WHO?

An 54-year-old Irish-American Democrat from Maryland just announced that he is, in fact, running for President in 2020.  But it's not this guy.

No, Martin O'Malley hasn't announced his intentions for 2020 yet.  (He's currently in the Andes, hiking with disabled mountaineers.  He never ceases to amaze me. :-) )  The guy who just announced his bid for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination is U.S. Representative John Delaney of Maryland's Sixth U.S. House District.

He's so obscure, even I have never heard of him.

I guess it was inevitable that someone would announce a 2020 run for President so soon, with Donald Trump so spectacularly unpopular.  But who is this guy?  And why should we care?

I can answer the first question better than the second.  John Delaney has been a congressman since 2013.  Prior to that, he was a businessman who in the nineties co-founded a company to help small health care service providers get loans.  Delaney doesn't want to be called a centrist, but that's what he is.  He was for the Trans-Pacific Partnership, he supports looking at possible "reforms" to Social Security, and he was the only Democrat in Maryland's U.S. House delegation that the AFL-CIO wouldn't support in the 2016 congressional elections.  Delaney is also sensitive about attacks on the banks, saying such rhetoric "won't win the day."

Which is understandable, considering that, in 2000, he founded . . . a bank.

Oh yeah, that's really going to appeal to the progressive base.

Although Delaney says he has socially progressive beliefs, he also says he envisions "a future where responsible businesses work with our government to lead the world not only in growth and innovation but also in positive societal change."  And while Delaney says he is "a big believer in the private economy and market forces," he also wants to make it clear that he believes that "there’s a role for government in setting the rules of the road and helping take care of the most vulnerable."

This is the same rhetoric that Hillary Clinton gave us, the same rhetoric that led to half of the American electorate to stay home on Election Day.  Enough said?

And now Delaney wants to run for President . . . I keep expecting Jake Tapper to tweet to him, "What exactly do you mean by 'run' here, Congressman?"    

Delaney may be a middle-aged Maryland Democrat like Martin O'Malley, but there the similarities end.  O'Malley has more than fifteen years of executive experience in government; Delaney's executive experience is confined to the private sector, and Trump has already proven how that kind of experience works.  And while Delaney is clearly a centrist trying to appear to be liberal, O'Malley has a liberal record as governor of Maryland from 2007 to 2015.  (The Baltimore Sun dismissed O'Malley as a centrist trying to appear to be liberal, but then the Baltimore Sun isn't exactly a friend to the former governor.)  And there are other issues.  No incumbent U.S. House member has been elected President since James Garfield in 1880, and Abraham Lincoln is the only private citizen whose prior elective office was a House seat to win the Presidency.  And this guy ain't no Lincoln.

And unlike Martin O'Malley (and like Dan Quayle), he's no Jack Kennedy.

I don't know if I'll vote for John Delaney if he is the 2020 Democratic nominee, but that's a situation I likely won't have to face.  This blog, as you might have guessed, remains resolutely pro-O'Malley.

I'm ready for old new leadership. ;-)