RandomGuy
06-12-2018, 12:48 PM
I have said, and will say again, that Trump's winning was one of the better things to happen to the Democratic party in my lifetime, for this very reason. A shallow bench, has been flooded with talent, and this will filter down even to the state and local levels.
So many Obama administration alumni are running for office this year that the former president’s staff has lost count, but they’re keeping close tabs on whether they’re winning their primaries—and nearly all are, everywhere around the country.
That’s a big change from the years when Barack Obama was in the White House, when almost no one who’d worked for him stayed involved in politics and—with the exception of a few, like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Massachusetts State Sen. Eric Lesser—weren’t at all interested in running themselves.
They were done. They loved the president, and couldn’t imagine anyone or any campaign would live up. They cashed out. They marketed themselves on the strength of Obama’s strategy and cachet. Some took corporate jobs. They assumed Hillary Clinton would win, and they could settle down to watch their guy be hailed as the man who led the country into a new progressive era.
Now they’re anxious. They go through waves of depression, seeing years of their work disappearing overnight, every night. They hate Donald Trump. They hate what they think he’s done to the presidency. They want that Obama-inspired progressive era to come to pass—and in order to make it a reality, they’re focused on defeating Trump, not simply by opposing him, but by out-organizing him.
...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/12/obama-alums-2018-midterms-jenny-durkan-218678
So many Obama administration alumni are running for office this year that the former president’s staff has lost count, but they’re keeping close tabs on whether they’re winning their primaries—and nearly all are, everywhere around the country.
That’s a big change from the years when Barack Obama was in the White House, when almost no one who’d worked for him stayed involved in politics and—with the exception of a few, like Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Massachusetts State Sen. Eric Lesser—weren’t at all interested in running themselves.
They were done. They loved the president, and couldn’t imagine anyone or any campaign would live up. They cashed out. They marketed themselves on the strength of Obama’s strategy and cachet. Some took corporate jobs. They assumed Hillary Clinton would win, and they could settle down to watch their guy be hailed as the man who led the country into a new progressive era.
Now they’re anxious. They go through waves of depression, seeing years of their work disappearing overnight, every night. They hate Donald Trump. They hate what they think he’s done to the presidency. They want that Obama-inspired progressive era to come to pass—and in order to make it a reality, they’re focused on defeating Trump, not simply by opposing him, but by out-organizing him.
...
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/06/12/obama-alums-2018-midterms-jenny-durkan-218678