THE STUMP MAY 15, 2012
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Now we know what the doomsayers feel like when the decreed day of judgment passes by without thunderbolts or second comings. Americans Elect, which was going to save our benighted political system with the ultimate deus ex machina—a bipartisan, third-choice presidential ticket borne from an online nominating process funded by leveraged-buyout tycoon Peter Ackerman and other deep-pocketed centrists—announced at midnight that the savior has not yet made his or her appearance. Take it away, Politico:
The group had qualified for the general election ballot in 27 states, and had generated concern among Democrats and Republicans alike that it could wreak havoc on a close election between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.
But just after a midnight deadline Monday, the group acknowledged that its complicated online nominating process had failed to generate sufficient interest to push any of the candidates who had declared an interest in its nomination over the threshold in its rules.
“Because of this, under the rules that AE delegates ratified, the primary process would end today,” said the group’s Kahlil Byrd in a statement issued at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday. He seemed to leave the door open for proceeding outside the original process, however, adding, “There is, however, an almost universal desire among delegates, leadership and millions of Americans who have supported AE to see a credible candidate emerge from this process.”
***
The person who came closest to meeting the threshold was Buddy Roemer, the former Louisiana governor who labored mightily to win the group’s favor after being shunted rudely aside during the Republican primaries. But AE’s team had its sights set higher—among its dream candidates were Jon Huntsman, Jr., Olympia Snowe, Mike Bloomberg, Lamar Alexander, and David Walker (the former head of the GAO, for those of you who don’t keep up on those things.) Sadly, none of these scintillating figures decided to make the leap, despite occasional flirtation. And the group’s original champion apparently did not see fit to heed my exhortation to pull a Dick Cheney and take the reins himself.
Buzzfeed has, delightfully, compiled a list of quotes from various Very Serious Men, including the aforementioned mustachioed one, declaring that Americans Elect would revolutionize the political process and maybe even help decide this fall’s election. I can state proudly that I am not on that list, having been one of the first to cast a skeptical eye on the whole venture last fall:
In Americans Elect’s diagnosis, Washington’s dysfunction is the fault of ideologically hardened parties held captive by interest groups and the parties’ outer wings. Exhibit A, Elliot Ackerman told me, was the debt-ceiling debacle, in which “Obama, despite all of the supposition that he is this post-partisan independent president, couldn’t substantively put entitlement reform on the table, couldn’t do it, couldn’t sell that with his party base,” while Republicans refused to raise taxes. But didn’t Obama offer major entitlement cuts, including a raised Medicare eligibility age, as part of his rejected “grand bargain”? Well, regardless, Ackerman said, he hasn’t been able to get the big things done, even when Democrats held the House. Byrd, a Republican who worked for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, a Democrat, noted derisively that Obama’s hopes for moving his jobs agenda had been reduced to encouraging a letter-writing campaign. Said Ackerman: “If he can’t govern with control of the House and control of the Senate and being somewhat of the post-partisan executive he says he is, isn’t that indicative to us that there needs to be some type of systemic change in the way we select our leaders?”
...
I got deepest into the movement’s governing vision with Matt Miller, a former Clinton administration official who splits his time among a McKinsey consulting gig, the Center for American Progress, and a weekly online Washington Post column. While not officially affiliated with Americans Elect, he has been a major advocate for the third-choice cause—using his column to plead for a “patriotic billionaire” to run for president, given the “abdication of both parties,” “the hoaxes both parties are peddling,” and the “grossly misleading campaigns” both will run. He has laid out a full “third-party stump speech,” which calls for, among other things, a public-works jobs program, taxes on “dirty energy,” higher teacher pay, tougher limits on Wall Street, and cuts in defense spending. I asked him: Did not most of these resemble the platform of a certain Democratic president, especially if he were able to operate unconstrained? Not so, Miller said, pointing to a handful of his stock proposals that he said leaned the other way, such as eliminating corporate taxes, cutting Social Security, and weakening teacher tenure. “I’m interested in the agenda, not the team,” said Miller.
We were meeting at a Starbucks across from the Occupy D.C. encampment at McPherson Square; scruffy protesters queuing for the rest room jostled noisily around the nattily dressed Miller. I asked him whether an agenda as ambitious as his could win public support amid such disillusionment. “If you think we have to aim higher, if you think we have to solve our problems rather than pretending to, then it’s all about how you think we can get closer to that and if there’s any way to get there given the two-party stranglehold on the debate,” he said. “If you had a third-party voice on ‘Meet the Press,’ they’d say: ‘The Democrats are full of it on this; the Republicans are blowing smoke on that. If we were serious, we’d be talking about X, Y, and Z.’ There’s a missing chair.” Moments later, as he headed out the door, Miller paused for a parting caveat. “I’ve been told,” he said, “that it’s all hopelessly naïve.”
