“You have to remember one thing about the will of the people: it wasn’t that long ago that we were swept away by the Macarena.”
- Jon Stewart
introduction
The election marches on. In case you missed it, Chris Christie is out, Carly Fiorina is out and Jim Gilmore is out. Gilmore received 12 votes in Iowa. Not 12 percent, just 12 votes total. As Stephen Colbert put it, there are more people in Iowa named Jim Gilmore than there were votes cast for Jim Gilmore.
So we are down to two democrats and six republicans. But now Michael Bloomberg is considering entering the race. So If you count it another way, you could have 1 democrat, five republicans and three independents (Sanders, Bloomberg, and Trump). My friend Vinay made the point that if Sanders and Cruz win the nomination, it’s not out of the question to imagine Trump and Bloomberg running independently, giving us a four candidate general election.
That probably won’t happen, but then again, there are a lot of things in this election I thought probably wouldn’t happen but have. To get you ready for what’s next, I’m sharing some of the most interesting pieces I could find on each of the candidates from the past year.
- Why do so many Millennials love a 74-year old socialist?
- What are Rubio and Kasich actually like as leaders?
- Who’s backing Ted Cruz?
- Is Bush still in it?
- What does Ralph Nader think of Bloomberg’s candidacy?
- What does David Brooks like about Obama?
This issue is packed! I’ve got some good reads on each of the candidates, except Carson and Trump. Why not them? For Carson, If he is in it past Super Tuesday, I promise to cover him. For Trump, I figured he gets enough coverage on his own. Plus I did a special experimental issue of 12 articles on him, available for 99 cents on my website.
share this edition with: Berners, Bushies, Clintonistas, Rubioans, Trumpeters, Fans of Ted Cruz, Fans of Tom Cruise, Kasichers, Carsonians, and Bloombergers too.
Read widely. Vote wisely.
Max
Did someone forward this to you? Welcome! click to here to subscribe to The Weekend Reader email for free
1. “Why Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Want Your Vote”
by Joel Stein for Bloomberg Businessweek
(22 minute read)
This is a terrific portrait of the man who just won the New Hampshire primary by 20+ points over Hilary Clinton. Before the primary he was trailing her in South Carolina and Nevada by 20+points. Will his momentum push “the revolution” forward in SC?
This article is so well written and funny and informative. This is really an enjoyable article about an unlikely presidential candidate who has caught fire with one big idea.
quotes
“Bernie Sanders is more an idea than a person. An idea does not need to comb its hair. An idea can get away with skipping the task that occupies so much of most politicians’ time — phoning the rich to ask for money — by instead writing fundraising letters, which contain words that make people with money anxious, like “oligarchy.”
“An idea can give speeches filled with so many statistics and numbers that they’re really just white papers with hand gestures. Bernie Sanders is not a leader so much as a messenger. And his message can fit on a Post-it note: The rich are screwing you.
“It’s the most passion-inducing message of the presidential campaign. Sanders has gotten more donations — 2.5 million-plus — at this point in the election cycle than any candidate in history, including sitting presidents, and twice as many individual donors as Hillary Clinton…For an angry, self-righteous Post-it note, Sanders is pretty likable.”
Read the full piece: “Why Bernie Sanders Doesn’t Want Your Vote” by Joel Stein
Also check out:
“Bernie Sanders, The Populist Prophet”
by Maragret Talbot in The New Yorker.
(41 minute read)
If the previous article is about the current Sanders moment, this profile from last fall is about how he got here. It explains how “Sanders’s young fans combine admiration for his progressive conviction with a slightly condescending fondness for cranky old people.”
quotes
“A 2011 Pew Research Center survey found that, among voters under the age of thirty, forty-nine per cent had a positive view of socialism. (Only forty-six per cent had a positive view of capitalism.)”
I wonder what those numbers were before the global financial crisis…
“At home, Sanders became a symbol of Vermont’s cussed uniqueness, as affectionately regarded as a scoop of Chunky Monkey. He was reëlected to the House seven times. And his ascent to the Senate, in 2006, was stunning: he trounced the Republican candidate, Richard Tarrant, one of the wealthiest men in the state, by thirty-three percentage points.
