EnviroWarrior311

I genuinely have no idea whom I’m supporting for the 2028 presidential campaign. I have been so relentlessly focused over the past two years on Democrats taking back Congress in service of saving democracy—particularly the U.S. Senate—that I’ve told every friend and colleague who has asked for my thoughts on 2028 that I just wanna get through the Midterm election first. One critical election at a time, please. There are a number of great possible candidates, all with pluses and minuses, all with intriguing approaches, and there are a few folks whose possible candidacies strike me as little more than curiosities. But at the moment, I have exactly one criterion for evaluating hopeful Democratic candidates vying for the White House: If you soft launch your campaign before the holidays are over, I’m not voting for you. I don’t wanna see SCOOPS from journalists in traditional media about your coy draft presidential campaigns formed by friends and political allies before then. I don’t wanna hear about the proto-prez-campaign disguised as a side-door political action committee you’re forming before then. I sure as hell don’t wanna see any fundraising texts teasing with “big thoughts on the future, help me decide” hitting my phone before then. If you’re making early moves to run for president, I don’t wanna know about them before January 2nd. Anything publicly done before then will confirm for me that you have an astonishing inability to read the room. It’s weirdo behavior. The American people are exhausted. We have spent the past four years sprinting through seemingly endless back-to-back campaign seasons, and we have had enough. We need a break. The country has just delivered a powerful rebuke to an aspiring dictator after nearly two years of unprecedented evil in the modern era befalling our nation, and we need you to understand that outside of our civic obligations to this incoming Congress, it is time to chill for a bit. Two months. The holiday season. For godsake, let us catch our breaths for just two months before having to be asked to jump into yet another campaign season. Go spend some extra time with your family and friends, ya nut. Be human. You really wanna impress us in the context of 2028? Be involved in setting the agenda for the new Congress. Position yourself as a leader solely through policy discussion and shaping the process to come. Get your butt out to Mississippi and ask Scott Colom if there’s anything you can do to help gain another Democratic seat in the Senate. Go ask Angie Nixon what you can do to help with the revolution she’s catalyzed and astutely led in Florida. These things will show us that you’re about the work, not about yourself. You’re about helping where it’s needed now, not trying to get the jump on possible rivals like some kid rushing off to recess while your classmates are cleaning up the room. Avoid the cringey instinct of a former high school class president to make this moment all about you. There ain’t nothing formal and public you’re gonna do prior to January 2nd that can’t be just as capably and effectively started on that day. Please, for the love of god, wait until the holidays are over. We need the rest.