Why Jerry Brown should run for president
Why shouldn't California Gov. Jerry Brown be at the center of presidential talk? (Getty Images)
By Kevin Modesti, Los Angeles Daily News
Posted: 03/27/15, 1:53 PM PDT |
On “Meet the Press” last Sunday, Jerry Brown said again that he won’t run for president in 2016.
And showed why he should.
Everyone seems to accept that he shouldn’t, for several reasons: Because Hillary Clinton is a shoo-in for the Democratic nomination. Because Brown is a three-time presidential loser (1976, 1980, 1992). Because California needs him to concentrate on being governor. Mostly, because he’s 76 years old.
Now, five reasons he ought to:
• Hillary Clinton needs a primary-season sparring partner. Who better than the man who toughened up Bill Clinton by scrapping all the way to the convention in ’92? Other forces will pull Hillary to the left, and Brown could pull her to the center. If you saw Brown tell NBC’s Chuck Todd that climate-change denier Ted Cruz is “unfit” for office, you know what a blunt critic he is.
• Age dulls and corrupts many politicians, but it has made Brown better. He has gone from the butt of jokes as the nation’s youngest governor to a voice of reason, commanding bipartisan respect, as its oldest. If a man with an impressive record of standing up to his own party to rein in the state budget doesn’t deserve to run for president, who does?
• California could use a turn in the national spotlight. The state hasn’t produced a presidential contender since, actually, Brown in 1992. We should have a voice in the national debates about climate and immigration.
• California would be fine with Brown in Iowa and New Hampshire. Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom will run for governor in 2018. Let’s give him a test drive. Maybe he’d do Brown an uninvited favor and cancel the bullet train.
•
Brown knows he wouldn’t win, and he seems at peace with that. It’s the ones who are desperate to be president, and believe the nation needs them to be president, whom we have to watch out for. After saying he’d probably run if he were 10 years younger, Brown noted that this is “counterfactual.” Imagine a presidential candidate who’s knows counterfactual when he sees it.
Run, Jerry, run.
Kevin Modesti is a Los Angeles News Group editorial writer.http://www.dailynews.com/opinion/201503 ... nt-opinion