Apparently former Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer isn’t ready for a Hillary Clinton coronation in 2016, according to comments he made in a recent Time magazine interview.
Asked to share his thoughts on the presumption that Hillary Clinton is the heir apparent to President Barack Obama, Schweitzer was blunt in his assessment of Clinton.
You can’t be the candidate that shakes down more money on Wall Street than anybody since, I don’t know, Woodrow Wilson, and be the populist. You can’t be the one to say we’re going to focus on rebuilding America if you voted to go to the Iraq war. There were 30 some Democrats who voted against that.”
And when asked if he thought he’d be a better president than Hillary Clinton, Schweitzer was equally blunt.
“Well, I think so, of course. I think I have a background and a resume that isn’t just in government. But the time I was in government, I was a chief executive. And as I said to you before, you can go around Montana and ask people what they think of me and they will say, “Well I didn’t always agree with him, but I always knew where he stood and he was good with money.” That’s what they will say to a person. And I think there is one thing we all can agree on: they are not good with money in Washington, D.C.”
And finally here’s Gov. Schweitzer’s thoughts on the questions Democrats should be asking themselves heading into the 2016 presidential race.
“Are we going to choose more leadership that is going to roll over and get scratched on the belly by corporations like a fat dog? Are we going to be able to reform this healthcare system so it is one that doesn’t hand your taxpayer dollars to private insurance companies? Are we going to force the pharmaceutical companies to sell medicine in the United States for the same price as they do to the rest of the world?”
While there’s absolutely no denying Hillary Clinton will be the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, I really believe there’s a lot of room in the race for a populist candidate, and perhaps Brian Schweitzer will be that candidate.
I don’t disagree with Governor Schweitzer, but I also don’t believe there’s anything inherently wrong with being a Washington insider. But yes, I absolutely think he would be great on a national ticket.