“But when Sanders has run for the Vermont governorship he hasn’t done well. Jim Condon, the state legislator and former reporter, notes, “That’s telling. People here like him making a lot of noise in Washington for a little state — they’re happy to send a human hand grenade down there.” But they don’t necessarily want Sanders running the state.”
2. “The Unpleasant Charisma of John Kasich”
by Molly Ball in The Atlantic
(27 minute read)
John Kasich performed well in New Hampshire, coming in third. Now people are giving him a second or, in many cases, a first look. Did you see Kasich’s tender speech about compassion after the results on Tuesday? (start at 9:27) I found it endearing, but I was also scratching my head thinking what kind of a speech is this? Get off your phone? Stop and hug your neighbor? I guess it’s a clear alternative to Trump.
Kasich may have presented a softer side in NH, but this article, written just at the start of his campaign portrays him as more of a tough guy, who balanced the federal budget as a congressman and balanced the state budget as Governor of Ohio. Kasich won 86 out of 88 counties in Ohio in his last gubernatorial race, including Cuyahoga County which Obama owned in 2012. Looking at that, I’m surprised he hasn’t gotten more support from the Republicans as a Trump alternative.
Maybe it’s because Kasich was once kicked offstage of a Grateful Dead concert?
quotes
But while Kasich can be rude — and at times even genuinely nasty — he is also prone to spontaneous displays of empathy, frequently becoming emotional as he talks about the plight of people ‘in the shadows.’
“To his allies, these traits are two sides of the same coin. They describe Kasich as a sort of heartland Chris Christie — brash, decisive, authentic — without all the baggage. “He does have a tendency to ready-fire-aim,” says Mike Hartley, who helped run Kasich’s 2010 campaign for governor and worked in his administration. ‘But here’s the thing — he makes things happen. His will is tremendous, and he gets people to follow him. He’s an ass-kicker.’
“Like Christie, Kasich can be a compelling speaker; he’s a good storyteller, and his brusqueness gives him a similar sort of anti-charisma. A 2010 article in Columbus’s alternative weekly recounted multiple episodes of Kasich’s boorishness, only to conclude that ‘perhaps Ohio could use a good SOB in the Governor’s Mansion.’”
Read the full piece:
The Unpleasant Charisma of John Kasich in The Atlantic
3. “Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote
by Michelle Alexander in The Nation
(17 minute read)
It has been a bad week for the former Secretary of State. She lost New Hampshire badly, got a negative reaction to Madeleine Albright and Gloria Steinem chiding young women for not voting for her, and then found out there is another investigation into her potential misconduct (with the Clinton Foundation). And this article came out.
The author, Michelle Alexander, who wrote The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, and has helped shape the national conversation about prison reform argues that although the Clintons have been enormously popular among black voters the crime bill passed by the Clinton administration led to hundreds of thousands of black men being put in prison.
The conventional wisdom is that Sanders doesn’t stand a chance against Clinton outside of New England because he doesn’t appeal to non-white voters. On the other hand, many argued that he only appeals to men but he won the women vote in New Hampshire, partly because he won young women in such high numbers. Might he also make inroads with young people of color?
quotes
“Hillary is looking to gain momentum on the campaign trail as the primaries move out of Iowa and New Hampshire and into states like South Carolina, where large pockets of black voters can be found. According to some polls, she leads Bernie Sanders by as much as 60 percent among African Americans. It seems that we — black people — are her winning card, one that Hillary is eager to play.
“As unemployment rates sank to historically low levels for white Americans in the 1990s, the jobless rate among black men in their 20s who didn’t have a college degree rose to its highest level ever. This increase in joblessness was propelled by the skyrocketing incarceration rate…
“Why is this not common knowledge? Because government statistics like poverty and unemployment rates do not include incarcerated people. As Harvard sociologist Bruce Western explains: “Much of the optimism about declines in racial inequality and the power of the US model of economic growth is misplaced once we account for the invisible poor, behind the walls of America’s prisons and jails.” When Clinton left office in 2001, the true jobless rate for young, non-college-educated black men (including those behind bars) was 42 percent.”
