With top talent like Newsom, Buttigieg, and OAC, Dem Party poised for comeback in '28

Globe and Mail thought leader Lawrence Martin gives the game away in the first paragraph of his op-ed today. The Dems are “our” party. This reflects the abiding conceit in much of the mainstream that the main problem with US democracy is Donald Trump. If only all those billionaire donors would come to their senses and write cheques to Hilary Clinton instead, dictatorship would be averted, democracy and decency restored, Putin vanquished, and American honour resurrected. Martin is giving us a pep talk. Let’s not lose hope, Canada; “our” party is poised to make a spectacular comeback. It’s all about the depth of the Democratic Party’s talent pool. Check out their bench. What is being overlooked by those attacking the Democrats is their talent pool. The party is stacked with talent. There’s California Governor Gavin Newsom, there’s former transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, Representative Ro Khanna, Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker. A roll-call of progressive America’s leading lights if ever there was one! Martin saves the best till last. That doesn’t include firebrand representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who political analyst Nate Silver and others are already touting as the favourite to win the party’s 2028 nomination. Hmm… Vance v. OAC in ‘28? That should be fun! Alas, much can happen between now and then. It is hard to imagine that the two wars America’s proxies, Israel and Ukraine, are busy losing today will not have been decisively lost. There’s nothing the “stacked with talent” Dems or anybody else can do about it. Assuming all-out world war can be avoided, which is far from a forgone conclusion, America’s global prestige will be totally down the toilet. It will be a failed state for the 99% and a gilded cage for the billionaires, although they may have decamped to more hospitable climes by then. It’s not Newsom or Buttigieg or OAC they have to worry about. It’s Luigi.