Very little prepares you for the weight of the Presidency. Just like being a business man having seen over multiple failed businesses and being a reality TV star doesn't prepare you.
Attacks by the right and left, most completely devoid of context, only prove the viability of his candidacy. Oh! And a big shout out to Franklin Graham for doing the Lord's work. Where the Lord's work entails boosting Mayor Pete's popularity, endearment and contributions along with beautifully exposing himself as a disgustingly fraudulent evangelical.
And I've provided links listing many of the things he's done. He will be the first one to say they have plenty of work to do, but that he has made improvements and has the city on a very good trajectory is clear. As to the comparative stats (which are ugly) I linked an article where a detractor stated when you compare South Bend to like cities it's improvement fares very well. I'm not saying anti-Pete arguments are all without merit, but the lack of context or even interest in it is a problem.
No, it speaks to where the country/electorate is. It's the same thing which led to your guy's election; it never left. The difference is Pete is a much more palatable version of the change people desire.
That city has been blue for decades. Since the 80's most of the elected Mayors have served on average of 8 years plus so he isn't doing anything that hasn't already been done for years. That area is a complete piece of shit and likely always will be. Is he a smart guy, absolutely. Can he run a country? That question I have zero idea about until he starts putting some policies out there. I know his record as Mayor of South Bend definitely is not enough.
Fun to watch all these Dems declare themselves for POTUS, all of which look like massive failures. I'm sitting here waiting for Michelle and Barack to announce her candidacy. The flatline will be fun to watch.
The only way his tenure in South Bend would be a disqualifier is if it had been an abject failure. It hasn't. Does South Bend have issues? Absolutely. Has Mayor Pete made improvements and placed the city on a solid trajectory? Yes. Even his detractors admit as much. I agree with you on the policies bit. I'm on board, but want to see what he wants to do in specifics versus the directional information he's providing now. I found it interesting Biden is taking the same approach as Pete on policy specifics. Perhaps it's just a good approach in building a base of support as it's easier to hold onto them once they're with you even if they find some of your policies less than ideal. I guess we'll see.
True, but with a crapload of abject failures in said record. Pete also has active military service/deployment and private sector work in his CV which bolsters his record a bit. He's absolutely not a traditional candidate, but the game has changed and everyone here knows it. Hell, it's talked about all the time in defending/supporting Trump. Mayor Pete is perfectly viable in this new political world.
For the record, I would prefer someone that has some governmental experience, particularly as either a Senator or a Governor.
CNN was propping up the porn lawyer just months ago, so yeah, he is "viable". Seems like a good guy, I appreciate his service as I am sure everyone here does. All I can do is look at his tenure and project. Not a good look. For instance, South Bend has been in rough shape for awhile. High crime rates, poor education, high poverty rate and so on. How does importing 30k immigrants help? Does he actually believe it would help or is he just pandering? Either way, not a fan.
I'm certain a portion of that is playing to the D base, however he's talked in more detail on that point. He says South Bend is a city sized for a population of 130K, but they're only at 100K due to decades of population loss. He talks about the city needing that tax revenue and filling vacant homes to increase property values, etc. Now, the other part of that is employment. They're bringing in new kinds of jobs, many in tech, so you need to have folks who are properly skilled or a structured means to skill them up to make it work. This is also sort of a chicken and egg scenario. I've seen this in my company when we've looked at opening up delivery centers—especially in cost effective locations. There needs to be a level of skilled workforce in place before choosing a location in many instances. It's challenging to get new work is you have a dearth of skilled labor.
You cannot be fully prepared, no matter the level of previous experience. Some can be more prepared than others.
