Run Charlie Run

It may be Charlie Crist is what Florida needs to get us back on track.

FLORIDA  
WEST COAST        

Opinion by:  
E. Eugene Webb PhD 

This past week Charlie Crist, Florida’s 13th Congressional District member of the House of Representatives, announced his intention to run for Florida Governor opposing current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.

Congressman Crist will run on the ballot as a Democrat.

From the Crist Facebook page, “Florida should be a place where hard work is rewarded, justice is equal, and opportunity is right in front of you. That's a Florida for all — and that's why I'm running for Governor.”

You can read all of that and sort it out for yourself.

The one thing that has not changed much over all this time has been Charlie's approach to serving the people. It would be tough to find someone anymore dedicated to the art of public service than Congressman Crist.

We have had three and a half years of Ron DeSantis.

He has approached the governor's office like the middle school bully approaches the playground.

If you do not like what I am doing, I will push you around and if you continue to dislike what I am doing, I will take my ball and go home. Classic example: after the Lakewood Ranch Manatee County vaccine debacle, the typical DeSantis comment, “If you don't want the vaccine here, I'll take it somewhere else.”

DeSantis views himself kind of in the Trump model, the problem with that is you never know when DeSantis the bully is going to show up and then the nice guy will make an appearance.

As we approach the Governor's race and look at 2022 and beyond, I am not sure we need a bully in the Governor's mansion. Florida faces a lot of problems: environmental change, racial issues, law enforcement, equity, and the list goes on.

Charlie Crist is a peacemaker. He is a moderate in almost everything. He knows how to be compassionate and how to bring people together. It may be Charlie Crist is just what Florida needs for four years or so to get us back on track.

Charlie is sure to draw a lot of competition in the primary run up to the governor's race. He makes a rather good political target with his changing of political parties, some of his moderate stances and his overall general political philosophy.

But Charlie's the real deal.

What you see is what you get. He left the Republican Party because he could not get the support of the rain makers in the then tea party and was deeply concerned about how far to the right the Republican Party had shifted.

Is Charlie comfortable in the blue coat of the Democrats? I am not sure, but I am sure that he is not comfortable in the histrionic far right of what is currently the Republican Party, and in Florida that whole movement is led by current governor Ron DeSantis.

In the meantime, do not pay too much attention to the political primary rhetoric.

Just listen to what Charlie says and compare that to what the Democratic primary candidates are saying, and especially to the drum beating coming from the DeSantis campaign.

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