Bill Whalen
Forbes
Palo Alto, CA, United States
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Past articles by bill:
Is Biden Hardly — Or Trying Hard To Be — The New Harding?
The 2020 election has invited a centennial comparison – Joe Biden as Warren Harding. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who spent 44 years in Washington as a senator and vice president, is Harding 2.0, a Republican from Ohio who was but a first-term senator at the time of his presidential run. → Read More
As COVID-19 Spreads, California Wages War With Gig Businesses That Would Save The Most Vulnerable
Late last week, California governor Gavin Newsom issued a stay-at-home order for nearly all California residents, shuttering most of the world’s fifth largest economy. This shutdown remarkably increases the need for on-demand drivers for delivery of groceries, medications, and prepared food to California households, particularly the oldest and most vulnerable. → Read More
Bernie Took California, But All’s Not Golden In The Biggest Of Super Tuesday Prizes
With distance comes perspective. And though it hasn’t been all that long since Californians went to the polls, here are some thoughts with regard to this week’s primary in the Golden State, one of 14 states to participate in this year’s “Super Tuesday” of voting, coast to coast. → Read More
All These States Voting So Soon After South Carolina? Not A “Super” Idea
If the goal of this year's "Super Tuesday" is the same now as it was 30 years ago when the term was first coined – produce a Democrat more viable in the conservative South, with a better chance of winning the November election – then these 14 states are the wrong way of going about its. → Read More
Mr. Bloomberg Goes To Las Vegas: Do Democrats Want A Quickie Wedding?
Bloomberg is winning over the minds of primary-voting Democrats, but what about their hearts? That's if the tired adage -- Democrats "fall in love" and Republicans "fall in line" -- still applies. In 2020, maybe a party hellbent on beating Donald Trump isn't in search of a love connection. → Read More
Of Primary Concern: Having Trump Face His Republican Challengers
Rather than helping Trump avoid potential embarrassments (i.e., larger-than-expected protest votes), cancelling Republican presidential primaries next year has a potentially negative effect of the incumbent avoiding what could be a needed reality check courtesy of the party's base. → Read More
The Torch Has Been Passed . . . But Can A Fourth Generation Of Aspiring Kennedys Run With It?
Is the timing right, in 2020, for Rep. Joe Kennedy III to take on a sitting Democratic senator in Massachusetts? Perhaps. But maybe the primary challenge suggests a new kind of Kennedy necessity: the fear of missing out in a year when Democrats seek a new identity -- and new leadership. → Read More
The Next Democratic Debate: 10 In, 10 Out . . . Five More Who Should Go
If I were running the Democratic National Committee, I’d set the bar even higher for the next debate to further streamline the presidential field. Apply a more rigorous standard to the Houston debate and Booker, Castro, Klobuchar, O’Rourke and Yang would be cut out of the conversation. → Read More
Some Debate Questions I Wish The Candidates Would Address
Unfortunately, there won’t be a repeat of the “down the line” questions where candidates were asked for a show of hands. It's a sad reflection of anti-Trump CNN cow-towing to the party out of power. And it raises yet another concern: just how hard will the three CNN moderators push the candidates? → Read More
Can Trump Win The Popular Vote? It Requires A California-Texas Two-Step
In 2016, Trump lost the national vote by 2.868 million votes -- and received a 4.27 million vote drubbing in California. Even if Trump were to experience a Lazarus-like California renaissance next year, where does he find the additional votes needed to win a national popularity contest? → Read More
Bashing Trump On The Fourth Of July: A Tank-less Chore
"Democrats need to imitate what Trump did four years ago. If they’re going to run on the strategy that outrage will fuel the base to turn out in record numbers, then perhaps it’s smarter to a streamline that outrage as opposed to the current scattershot approach . . ." → Read More
California’s Bullet-Train Fiasco Continues: $20 Billion For 120 Miles?
Last month, California governor Gavin Newsom announced that California’s ill-fated high-speed rail project would be scaled back enormously due to cost overruns and delays. The original project, which had an initial cost estimate of $33 billion, would have provided high-speed train service (speeds on some segments in excess of 200 miles per hour) beginning in San Diego, → Read More
The Grass Is Always Greener
California Sen. Kamala Harris' embrace of marijuana wasn't as notable as was her shaky memory -- claiming she got high while listening to Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur long before either cut their first album. A rookie mistake, or the sign of a candidate trying too hard to connect with black voters? → Read More
A Different Washington
George H.W. Bush' presidency ended (prematurely, some would say) 25 years ago. As Washington bids farewell to the man, things that were novel during "41's" presidency -- satellite television, snark-filled (sometimes erroneous) reporting, conservative talk radio -- are now political institutions. → Read More
A Different Washington
George H.W. Bush' presidency ended (prematurely, some would say) 25 years ago. As Washington bids farewell to the man, things that were novel during "41's" presidency -- satellite television, snark-filled (sometimes erroneous) reporting, conservative talk radio -- are now political institutions. → Read More
An Election Day Viewing Guide
Across one continent and four time zones, a handful of House, Senate and gubernatorial contests will write the narrative of the first large-scale voter referendum on the Trump presidency. Here's a guide for where to look on Election Day, and why each particular contest merits special attention. → Read More
What's wrong with the Democratic Party? Just look at California
"Isn’t that what America expects from California? Entertainment?" → Read More
WHCA dinner could be Trump's chance to one-up the media. He should take it.
OPINION | A big check to the White House Correspondents Association could show that the president understands what his predecessors only learned to accept. → Read More
WHCA dinner could be Trump's chance to one-up the media. He should take it.
OPINION | A big check to the White House Correspondents Association could show that the president understands what his predecessors only learned to accept. → Read More
What's a Democrat to run on these days? In California: gays, guns, grass and government
Thanks to Hillary Clinton’s unexpected defeat last fall, Democrats face a quandary they weren’t expecting until the next decade: what does their party embody in a post-Clinton universe? → Read More