Budowsky: Bloomberg-Obama or Klobuchar-Kennedy?

Let’s think ahead and think big about the ticket Democrats should nominate to win one of the most important elections in American history. Here we consider the fate of the party and the future of the nation if former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is nominated and runs with former first lady Michelle Obama as his vice president, or if Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) is nominated and runs with Rep. Joe Kennedy III (D-Mass.) as her vice president.

The points made here could equally apply to other worthy Democratic candidates, especially former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).

The debate tonight will give a better sense of the chances of Klobuchar to advance, if she repeats her stellar performance in earlier debates that lifted her in early contests, and Bloomberg, who benefits from humongous campaign spending. It also will give voters a chance to evaluate him in person, in the crucible of a debate that will help Democrats evaluate whether he can sustain, broaden and deepen his appeal.

Bloomberg is extraordinarily qualified to be president. He is the mathematical opposite of President Trump, having been a successful three-term mayor of one of the great cities of the world, and having been an entirely self-made and brilliantly successful business leader who earned his billions of dollars of wealth, which dwarfs Trump’s claims of wealth, the honest way.

Yes, Bloomberg has made mistakes. To his credit he takes responsibility and learns from them. Yes, it is troubling, though not disqualifying, that two billionaire candidates, Bloomberg and Tom Steyer, dominate the airwaves by the sheer power of their campaign spending, which limits the comparative ability of other candidates to get the attention they did not have enough money to buy. The coming debates will give Bloomberg the opportunity to demonstrate whether the real thing in person is as impressive as the image on the screen in his television ads.

If Bloomberg is nominated, and runs with Michelle Obama as his VP, or if Klobuchar is nominated, and runs with Kennedy, the ticket would fill a gap that has been widely lacking in the campaign. The ticket would electrify the nation by painting a powerful, vivid and exciting portrait of a bold president lifting an inspired nation which would create the ultimate broad-based turnout surge that would sweep Democrats to victory in the presidential, House and Senate elections.

President Obama was right when he tweeted that he assumed office after the great financial crash of a generation, which incidentally was created under a previous Republican president and Congress, and began a great economic recovery and historic bull market on Wall Street that continues today.

If Bloomberg runs with Michelle Obama, voters would be reminded that President Obama created the huge growth in prosperity without massive budget deficits, bitterly divisive politics, crony capitalist scandals, painful poverty, growing economic inequality and praise of foreign dictators that are hallmarks of the Trump years.

A Bloomberg-Obama ticket would seize the high ground on the economic issue and remind voters that Democrats bring prosperity in a society that is more socially just with a politics that brings people together.

If Klobuchar runs with Kennedy, she would be paired with a four-term congressman who speaks eloquently about moral capitalism, economic policies that lift all Americans, health care that protects every citizen, human rights that would lift the spirits of believers in democracy everywhere, and common decency to feed the hungry, lift the needy and love the poor as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount, which I consider the noblest and wisest words ever spoken in the history of humanity.

A campaign led by Bloomberg-Obama, Klobuchar-Kennedy or a similar ticket with another nominee would bring soaring support from women, huge support from young voters, enthusiastic support from black and Hispanic voters, and critical support from many white working class voters throughout the Electoral College states that will elect the next president.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.