Yes, maybe it was. But heck, no harm done, right, unless you were one of the undisclosed donors who gave the group more than $20 million to get on the ballot, with the promise of having one’s money refunded once an actual candidate started raising money on his or her own. And who knows, maybe the group will yet raise a nominee from the ashes of the official online nominating process, though that would seem to call the group’s alleged grass-roots structure even more into question, and give validation to the memorable tag given the group by David Axelrod: “uber-democracy meets back room bosses.” So don’t give up just yet, deadlocked Americans, and keep an eye trained on the heavens above. Your savior may yet be coming—he or she may just have gotten hung up somewhere, maybe while talking up debt reduction with the angels.
follow me on Twitter @AlecMacGillis
17 comments
"But AE's team had its sights set higher -- among its dream candidates were Jon Huntsman, Jr., Olympia Snowe, Mike Bloomberg, Lamar Alexander and David Walker (the former head of the GAO, for those of you who don't keep up on those things.)" "He has laid out a full “third-party stump speech,” which calls for, among other things, a public-works jobs program, taxes on “dirty energy,” higher teacher pay, tougher limits on Wall Street, and cuts in defense spending." I have been trying, understandably without success, to reconcile these two ideas, the combination of which would mean nominating a relatively conservative politician to pursue an agenda more liberal than anything the current Democratic president has dared. The term that comes to mind is not 'naive', but 'divorced from reality'.
- Fishpeddler
May 15, 2012 at 1:38pm
"Not so, Miller said, pointing to a handful of his stock proposals that he said leaned the other way, such as eliminating corporate taxes, cutting Social Security, and weakening teacher tenure." I've always thought that all Americans can agree that the median annual payment of $15,000 to Social Security beneficiaries, many of whom lack pensions, is the biggest source of waste in our government. Why neither party has severely cut SS benefits down to size--and preferably size 00--has baffled me. Not only is this resoundingly popular, it's the right thing to do. (Snarkily rides scooter with abandon, heedless of LifeAlert and other paid programming scams.)
- chaitless
May 15, 2012 at 1:53pm
I agree, Fish; it sounds like a great platform for Dennis Kucinich to run on.
- ironyroad
May 15, 2012 at 1:54pm
Methinks that $20 million to Peter Ackerman or one of his buddies is something that gets lost in the cushions of the couch, so it was hardly a waste of valuable cash. Still, at least unlike the millions that Sheldon Adelson flushed down the Gingrich toilet or the millions that guys like Harold Simmons gave to Rick Perry to make an ass of himself on national television ten times over, the Americans Elect money did nothing to seriously pollute the American political discourse. Maybe just a mild form of pollution, like the kind that leaves some soot on the windowsill but doesn't cause asthma rates to go up.
- wildboy
May 15, 2012 at 1:59pm
The Republican Party has been more successful in finding a nominee than Americans Elect.
- STTaylor
May 15, 2012 at 2:12pm
"If you had a third-party voice on ‘Meet the Press,’ they’d say: ‘The Democrats are full of it on this; the Republicans are blowing smoke on that. If we were serious, we’d be talking about X, Y, and Z.’" I thought that was the press' role - the "Press" in "Meet the Press". Tough questions, follow ups, and calling b.s. when they hear it, instead of pitching soft balls and dutfifully transcribing the answers.
- dubyadoubte
May 15, 2012 at 2:18pm
@Fishpeddler - Exactly. It's typical that the self-proclaimed "centrist" seems to have an agenda to the left of both parties. Of course, these days "centrism" is not a political position. It's an ideological commitment to being a whiny, self-consciously alienated teenager... even if you're old enough to have served in the Clinton Administration. Americans Elect is the party of Holden Caulfield: Everyone's a phony, so I don't have to be bothered doing hard things like making critical judgements about politicians or compromising to get things done. I can just reject them all and remain pure in my impotent idealism.
- Dausuul
May 15, 2012 at 2:20pm
I am in full accord with Chaitless. We older and/or disabled Americans should begin immediately to learn a new profession, time-honored in many other nations! Begging!
