OOC: It’s your call. It’s your timeline. However, I do think either Harris or Warren would be on the ticket in 2020.
OOC: It’s your call. It’s your timeline. However, I do think either Harris or Warren would be on the ticket in 2020.
OOC: Well, I'm the OP but I want everyone to contribute. You've made a lot of important contributions, for instance, and I appreciate that.
DBWI: Biden ran a spirited race in 2016 against Romney. He still has a following with the Democratic base, but at his age I don't think he'll make another go at the White House. And no candidate has lost the presidency only to be nominated again since Richard Nixon. It looks like Sanders is the early frontrunner for 2020, but IMO Harris is more electable nationally. Some say incoming Senator O'Rourke of Texas is presidential material, but he ruled out a White House run during the midterms. Maybe he could be VP.
I don’t think O’Rourke will be a candidate. I feel it would upset a lot of people if he outright ran for the Presidency a few months after being elected as Senator. It would almost seem like a slap in the face to everyone who voted to represent them for a six year term.
Speaking of O’Rourke, I’m still shocked at his upset. His victory was the biggest, bar none, of the entire midterms, Senate, House, or Governor elections alike.
I agree. Never in a million years did I expect him to beat Cruz, and yet he did by .5%. Ironically this helps Vice-President Jindal, since Crux was widely expected to challenge him for the 2020 nomination.
So far this thread has talked a lot about post-2000 politics, but what do people think about Cuomo's Presidency? I think he did a pretty good job overall: he rejuvenated the stagnating 1990s economy by lowering interest rates and passing a Keynesian stimulus, intervened in Rwanda to stop the genocide there, enacted a major healthcare reform bill in 1995, ratified the Kyoto Protocol, and lead the country to victory in the Kosovo War. However, due to the high levels of federal spending in the 1990s Cuomo failed to meet his goals of balancing the budget and closing up the federal deficit. Many conservatives still blame Cuomo's liberal policies for increasing our national debt, and I don't disagree. On the other hand many liberals criticize Cuomo for not doing enough to address gay rights issues, which he generally avoided as President. Regardless of what one thinks of his policies, Cuomo will always have the distinction of being our nation's first Italian-American President.
I think he’s look upon favorably post-Presidency, given the fact that all of his successors, sans Romney, have only served single four year terms before being defeated for re-election.
How I'd rank the Presidents since 1981 from Best to Worst:
1. Mario Cuomo
2. Al Gore
3(tie). Barack Obama
3(tie). George Bush
5. John McCain
6. Ronald Reagan
7. Mitt Romney
How I'd rank the Presidents since 1981 from Best to Worst:
1. Mario Cuomo
2. Al Gore
3(tie). Barack Obama
3(tie). George Bush
5. John McCain
6. Ronald Reagan
7. Mitt Romney
After leaving office Cuomo wrote a study of Lincoln's leadership that was acclaimed by historians and became a bestseller. It was definitely the kind of success the Cuomo family needed following Andrew's humiliating loss to Pataki in 2002. Cuomo mostly avoided criticizing his successors and tried to stay out of the national spotlight, but he did campaign for Dems in important elections. His speech praising Obama at the 2008 DNC did much to effect the outcome of the presidential race that year. I wonder: if Clinton, Tsongas, or Bush had won in 1992 - would Obama have ever been elected?
Wow, that's pretty harsh on Romney. Why do you think he was worse than Reagan? Iran-Contra was far worse than anything Romney has done, as much as I've disagreed with many of his decisions.
Damn, no love for Romney?
As for the economy, the good numbers we've seen over the last 5 years were largely the result of the heavy lifting Obama did after the 2009 Crisis, granted one could argue Cuomo inherited a growing economy as well, but Cuomo did a lot to make the recovery/boom of the 1990s a strong and even one, where as the so called "Romney recovery" only benefited the wealthy. The poor are much worse off, the middle class is shrinking more than it has at anytime during the post war era all while the rich are getting richer.
He's also not done enough on the environment for the sake of appeasing Donors and the Fossil Fuel Industry, despite the overwhelming evidence of Climate change and it's been on his watch that the GOP became the party that denies Climate Change.
Honestly if the Democrats ran someone in 2016 who could've exploited the failures of the Romney Presidency, particularly in it's first two years while the GOP had both houses of Congress. and hammered on on the unevenness of the economy, they could've narrowly beaten him, but instead they ran the likable, but very gaffe prone Joe Biden who just couldn't do it and even agreed with some of the mistakes this President has made.
Also we gotta give Romney credit for criminal justice reform (even if it was mostly passed because of Democrats) it got rid of mandatory minimums for drug offenses, funded rehibilitaion centers, and got rid of extremely cruel prison practices.
Getting back to Cuomo I think some of his most important parts of his legacy was shifting the Overton window in key areas. I mean after because of his infrastructure funding the Democrats permanently came under the ideas of economic liberalism (and thanks to that we have high speed rails on par with Europe in Some of the country) also after columbine his gun control measures permanently shifted the dialogue on gun debate, I mean no Republican administration has been able to repeal them and every time it goes to SCOTUS they always through out the case
Cuomo's excessive 1994 crime law is another black mark on his legacy: it intensified the problem of mass incarceration and made America's criminal Justice system an international embarrassment. I commend Romney for giving the system a much needed overhaul.
But alongside universal health care, some say that Cuomo's leadership after Columbine was among his finest hours as President. The fight for gun reform was brutal, but after much wrestling with House Republicans Cuomo signed the 1999 Firearms Safety Act into law. Cuomo's bill, in addition to a 2013 expansion of the law reluctantly signed by Romney, has been credited for bringing down gun violence over the past twenty years.
I believe someone already brought this up but on the international stage his leadership through the UN in preventing the Rewadan crisis from getting out of hand is on of the worlds greatest triumphs
Cuomo is usually remembered as a domestic policy President, but his bravery in standing up to murderous tyrants in Rwanda and Kosovo is also worth mentioning. Democrats and Republicans alike applauded Cuomo's internationalist foreign policy, which also saw the United States negotiate an "agreed framework" to peace in Korea and lay the groundwork for a two state solution between Israel and Palestine. However Cuomo's critics rightfully point out that the results of these plans actually came to fruition under President Gore, who never really received credit for them. I sometimes feel bad for Gore: he accomplished a lot as President, even more than Cuomo did in certain areas like foreign policy and the environment, but he didn't have Cuomo's politcal skills and 2002 saw the Democrats lose both Houses of Congress for the first time since Eisenhower. I wonder, how would Clinton or Tsongas handled foreign policy had they won in 1992? What about Bush if he had won in an upset?