The Air Is Hummin'

    During the first of the Democratic debates this past Wednesday night my son Tommy and I were texting back and forth. At one point Tommy asked me if, as he hadn't been around for as many elections as I had, did I think this was an exceptionally strong batch of candidates?
      Did I ever.
      In truth, I can remember past elections - I'd say most  past elections of my life - listening to candidates and thirsting for some solid ideas and  concrete plans instead of the same round of slogans, inspirational pablum and promises offered without foundation upon which they'd be carried out.
        The Democratic debates of the past two nights are the first time I've ever heard so many candidates offering such specific policies and plans on all the big issues - health care, climate change, immigration, human rights, foreign relations - along with sounding so capable and potentially presidential.

     (Granted, one could not help making comparisons).

      In fact, having watched both debates and listened to all twenty candidates, my problem now is that that  I liked so many of them so much. 
     By the end of the second debate last night I found myself wishing that we could have ten presidents. Or at least five.
     I'm kidding. My point is that, in choosing one, I'd hate to leave others behind. 

      For example, I loved Kamala Harris, with her blend of strength and charisma.         

     I loved that, when all the candidates started talking at once she broke it up, putting up her hands and saying, "Hey, guys, you know what? America does not want to witness a food fight. They want to know how we're going to put food on their table." I loved the urgency and the specifics in her plan for what she would do if elected on her first day in office about the humanitarian crisis at our southern border.
       But then how could one pass up Pete Buttigieg,

...who was so brilliant, so on point on every issue, so articulate, so decent, so likeable, so unflappably calm, and who so rightly called out Republican hypocrisy when he said, "For a party that associates itself with Christianity to say that God would condone putting children in cages, has lost all claim to ever use religious language again."

     Then there was Julian Castro, who shone on stage with his policy ideas and personal style and observations on healthcare, gender equality, justice and immigration.  He won my heart when he said that the photo of the drowned Salvadoran refugee father and his baby daughter should "piss us all off."

​    I liked Kirsten Gillibrand's energy and ideas,

...and Amy Klobachar's too.

​    And I thought Tulsi Gabbard looked and sounded positively presidential and had a solid grasp on foreign and domestic policy.

     It occurred to me that if Gabbard doesn't win the Democratic nomination for President, she'd make a kick-butt Secretary of State.
      And whoever wins the Democratic nomination, if they win the Presidency, should definitely grab  Jay Inslee and put him in charge of a committee on climate change, since that's where his heart obviously lies.

​    And Andrew Yang, well, I don't see him as President, but he should definitely be the Secretary of something that requires brains and financial savvy. Maybe Secretary of Commerce.
In any case, he's too smart not to utilize somewhere.

     And if I didn't come away from the first Democratic debates knowing which person was my first choice, I did come away with feelings of optimism, excitement, and hope.
       And through my mind keeps running the line from a song from "West Side Story": 
        The air is hummin'
         And something great is commin'.