Read the full piece:
“Why Hillary Clinton Doesn’t Deserve the Black Vote” in The Nation
Differing opinion:
Not everyone would agree with Alexander’s conclusions. Here’s an article inSlate suggesting that:
“The Clinton’s Aren’t to Blame for Mass Incarceration.”
Leon Neyfakh in Slate
(15 minute read)
SNIPPET:
“The percent of people in prison on drug charges nationwide peaked in 1991. And since 1991, it has more or less steadily declined. Now, it’s true that the total number of people in prison on drug charges went up, but the whole prison population was going up along with it. The rate of growth for drug offenders in prison actually slowed down during the Clinton years; it didn’t speed up.”
4. “Marco Rubio’s Political Dexterity”
by Evan Osnos in The New Yorker
(50 minute read)
After his surprise third-place finish in Iowa, Rubio looked increasingly like the alternative to Trump. But after being pummeled by Chris Christie in the next GOP debate, Rubio came in a disappointing 5th in New Hampshire. In South Carolina he is polling third at 12.7%.
This is the story of Marco Rubio’s political career. He is a bright young man, the son of Cuban immigrants, who has sometimes been criticized for trying to climb too fast for his own good and for his thirst for power. But he has been an attractive candidate for appealing to Latinos, conservatives and the establishment.
quotes
“Rubio’s ecumenism is one reason that prominent Democrats consider him the most worrisome contender. David Axelrod, Obama’s former chief strategist, told me that Rubio “seems to be able to build bridges between the two factions of the Republican Party.”
He said, “There is a real civil war going on between populist anti-government Republicans and the establishment conservatives, and Rubio has thus far been able to escape that divide.” Axelrod added, “But it’s going to be harder as time goes on, and he is probably going to have to plant his feet in one place or another.”
“But, at bottom, his campaign is only partly about policy. In a contest against a real-estate tycoon and the son and brother of former Presidents, Rubio is campaigning on the vision of a country where “the son of a bartender and a maid” can reach the White House.
“It’s not just my story — it is literally our story,” he told the Boulder City crowd. “In this nation, we are all but a generation or two removed from someone who made our future the very purpose of their lives. Whether or not we remain a special country will be determined by whether or not that journey is still possible for the people trying to make it now.”
Read the Article: Marco Rubio’s Political Dexterity in The New Yorker
5. The Field Guide to Ted Cruz
by Erica Grieder in Texas Monthly
(22 minute read)
Ted Cruz was first in Iowa, second in New Hampshire and is polling second in South Carolina with 19.7% of the vote.
He has been called a “wacko bird” by John McCain, an extremist, and crazy. This reporter for Texas Monthly says none of those things are true.
This piece feels a bit one-sidedly positive, honestly, but still interesting to New Yorkers whose values may not align. Pair it with the next piece about Cruz’s biggest donors. You might also want to check out her original profile of Cruzfrom 2014.
quotes
“I’m not ideological about intelligence. In my view, it comes in many forms and none of them have a moral valence. So when I say that Cruz is smarter than us, I don’t mean it to imply a value judgment or even a contrast with other politicians. What I mean is that Cruz has the particular form of intelligence that is universally recognized as such, and he has it in abundance. This is just how it is. I feel no need to deny it, and I see no purpose to doing so.
“Instead, I proceed on the assumption that Cruz is smarter than me — not that he’s a superior human who Americans should follow blindly, and not that he’s always right. Just that he’s smarter than me. In practice, that means when Cruz says or does something that doesn’t make sense to me, I ask myself what I’m missing.”
Read the article: “The Field Guide to Ted Cruz” in Texas Monthly
Also Read:
What Kind of Man Spends Millions to Elect Ted Cruz?
by Zachary Mider in Bloomberg Businessweek
(24 minute read)
This is a profile of Robert Mercer, co-CEO of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies, and one of Cruz’s three largest donors. Fascinating look behind the scenes of some of the big money driving this election.
quotes
“Mercer has put at least $32 million behind conservative candidates for office, including $11 million for a group supporting Texas Senator Ted Cruz’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. So far, Mercer is the biggest single donor in the race…
“…In July, a group of related super-PACs known as Keep the Promise reported raising $38 million to support Cruz’s bid, almost all of it from three families no one would confuse with traditional Republican power brokers.
