Bennet and Booker Watch

Progressive and Pragmatic Voices of Reason

Loved ones alerted me to Barack Obama and later to Michael Bennet as a person with a real progressive spirit and a pragmatic bent. Although Brett Stephens and Gail Collins recently engaged in wishful thinking that Bennet is a “centrist,” when he ran for president, every time someone said he was a centrist he went out of his way to correct them, saying he was a progressive and a pragmatist. Not progressieve but pragmatic, as if there is something wrong with being progressive. Progressive and pragmatic, he said again and again. Now, he has announced he will oppose the sitting, term-limited Attorney General of Colorado in the primary race for the Colorado gubernatorial election in 2026. That pretty much rules him out as a 2028 Presidential candidate, although at age 69 he could run in 2032 if there is no Democratic incumbent. And he would remain a possible VP candidate in 2028. Booker/Bennet? Whitmer/Bennet? Who know, but the DP is in trouble.

In his recent 25 hour marathon on the floor of the Senate, Senator Cory Booker related how when he arrived in the Senate, Michael Booker welcomed him into what soon became known as the three Bs: Bennet, Brown and Booker. For a post marathon interview with Cory Booker, see this from the Brian Lehrer Report (with transcript). And wouldn’t you know, some progressives and leftists are busy criticizing him on various grounds.

But Shifry points out a downside to the Booker talk, namely that no sooner was it over than 30 different fundraising emails went out from 30 different authorized PACs including the Progressive Caucus, which should have known, and these politicians, including, sorry to say, Bennet: Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY), Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA), Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA), Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ), Rep. Josh Harder (D-CA), Rep. Laura Gillen (D-CA), Rep. Pete Aguilar (D-CA), Rep. Brittany Pettersen (D-CO), Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-CA), Rep. Nikema Williams (D-GA), Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), and Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY).

And none of them mentioned April 5. Shifry said: “I’ve asked around and so far found only two examples of congressional Democrats who did send such emails out to their lists before April 5: Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). Why do so few Democrats do this?”

Introduction to this beat: I was first prompted to open this “beat” in order to share Senator Bennet’s participation yesterday in the Senate Intelligence Committee Hearings on the whole Signalgate scandal. Just go hear to C-Span on YouTube to this time stamp 1:29 and listen. I am and will briefly comment here in this paragraph. He was also interviewed on CNN. As is often the case, Bennet combines a calm dialogical approach to incisive questioning to insistent and assertive conclusions based on his own careful research. Must say, I wish he or others had asked simple questions like how much time elapsed since Goldberg was added and the chain was terminated. Wikipedia is on it. Flash: CNN is interviewing Goldberg now and he is revealing the time line.

But I also want to share here my personal YouTube Playlist on Bennet which as of this post has 55 videos. Why? Since a loved one suggested I listen to him take down Sen. Cruz on the floor of the Senate, I have realized that here is a person with the real charisma—one rooted in values, a deep knowledge of world and US history, and a controlled and responsible passion that is much like the kind discussed in my review essay on nihilism linked to above—that our nation leaderss in its leaders.

Pay no attention to the various “ratings” of his voting record. Watch the deep research and reasoning he displays when taking positions and casting votes in the Senate. He is hard to pin down not because he is a weasley politician but because he speaks from the heart. I see and a small group of political leaders, including Michigan Govenor Gretchen Whitmer and NJ Senator Cory Booker as the kinds of compassionate and courageous leaders our nation needs, along of course with Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, featured in The New Yorker yesterday.

Here I will occasionally update and comment on my Bennet watch. It is much more fun than my Trump/Vance watch. And as of 4/8/25, this is a Bennet and Booker watch.

3/27/25: The NYTimes reports on progressive anger within the DP. In my view, “Jockeying” by progressives is not what we need. Finding a younger Bernie substitute is not what we need. AOC should keep her seat; we need her there and a Senate or other run for higher office risks losing that voice. The progressive thing to do is find leaders who could unite the country and restore sanity and worry less about their political labels and more about their qualifications for leadership. I’ll try to learn more about Senator Chris Murphy, who has good politics and has served on both the House and Senate Foreign Relations Committees. In my view the IL and MN governors are absolutely not electable. So far the only people I see are Bennet and Whitmer and Booker for being on the ticket; perhaps Murphy. Senator Tammy Duckworth would be a worthy ticket member but is not qualified due to having been born in Thailand.

4/11/25: Michael Bennet, whose term in the senate ends in 2029, has declared himself a candidate for the 2026 Gubernatorial election in Colorado, which has means there will be two very qualified candidates. This means, win or lose, it is very unlikely he would be a 2028 presidential candidate, although 2032 would be a possibility, when he would be 68 years old. That is, “if we can keep it,” the democracy I mean, and on that I am an optimist.