Schultz brews up a bold challenge to the political system
SAN DIEGO -- Howard Schultz is right about his critics. They have had too much caffeine. And it's made them snarky, mean and close-minded.
And what Schultz's critics could really use are a few shots of consistency, historical perspective and a willingness to hold the right people accountable when the wrong people get elected.
The media, Democratic Party operatives and others on the left are steamed at the billionaire coffee mogul -- and lifelong Democrat -- for believing that politics is too important to be left to the professional politicians. The criticism started a few weeks ago from the moment that Schultz, the founder of Starbucks, went on CBS' "60 Minutes" and uttered the following words:
"I am seriously thinking of running for president. I will run as a centrist independent, outside the two-party system."
Those words were music to my ears. Not because I like Schultz. I don't know enough about him to know how I feel about him one way or another.
I heard the music because, like many Americans, I've been burned too many times by both the right and the left. I've grown to detest the political parties. For that, I make no apologies. In fact, it's the parties that owe an apology to me -- and millions of other Americans like me.
As Schultz likes to point out, according to polls, more than 40 percent of American voters are either registered Independents or they identify themselves as Independents.
To the political class -- which is defined by people who benefit more from gridlock than progress -- terms like "centrist independent" and "outside the two-party system" are fighting words. And that's especially true when those words come from an ultra-wealthy person who could spend $200 million of his own money to upset the apple cart and throw both parties off their scripts.
During an interview when Schultz spilled his guts -- about, among other things, the physical abuse he suffered growing up at the hands of his father -- a tone deaf Scott Pelley said: "Many people are going to ask, 'what does the coffee entrepreneur know about being commander in chief?'"
Gee, Scott. Maybe those people need to come to grips with the startling fact that most people don't know anything about being commander-in-chief -- not governors of Arkansas or Texas, not first-term senators from Illinois, and certainly not real estate magnates. It's a role that calls for on-the-job training.
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