By Staff Writer Timothy Howard.
Last week Amy Klobuchar, a democratic Senator from the state of Minnesota, announced her intention to run for president. This makes her another addition to the ever growing list of candidates eager to challenge Trump in 2020 and reclaim the White House for the Democratic party.
While her candidacy doesn’t really have any unique attributes (no unique policy positions or atypical aspects of the candidate herself) she does have one interesting starting position. Klobuchar has decided to seize control of the center of the democratic party.
This marks a significant shift from many of the declared candidates as they have gravitated toward the more progressive side and left the middle championless.
Klobuchar believes this will serve her well as she will be virtually uncontested for the presently unpopular position. However, this strategy isn’t meritless.
The middle isn’t the worst place to be in politics if you understand how to play there. All one has to do is wikipedia the 2017 elections in France to see a centrist candidate (Emmanuel Macron) sweep the field to become President of the French Republic.
This strategy requires painting the left and the right of the political spectrum as out of touch with the needs of the citizenry. Macron also utilized his economic experience to leverage a platform of growth and prosperity for the people of France if he were to be elected President.
In the same vain, Klobuchar could utilize her extensive Senate experience (3 terms) as justification for why she should be elected President.
She can, and probably will, argue that her knowledge and expertise in government is exactly what is needed to get Congress running smoothly once more and actually get things accomplished.
That strategy may very well work in the general election. But in the primaries, she needs to do two important things to have a chance of acquiring the Democratic party nomination.
First, she must find flaws with the most common policy positions of her opponents. This includes Medicarefor All, the Green New Deal, getting money out of politics etc. Not a remotely simple challenge, but a necessary one.
Second, she must find out-think those same policies and come up with ones superior to them in regard to their achievability in a four year term. The aforementioned policies are time consuming ordeals.
The fruits of their labor will not be seen for years to come. If Klobuchar can offer alternatives that can be achieved in quick succession with immediate results, people may become intrigued.
Unfortunately, Klobuchar does not seem to be following down that path. She is presently investing her time throwing stones at Trump and making unfounded accusations against the popular policy proposals the Democratic party is rallying behind. Worst of all, she utilizes platitudes and morality to prop up her campaign instead of talking about the issues which she is passionate about.
Though that doesn’t speak much for her chances if one distinct policy proposal has not been made apparent in to differentiate itself from the other twelve other declared candidates presently in the field.
To summate, one should not bother donating time or money to Amy Klobuchar’s campaign if she continues to fail to come up with definitive positions on issues and have concrete, and most importantly, persuasive ideas about how to bring about positive change in the country.
“I promise you this: As your president, I will look you in the eye. I will tell you what I think. I will focus on getting things done. That’s what I’ve done my whole life. And no matter what, I’ll lead from the heart.” – Sen. Klobuchar