- Sophia
May 15, 2012 at 3:20pm
Insofar as AE really wanted a centrist/moderate-right candidate, that candidate already exists in BHO. No really effective Progressive proposals or plans for economic stimulus, health care reform, financial regulation, focused military spending, etc--- small ball all the way. But centist pundit types (all two dozen of them) cannot admit that BHO is centrist and the Repubs far right. What is lacking in the electoral choice is an articulate Progressive advocating effective proposals that in fact are individually supported by pluralities or majorities of voters in many pols. Until that candidate emerges, the policies sand the American electorate will constantly shift rightward.
- drofnats1
May 15, 2012 at 3:36pm
"I asked him: Did not most of these resemble the platform of a certain Democratic president, especially if he were able to operate unconstrained?" That's really the heart of why Americans Elect isn't generating any traction. They are right that our discourse would benefit from a third voice in the debate, but they fail to see that the missing voice is currently the voice of the far-left. The GOP is the most conservative it has been in 100 years (see link below) and Obama has already staked out the moderate position on most issues. If you look at what he proposes on non-social issues you'd be excused for confusing him with a centrist Republican from the early 1990s teleported to 2012-- balance of spending cuts and tax increases; universal coverage while maintaining private insurance market; increased domestic energy production while shifting focus to renewables; very strong record on foreign policy and defense while pushing for leaner pentagon budget; make government more efficient but continue to fund the EPA, education, infrastructure, NIH, CDC, etc etc etc. You don't balance the discourse by cramming another center-right voice in the mix, that role is filled. What would actually balance the discourse is someone at the third podium saying "Actually, Obama is not a socialist, because I'M a socialist, and an actual socialist proposal would sound more like this ..." http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/04/10/150349438/gops-rightward-shift-higher-polarization-fills-political-scientist-with-dread
- nordsiecke
May 15, 2012 at 4:02pm
You're right Sophia! In fact, there are several places around the world where begging is not, as in the Protestant work-ethic societies, a living embodiment of failure as a human being, but rather a recognized craft with its own traditions and a sort of guild mentality. Instead of the panhandling we know in the U.S. where the shiftless loser is either trading on guilt or being vaguely threatening, the beggar in, say, India approaches the rich person with the self-assurance of a plumber costing the repairs to your bathroom. His attitude says, "I'm a beggar, and I like to think I know a little about the trade. You, on the other hand, are a rich person. I have heard you do that well too. In order for each of us the fulfil the destiny we have inherited, I must beg piteously and energetically, and you must give me alms. It's pretty easy, really, when you get the hang of it." The problem is, the Republican plan for America wants most of us to be beggars, true, but they also want to treat us as losers and make sure we know it's our own fault. It's the worst of both worlds.
- ironyroad
May 15, 2012 at 4:10pm
nord.. Are you one of the AE pundits?? You say.. "the missing voice is currently the voice of the far-left".. What BS. The missing voice is the far left of moderate Democrats Kennedy, Humphrey, LBJ, Truman . On many economic and other issues, BHO is to the right of even moderate Republicans -- or even "We are all Keynesians now" Nixon.
- drofnats1
May 15, 2012 at 4:59pm
Lamar Alexander as a "moderate"? That's rich. Oh wait, we're taking a publican so of course he's rich.
- tmmats
May 15, 2012 at 5:30pm
Aha, so this is the "A pox on BOTH your houses" point of view -- that ignores that it's Republican intransigence and foot-dragging that's causing the gridlock. Yeah, coming up with a "third alternative" BETWEEN the two points of view is going to be hard, considering the Democrats have been dragged pretty far right already, and even THAT hasn't worked. You want Democrast to move left? Vote for more Democrats and get the Tea-Party out of power.
- AllanL5
May 15, 2012 at 5:37pm
@drof Not sure what you're talking about but I think we agree, the voice that is missing is not from the center but from the left. The GOP represents the far right very well, Obama represents the center quite well, and no prominant coalition really speaks for the left. AE wants to run a center-right moderate who is reasonably liberal on social issues-- problem is, that's already Obama territory. That is why the reponse to their efforts has been a big **yawn**
- nordsiecke
May 15, 2012 at 5:38pm
nord. I agree. My comment was directed toward calling such Progressive policies "far left" and thereby dismissing them. These ain't Kucinich/Nader policies we're talking about supporting. Rather it's policy territory once occupied by the Dem center-- and now by Dems like Wasserman and Doggett in the House..Warren (Senate Candidate) and maybe Independents like Sanders in the Senate.. and Governors like Schweitzer of Montana
- drofnats1
May 15, 2012 at 7:28pm
i actually joined it and voted for Roehmer, strictly because he might act as a spoiler against Romney and also, theoretically, as a former Governor he is qualified to run. The more conservatives running the better.
- blackton
May 15, 2012 at 9:20pm