When it comes to politics in America right now, I just have so many thoughts and opinions. And I probably watch too much MSNBC. I agree with the many people who have recently said that it’s too early to pick a candidate for 2020. After all, there are over 20 people who have put their hats into the ring for the democratic nomination. I get it.

That said, I still find it interesting from a socially/politically curious standpoint, to pay attention to what the candidates are saying. And what they’re not saying. Follow their campaigns. Call me a political nerd, but seeing how things play out for the Dems fascinates me.

Let me start with some thoughts about  Joe Biden. Now, I think he’d make a fine POTUS. He’s certainly got the experience necessary for the job. The temperament. The skills. But I don’t know that I’m likely to vote for him. I found his YouTube announcement of his candidacy to be earnest, yet lacking. Earnest as he was emphatically and unequivocally stating that he is running to get Trump out of office. Fair enough. I agree with this 100%. But he forgot the part about what he’s aiming to accomplish once he’s (conceivably) the actual Commander-in-Chief.

But as we are all aware, there’s still plenty of time for him to articulate to the American public what he’s going to do for us to improve the state of affairs in this country.  Coming out of the gate identifying himself as the “one” who can defeat Trump in 2020 may have been a genius move on his part. It got everyone talking. It got our attention. Perhaps now that he’s clearly stated that he wants to be the one to evict the Con-Man-in-Chief from the White House, he can move on to substantive issues, such as how he’s going to address the #1 issue (according to me anyway, and for god’s sake hopefully multitudes of other voters), which is climate change. How he’s going to fix our health care system so people are no longer losing their homes and their life savings over medical diagnoses that are out of their control. How he’s going to address immigration, the opiod epidemic, our crumbling infrastructure, our broken educational system, income inequality…I could go on.

Do not take what I have said thus far as an endorsement of Joe Biden. Because there are numerous other viable contenders. Right now, and certainly this is completely subject to change, I’m paying a little extra attention to what Kamala Harris has to say. And Elizabeth Warren. And Jay Inslee. Cory Booker and Mayor Pete of course. There can only be one candidate for the democratic nomination, and by God the Dems better pick a good one. The one who can actually defeat Trump. The one who will move us forward as a nation.

My advice to the Dems is this: work together, people. Be smart. Don’t run each other down. Focus on the issues. Lift each other up when one of you drops out of the race. Communicate to the American public who would be on your cabinet. I think an argument can be made for appointing most of the current democratic contenders a cabinet position, in fact. Examples: Jay Inslee as Secretary of Energy. Cory Booker as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. Amy Klobuchar as Attorney General. Joe Biden as Secretary of State. Elizabeth Warren as Secretary of Treasury. Pete Buttigieg as Secretary of the Veterans Affairs.

Bottom line: the Dems need to use the skills, passions, and experience these folks possess and put them in the right positions for this time in our country. No matter who ends up as POTUS.