacy: His indecisiveness. Say what you will about “W,” he wasn’t “indecisive” when it came to launching the Afghan and Iraq Wars.
Jeb’s reluctance to announce his candidacy speaks volumes about the lack of solid financial backing. Running as a moderate, Jeb doesn’t know what position to take on key economic or foreign policy issues. He only reluctantly says in hindsight he wouldn’t have launched the Iraq War. Jeb detests hypotheticals but doesn’t give the right answer when it comes to the Iraq War. When he says he wouldn’t go to war knowing Iraq’s Saddam Hussein didn’t have weapons of mass destruction he fails to admit that, with or without WMD, it was wrong to remove Saddam from power, opening up the dreaded “power vacuum” in Iraq that unleashed Islamic terrorism in the Middle East. Jeb doesn’t see the error of his brother’s way, only that he’d do things differently in hindsight. Saying his wife and children are “totally in,” there’s no excuse for not declaring other than money.
Filibustering the surveillance provisions of the Patriot Act today, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) established himself as a Constitutionalist, ending what he sees a unconstitutional practices by the federal government. “Today we stopped the illegal NSA bulk data collection,” said Paul’s statement. “This is a victory, no mater how you look at it. It might be short-lived but I hope it provides a road for a robust debate, which will strengthen our intelligence community, while also respecting our constitution,” continuing to antagonize the rest of the Republican Party. Most Republicans back the bulk dada collection provision of the Patriot Act, believing it’s a necessary compromise to assure national security. Paul’s comments about GOP creating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syrian by leaving too much military hardware in Iraq’s hands antagonized entrenched elements in the GOP.
GOP’s declared and undeclared presidential candidates haven’t done much so far to inspire confidence heading into 2016. With former Lucent Technologists and Hewlett Packard CEO Carly Fiorina calling Hillary “unqualified,” the GOP seems desperate to take cheap shots at the 67-year former First Lady, U.S. Senator and Secretary of State. If Fiorina thinks only running failing tech companies is the right background for president, it shows why she’s polling well below other GOP candidates. Blaming Hillary for using private emails at the State Department or for allowing the Sept. 11, 2012 Benghazi terrorist attacks that killed Amb. Chris Stevens and three other Americans won’t be enough with mainstream voters. GOP’s growing field of 2016 hopefuls have to stop ripping each other or throwing mud at Hillary before mainstream voters get completely turned off.
