Congratulations to Mayor Peter Butigieg for winning the Iowa ruckus, I mean, caucus. At least that's what the news reports are saying with 96% of the vote counted and several discrepancies still to be resolved.
All the experts say that the 2020 Democratic candidate will be an elderly white guy, either Joe Biden, or Bernie Sanders, and perhaps this is so. But it is very hard to imagine how they can win with a candidate who is several years older than Donald Trump--who himself was the oldest candidate ever elected President.
These elderly candidates managed to not serve in the military during the Viet Nam period, but now wish to be Commander-in-Chief. That Viet Nam generation--both Democrat and Republican--was the most divisive, self-destructive, argumentative and obstinate generation since the American Civil War.
The political parties, aided and abetted by American voters, have attempted to refashion the President into a super-legislator who will create policies and laws to be ratified by Congress. However that is not what the Constitution specifies. The President is supposed to be the Chief Executive, supervising the government organizations carrying out the will of Congress, and also the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful military in the world.
Pete Butigieg is one of only two candidates who actually served in the US military. The other is Tulsi Gabbard, who may be the closest person to being a fiscally conservative Democrat in the race.
Sanders, on the other hand, was a Conscientious Objector. How do you have a Conscientious Objector in charge of the organization that he objects to?? Biden, gosh, wanted to serve in Viet Nam, but he had asthma as a kid and just couldn't do it. Tsk, tsk. President Trump, too, had five deferments from the draft, by the way.
Viet Nam was a stupid war, and it is hard to blame people for not wishing to be a part of it, but on the other hand they simply did not earn the credentials to be military leaders. It doesn't mean they are pariahs, but how can they be Commander-in-Chief?
Is it narrow minded to want to escape these people? If so, I apologize, but I sincerely want to escape them. I just want someone who can act like a grown-up, rather than an angry, spoiled child. That entire group deluded themselves into thinking that they could rid themselves of President Trump via a partisan impeachment process, even though the simply did not have the votes in the Senate. I think it's time for them to go play golf and other, younger, leaders are going to have to take over. Unfortunately the oldsters will probably will not go gracefully, but instead will go kicking and screaming. The impeachment process has already boosted President Trump to a -150 betting favorite (translating to an implied win probability of 60%. Nevertheless, the oldsters will insist on losing the election their way, and the oddsmakers are saying they will get their way.
I have not made up my mind whether Butigieg is my favorite Democrat, nor will I necessarily vote Democratic this fall. But I am happy to see someone running for President who was not yet born in the Gilligan's Island era.
