I believe that the President of the United States—an individual who leads more than 300 million people, in all of their diversity—should be moderate in their style and political views, no matter which party they represent. 1/
Views outside the mainstream are fine in Congress, where they’re balanced out by hundreds of others. They’re even welcomed there, as they give voice to those without influence and open the Overton window on issues that languish in congressional stasis. 2/
But the president, a solitary figure in whom we, for better or for worse, invest so much of our hopes, dreams, and expectations for the nation and our own lives, is something different. When a person decides to run for the office, they are implicitly declaring, 3/
as Amy Klobuchar is fond of saying, that they will be president for all Americans. As president, you don’t serve the unique needs of one particular district or pursue the goals of one particular group. You represent everyone. So you take care to respect everyone’s concerns. 4/
We’ve seen what happens when a president cares only about the narrow concerns of one cultivated base. And, in fairness, we’ve seen the results of not giving presidents who tried their best to represent all the people a fair shake. We need to do better than this. Much better. 5/5
P.S. There seems to be a fundamental disagreement about what a “moderate” actually is. I don’t mean a wishy-washy person with no principles. Quite the opposite. I mean a measured candidate who weighs all concerns carefully and considers outcomes. 6/
Someone with a track record of working well with others. Someone who listens to others and incorporates their knowledge and experience. Someone who doesn’t run to Twitter to insult whomever disagrees with them. In other words, a unifier. Trouble is, too many don’t want unity. 7/7
