The Call of Duty

Senator Sherrod Brown, of Ohio, answered the call of duty, which was to defend his critical senate seat in Ohio instead of running for president. Governor Bullock, of Montana, former Governor Hickenlooper, of Colorado, and former Congressman Beto O’Rourke, of Texas, are in each case the Democratic Party’s best hope to capture a vulnerable senate seat held by a Trump-enabling, Mitch McConnell-obeying Republican. They should answer the call of duty: They should withdraw from the presidential race and run for the senate.

A Democratic president can arrest the current trend toward authoritarianism, but Democrats must hold the House and retake control of the senate to have a chance of initiating legislative reforms and undoing the damage of the Trumpian years. Gaining Democratic control of the senate is almost as important as ridding the nation of Trump.

I doubt if any of these gentleman will answer the call of duty, too ego-bound are they to resist chasing the biggest prize.