Can Andrew Yang ride high charisma and innovative ideas into the Oval Office?
Entrepreneur Andrew Yang is surely the most energetic figure seeking the Democratic Party’s presidential nomination: it’s unlikely that any other contender would warm up for a candidate interview with a newspaper by taking a quick lap around its newsroom — which is exactly what Yang did during his recent visit to The State.
But there’s a more substantive reason why Yang has the potential to make a mark in the 2020 Democratic primaries: the candidate has the uncanny skill to present provocative proposals as simply pragmatic ones that would benefit Americans in practical ways.
Example No. 1 is Yang’s “Freedom Dividend” plan to provide every American adult with a basic universal income of $12,000 a year through monthly $1,000 payments — an idea that Yang said is more about embracing common sense than radicalism.
“I want to put more buying power into our people’s hands,” Yang told The State, “and start giving Americans this unfamiliar feeling of having the government do something that actually improves your life — and that you love.”
Yang added that it’s beyond debate that “$12,000 a year will decrease income inequality. If you’re making $24,000 a year and you get $12,000 (more) a year, that’s a 50% increase. That’s enormous.”
Example No. 2 is Yang’s wholehearted support of Medicare for All as the best way to reform America’s health care system — even though many claim that approach would be too divisive and infeasible.
“People ask how are we going to pay for (Medicare for All), but we are already paying through the nose now for our health care in waste alone,” Yang said. “This is not about being divisive. It’s about what we can do to improve people’s lives in real life.”
Add in Yang’s ability to offer detailed views on numerous other issues facing America — at one point the candidate did an extended riff on how a Yang administration would partner with Silicon Valley to close the nation’s technology gap with China — and it’s clear why Yang’s mix of serious policy wonk and charismatic straight shooter has caused his poll numbers to gradually inch upward.
“I’m ideally suited to beat (President) Donald Trump,” Yang said.
“I can just present a very sharp contrast between someone who’s trying to solve the problems of the American people and improve our lives,” Yang said, “and someone who I think most Americans have concluded doesn’t have our interests at heart.”
But before Yang can even come close to waging a general election battle against Trump — a figure Yang derided as a “marketing charlatan and a fraud” — the political neophyte will have to overcome challenges in the Democratic race that are so massive they would hobble the most seasoned national politician.
First, while Yang’s poll numbers are steadily rising — he was at 4 percent in a recent Quinnipiac poll of South Carolina voters and his support has been trending up in various national polls — there’s a nagging question that won’t go away: Can Yang really raise those numbers quickly enough to be a significant force as the primary season unfolds?
Second, while Yang has no shortage of magnetism or innovative ideas, the Beltway political punditry class remains stubbornly reluctant to take his candidacy as seriously as it deserves to be taken.
During the most recent Democratic debate, for example, it was both striking and odd that some 30 minutes passed before Yang was asked a question by the moderators; indeed, the panel seemed more interested in stoking confrontations between low-polling fringe contender Tulsi Gabbard and two other candidates — Pete Buttigieg and Kamala Harris — than it was in giving Yang a fair hearing or meaningful time.
Of course, these aren’t the only daunting obstacles Yang faces in seeking the Democratic nomination — and it’s reasonable to doubt whether he can win the race against time to successfully navigate all of them.
But Yang has already shown that he is a credible presidential candidate — and it was only fitting that during his interview at The State, Yang wore a lapel pin emblazoned with the word “MATH.”
Why?
Because make no mistake about it: Andrew Yang has added something worthwhile to the 2020 presidential race.
This story was originally published November 26, 2019 at 5:05 AM.