Former Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has made it official. He is joining the race for the Democratic nomination in 2020.
The question many people are asking now is: Why?
The field is the largest in history and is in full swing. Democrats have already had multiple debates. Why is he doing this? Just look at Twitter, and you will see thousands of tweets asking this question:
I could go on, but you get the point.
Patrick tried to explain his rationale to CBS News:
Deval Patrick on why he can “break through” crowded 2020 Democratic field“I’ve been waiting for a moment like this my whole life,” he said. “I don’t mean a moment to run for president but a moment when the appetite for big ideas is big enough for the size of the challenges we face in America.”Patrick said he spoke with former President Barack Obama prior to his announcement and both agree that “we need to reach for the best of America.””Not just the best of our party and not just the best of our supporters, but the best of America,” Patrick said. “And that’s going to come from a whole lot of people who have checked out and have felt, I think, rightly left out and left back. And what we want to do is bring them back in.”
Watch Patrick’s announcement video below:
Patrick has spent the last several years working as an executive at Bain Capital. Would you believe Bain has already scrubbed his bio from their website?
Patrick’s announcement has been greeted on the left by a loud, collective groan.
Scott Bixby writes at The Daily Beast:
Deval Patrick’s Resume Is a One-Stop-Shop of Industries Democrats LoatheIn a Democratic presidential field rich with both centrist pragmatists and progressive warriors alike, former Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick stands as the answer to a question no one has thought to ask: what does a former oil company executive and venture capitalist think?…Like Frito-Lay desperately trying to cram one more flavor of Doritos into America’s snack-swollen stomach, Patrick sees a Democratic presidential primary that has already witnessed the rise and fall of nine other candidates as missing one key ingredient: himself.
Progressive columnist Matt Taibbi writes at Rolling Stone:
Deval Patrick’s Candidacy Is Another Chapter in the Democrats’ 2020 Clown Car DisasterDeval Patrick, former governor of Massachusetts and newly-resigned executive of Mitt Romney’s private equity firm Bain Capital, has entered the Democratic primary race, which is shaping up to be the biggest ensemble-disaster comedy since Cannonball Run.Patrick’s entry comes after news that former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg put himself on the ballot in Alabama and Arkansas. It also comes amid word from Hillary Clinton that “many, many, many” people are urging her to run in 2020, and whispers in the press that an “anxious Democratic establishment” has been praying for alternate candidacies in a year that had already seen an astonishing 26 different people jump in the race.
Here’s Josh Marshall of the far-left Talking Points Memo site:
Here’s my suggestion for his campaign slogan.
Deval Patrick 2020: The answer to a question no one was asking.
Featured image via YouTube.
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