Going through the archives, and the Internet, earlier this week in an attempt to report about where the Democratic candidates for president stood on several issues, we found plenty of information.
About Bernie Sanders.
Say this about Uncle Bernie, the man takes a stand. It may be to the left of Hollywood and even academia, but it's a stand. He does plenty of television. He gives plenty of press interviews. He gives plenty of speeches. One theme on his website is the word "all."
Such as health care for all. And college for all. And jobs for all. It's all right there on berniesanders.com/issues.
From the Green New Deal to letting felons vote, Bernie Sanders has an opinion. He'd make a good editorial writer, but perhaps for an eastern newspaper.
It's easy to find where Kamala Harris stands on the issues: to the left of Bernie Sanders. Joe Biden won't quit talking. And Elizabeth Warren wants to have a conversation. About anything.
Since our last visit to his website, Beto O'Rourke has worked overtime to put an issues page together. He must've become tired of all the "all sizzle, no steak" commentary about his campaign. From a nearly blank sheet to several pages of positions, you can now find what he thinks about democracy (he's pro), health care (pro) and education (pro). As far as details, he'll work that out later.
But it's interesting to see how much trouble it is to get information about the latest up-and-comer, Pete Buttigieg.
Mayor Pete, as he's known, is the press' flavor of the month, it seems. He's in all the papers. He's in all the commentary. He's got the Big Mo, as the first President Bush put it.
And if you go to Mayor Pete's website, you can buy a coffee cup that helps you pronounce his name. (Boot-edge-edge.) You can buy a T-shirt for $25. Or donate to the cause. What you can't find is an issue page. The closest you can get is the "Meet Pete" section, in which some copywriter has posted the most innocuous, anodyne stuff:
"It's time for a new generation of American leadership."
As opposed to being time for the last generation?
"Pete is laying out a vision, values and policies to ensure that America's future is better than its past."
Make America great again?
"We need to insist on a better future."
Instead of those of us insisting on a worse one?
"We cannot find greatness in the past."
From Moses to Lincoln, some of us can.
It sounds as though Mayor Pete hired an old corporate news writer in his PR shop, somebody who called his newspaper The Product, valued diversity, synergized goals and re-imagined its role in the global economy. No, really, the website says that when Pete Buttigieg was mayor of South Bend, the city "re-imagined its role in the global economy."
Well.
But where does he stand on fair trade? On the Paris Accord? On the Iran deal? On the growing deficit and debt? On the immigration crisis? On sanctuary cities? On work requirements for health care expansion? On Russian spying? On charter schools in D.C.? On taxes?
Mayor Pete may be a swell guy, but some of us need to see policy ideas before we'll jump aboard his train. Something tells us that most voters do, too. For in the last poll we saw, the leader for the Democratic Party nomination was closing in on nearly 30 percent of likely voters.
His name is Bernie Sanders.
Editorial on 04/17/2019