So, as you guys can tell, I didn't really cover Cenk Uygur much, I don't treat him with the same seriousness I do Marianne Williamson or Dean Phillips, and some might wonder if I'm being a bit unfair there.
The fact is, I just don't take him seriously because the dude isn't eligible for president. He's trying to pursue this in court, he's failing miserably, and he's turning his campaign into like some sort of public awareness campaign as a result.
Another reason I don't cover this guy is he basically has no platform. He had like 5 positions on his site, and now he's up to 10 positions. It's not even enough for me to do the metric rundown on him.
It's quite clear this entire campaign of his is more a publicity stunt than anything. Cenk is a political activist with a progressive network, he's very passionate about what he does, and he seems to be doing this to raise awareness. Still he's leaning too hard into the whole "Biden's going to lose" thing where I struggle to take him seriously. He's just going so over the top that it's cringe.
I mean, yes, things don't look good for Biden, BUT, Im not sure Cenk is the guy to replace Biden. He's a very polarizing figure himself and even I get alienated from him sometimes when he goes full stop on his ranting and raving on his show. Seriously, he sounds like a big manchild sometimes and starts getting so angry he screams over Ana sometimes like a child, it's really sad to see. So yeah. Idk. I just don't really consider him to be serious.
I think he's a respected political activist. I respect his work with the justice democrats and TYT, but yeah, he's just not the guy to be president I don't think.
Still, ultimately, what makes me not cover him AT ALL much is his ineligibility to be president. He's full stop not eligible, and let's face it, he's not gonna win his court cases. if he were a native born citizen, I would take him more seriously, but yeah. This is just a publicity stunt.
Still, if I were going to look at him in my Metric 1 and warmness rating metrics, how would I judge him?
Basic income support - 2/10
Eh, he doesn't mention UBI on his site. On his program he's talked about it before but he seems fair weather about it. I could see him bringing back the child tax credit, but I don't trust him on UBI.
Medicare for all support - 6/10
He mentions a public option on his site, but the details of that are anyone's guess. Public options can either be really really good, or really really crap. And it's hard to know where his would fall. I'll give him a 6.
Economic policies (other than UBI/M4A) - 8/10
I mean, he's a mainline progressive. $15 minimum wage, climate change policy, I could even see him doing student loan forgiveness or free college, but it's not mentioned here. Idk, Would he pursue such a thing? Still, he's a pretty standard progressive dem.
Social policies - 9/10
I mean he's probably gonna be for all the mainline progressive things. He probably won't be overly woke given he backed Ana on the whole "birthing persons" thing. But he will defend peoples' rights regardless.
Foreign policy - 2/10
Eh, while not the most insane progressive, he's gone hard into being pro ceasefire and shaming biden for his position on gaza. On Ukraine he previously accused Biden of "escalating" the war with Russia by sending F16s. He's cringe.
Worldview/ideology- 13/20
Eh on domestic issues he's a mainline progressive. He's not a full on leftist and I agree with him more than I don't. Still he's not pro UBI to my knowledge. And on foreign policy he's kinda cringe. I'd say all in all a slightly better package than Biden, but eh, he's not amazing.
Consistency/dedication to progressive values- 7/10
This is the dude who grills everyone else for not being consistent on progressive values. He's the OG purity tester, the founder of the justice democrats, aka the tea party of the left, and watching him today he still calls people he helped get elected out. The only reason I dont give him a 10 is because I dont trust him on UBI and im not sure exactly what his platform is and how he'll act in office.
Experience/competence- 2/10
He's very politically knowledgeable, but between not being eligible for president, and having a REALLY bad temperament sometimes, he's not great. I can't imagine the dude who melts down on his youtube channel sometimes as having the nuclear codes.
Doesn't act as a spoiler- 10/10
He's running as a democrat.
Total- 57/100
He's not bad. I mean, he got over 50 and beat out Cornel West and Jill Stein given he's running as a democrat. He's weaker than Biden, Phillips, and Williamson though, and has some flaws I just can't overlook.
Warmness rating- 45/100
Slightly negative, but that's after dwelling on the dude's flaws.
All in all, stick to TYT, dude. It's what you're good at. And if you wanna support more justice democrats, that's fair. He definitely has a role to play in the progressive movement, it's just not president. I think what Obama said of Bernie once comes to mind when thinking of him. He's like an old testament prophet. he's loud, bombastic, gruff, tells it like it is, but someone like that wouldn't necessarily make a good king. He might not make the right choices, especially on foreign policy. His temperament kinda sucks. And yeah he kinda lacks the expertise to finesse his way around the job. In a sense he's kinda like a democratic donald trump given his poor temperament. And while I could see him debating trump and doing a good job, let's face it, it would be a grudge match more than anything serious.
I guess I'll add him to my candidate list now that I evaluated him, but yeah, I don't take him super seriously, I don't think he would win, and I obviously dont see him as the best democrat running anyway. In fact, after thinking about it he may be the worst, despite being more progressive than Biden in a lot of ways.
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