A Sad First Step -- Howard Schultz on 60 Minutes

I watched Howard Schultz be interviewed on 60 Minutes to hear him announce his independent run for president in 2020 and, even more, to hear his views.  I was curious to hear his positions.  After all, the advanced billing said that he was going to position himself as a centrist unafraid of setting forth actual policies that work rather than the platitudes and talking points used by Democrats and Republicans.  Well I have to say it was sad to watch Schultz answer questions.  Schultz could have been Hillary Clinton without the pants suit.  He talked about his concerns but never about his proposed solutions.  For example, he denounced the huge debt run up by the federal government but never once said how he would approach reducing that debt or at least stop it from growing.  He spoke about how he cared about people who don't even have $400 in savings, but he never said how he would change that.  He talked about the importance of healthcare, but he offered no insight as to how he would approach the problem.

No one would have expected Schultz to put for detailed plans at this point.  We all understand that it's really early in the process for those details to emerge.  It's not too early, however, for Schultz to have a point of view on solutions rather than just on problems.  We've had too many people in Washington who always talk about caring about this problem or "fighting against" that problem, but who never actually accomplish anything.  They care and fight but things go on as before.  Schultz seems thus far to be just another member of that group.

It was a very sad first step.  Schultz claims he is offering something different.  Then he goes ahead an seems to be just another rich guy offering no real solutions.  He's going to have to do a lot better in the future is he hopes to have any chance of success.