In addition to Mercer, there’s Toby Neugebauer, a founder of a Houston investment firm who now lives in Puerto Rico, and Farris Wilks, a mason, pastor, and father of 11 from rural Texas who became a billionaire a few years ago in the fracking business.
Thanks to these three men and their families, Cruz’s super-PAC war chest was larger than that of any candidate except Jeb Bush, putting to rest any doubt that he’d have the financial firepower to mount a campaign.”
6. “Jeb Bush: A clan of ferocious competitors returns to the fray”
by Sally Jenkins in The Washington Post
(22 minute read)
Jeb Bush had disappointing performances in Iowa and New Hampshire and has been accused by Trump of being weak. He was the unfortunate subject of a viral internet video that showed him asking an audience to clap for him. Watching the debates, Bush has seemed uncomfortable at times with the rough and tumble. But this profile suggests there’s a fire in him beneath the surface that runs throughout his family.
He’s drawing bigger crowds in SC. And now his family is coming to help — Former president George W. Bush is making his first appearance to rally for Jeb next week.
quotes
“He’s an overt intellectual in a clan of self-trimmers who make fun of academic pretensions. An accent from nowhere and steel-rimmed glasses give him the aspect of a technocrat, and he is far more interested in policy than either his father or brother.”
That’s the easy thing to tell about Bush. The harder thing to tell is that he, like his family is competitive. There’s a great little story about the Bushes engaging in a game of shirts and skins basketball against members of the Dallas Cowboys.
“They played rough,” ex-Cowboy Cliff Harris remembers. “And they were in really good shape, and I was like, ‘Whoa.’ We had to get more serious about it. They were running and running, taking shots and bumping into us. President Bush was laughing on the bench, and there are Secret Service guys all around. They caught me completely off guard with their competitiveness and toughness. I was really surprised at their intensity.”
Read the article: Competitive Bushes in The Washington Post
7. “What is Michael Bloomberg Thinking?”
by Ralph Nader in Time
Billionaire entrepreneur, Media mogul and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is reportedly considering a third-party candidacy for president if Trump and Sanders are the nominees.
Perennial third-party candidate Ralph Nader breaks down how Bloomberg is thinking through whether to run.
quotes
“Bloomberg wants to run only if he thinks he can win. He is not interested in making collateral points or pursuing causes that are not directly on the path to electoral victory. In his typically methodical fashion, for nearly 10 years Bloomberg has been quietly conducting surveys and polls and having frank discussions with his advisers, colleagues, historians and electoral specialists over the variables.”
Also read:
“Who wants Michael Bloomberg to run for president? People like Michael Bloomberg.” in The Washington Post
8. “I Miss Barack Obama”
by David Brooks in The New York Times
The author of The Road to Character explains that though he disagrees with much of Obama’s philosophy and policies, he appreciates and will miss many aspects of his character, including Obama’s integrity, basic humanity, sound decision-making process, grace under pressure, and resilient optimism.
quotes
“The first and most important of these is basic integrity. The Obama administration has been remarkably scandal-free. Think of the way Iran-contra or the Lewinsky scandals swallowed years from Reagan and Clinton.
We’ve had very little of that from Obama. He and his staff have generally behaved with basic rectitude. Hillary Clinton is constantly having to hold these defensive press conferences when she’s trying to explain away some vaguely shady shortcut she’s taken, or decision she has made, but Obama has not had to do that.
He and his wife have not only displayed superior integrity themselves, they have mostly attracted and hired people with high personal standards.
Read the article:
“What David Brooks Will Miss about Obama” by David Brooks in The New York Times
postscript
I offer no long reflections this week. I figure I gave you plenty to read already. I learned a lot by doing this reading and hope you will too.
By the way, please send me great articles or topic ideas — I always like a good read. And let me know If you liked having way more articles in this edition or if you didn’t like it. Either way, it’s helpful to get your feedback.
And if you are enjoying the Weekend Reader please consider contributingby making a one-time gift of $36 or more or a monthly gift to help support it. You now can also give with a click by paypal!
- Max
February 13, 2016
If you liked this issue, you might want to check out these previous editions:
- Where do Good Ideas Come From?
