Former U.S. Senator and one-time presidential candidate Bill Bradley joined a crowd of roughly 75 people for a question and answer session at Williams College this week. The Democrat gave some insight into how he thinks the 2016 presidential race will turn out.Bradley served three terms as a U.S. Senator from New Jersey, leaving Congress in 1997. In 2000, he launched a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, losing to Al Gore. Bradley remains publically active, hosting a radio show and writing. Bradley touched on the potential of Vermont’s independent Senator Bernie Sanders entering the 2016 presidential race.
“The more the merrier as far as I’m concerned,” Bradley said. “Its America, anybody can run. I think Bernie has a point of view and it’ll be interesting to see how that would play in the country. The assumption is that it wouldn’t play and I’m not too sure of that. It’s a big undertaking to run for President of the United States. I think in terms of his voice it would be an interesting addition to the campaign.”
Still, Bradley says Hillary Clinton is the Democratic favorite by a large degree and believes there is no one currently on the horizon who can seriously challenge her. Without throwing support behind her, Bradley says no one else has the wisdom and the experience of “taking it on the chin” like Clinton does.
“Well I think the Democrats, Hillary Clinton is the favorite and she’s probably going to be the nominee and I think the president,” he said. “Republicans are in a food fight and will be in a food fight. I wouldn’t underestimate Ted Cruz from Texas, who is the darling of the Tea Party. I also think that Jeb Bush would be powerful candidate if he ran from the opposite extreme in the party.”
Bradley says American politics has degenerated into partisan name-calling because of structural issues, not the people.
“One is the way money plays in politics and how much there is of it,” Bradley said. “The second is the way we draw Congressional district lines in America, which reward the extremes. The third is the very fact that you have great difficulty having a reasoned debate because the media forces us into cookie cutter, us and them, black and white issues.”
Bradley says money’s role in politics won’t change without a constitutional amendment.
He added that a third force is needed in Congress and believes a new party could take seats by running on three main issues deemed important for moderate Americans with at least a quarter of the candidates having military leadership experience.
An Olympic gold medalist and Basketball Hall of Famer who played for the New York Knicks championship teams in 1970 and 1973, Bradley says what makes a winner is selflessness, resilience, imagination and a desire to win. Maybe these traits are among the things people can do better, a nod to Bradley’s most recent book, We Can All Do Better.
“I believe that each of us as Americans can do better,” he said. “Cleary people in Washington can do better. But I think each of us in our own lives can do better too. As human beings, how much we love and care for our family and friends and how open we are to strangers.”
In the crowd was Chris Farrell, who worked seven years for Massachusetts Republican Congressman Silvio Conte, a period that overlapped with Bradley’s time in Washington. Farrell says Bradley is thought of as one of the brightest minds in the Senate and believes he hasn’t missed a step.
“I think an often lot of people in public policy today could learn an awful lot just from the way the man thinks, the way he sees the equation and the way he understands it,” Farrell said. “He filters the politics out of it and gets the human realities into it. I think that’s the difference with him and I think that’s why he’ll always be remembered as one of the great leaders of our time.”
Clyde Engle, the communications director for the Williams College Democrats, says Bradley brings a bit of an outsider’s perspective to national politics today.
“I think his ideas for a constitutional amendment reversing Citizens United and other ideas are things that we consider as young people in America,” Engle said. “He’s still very active, he still has a voice and he supports my candidate, Hillary Clinton, for president, so yeah, I think he’s relevant.”
