Inslee gets some time in the first day of Democratic Convention

Although Washington Gov. Jay Inslee didn’t last long in the presidential race last year, he made appearances at events tied to the first day of the Democratic National Convention, talking about climate change, fighting the COVID-19 pandemic and plugging presumptive nominee Joe Biden.

His time in the convention’s prime time slot was relatively brief, a few lines as part of a montage of other Democrats who fell short in their attempt to get their party’s nomination. 

Biden has seen hard times in his life and can relate to others, Inslee said, recalling a time when he saw the former vice president meet with military families who clearly realized someone cared for them.

“We need that in the White House,” Inslee said. “It’s not easy to unite the Democratic Party; Joe Biden has pulled it off.”

The governor’s total time on the television screen was less than the minute Nevada Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto – the first Latina senator, 1990 Gonzaga Law School graduate and an early prospect for the vice presidential slot – had to defend mail-in voting, which President Donald Trump has repeatedly criticized.

The administration has threatened to withhold federal funding and filed legal action to stop Nevada’s shift to mail-in voting, Cortez Masto said. The state’s Republican secretary of state has gone to court to defend it. 

But defunding the post office hurts seniors, who rely on the mail for their prescription drugs, she said. They shouldn’t be unable to get their prescriptions just because the president wants to win an election, she added. 

Inslee, who based his unsuccessful presidential campaign on the fight against global climate change, had more time in front of cameras earlier in the day, even though they were showing him on internet platforms connected to the convention rather than cable television. He was introduced as “a legend in the pantheon of climate heroes” by the moderator of a discussion on environmental policy sponsored by The NewDeal Forum.

Although Inslee called Biden’s original environmental plan “half measures,” he praised the new plan released Monday as “brilliant.” He compared the United States in 2020 to where it was in 1932 when Franklin Roosevelt was elected because in both cases there were big challenges that could be turned into opportunities by thinking big.

Biden’s current economic plan is bold, with a $2 trillion price tag, has quantifiable standards that can be enforced and pushes for racial and economic justice, he said. 

Efforts to reduce carbon dioxide emissions don’t just help the environment, they boost economic justice by providing good-paying jobs, better housing and reducing pollution in that disproportionately affects low-income areas and minority communities, he said. 

In a separate appearance for a discussion on COVID-19 for the Center for American Progress, Inslee said Washington’s experience as the first state for a known infection and death from the virus convinced him government leaders should make decisions about fighting the pandemic based on science and data, not ideology.  The science says to reduce interactions among the public early because, “if you wait, delay is deadly,” he added.

The pandemic also convinced him that everyone is in the fight against the virus together, that government should always look for ways to reduce inequities like the racial disparities in which groups are most affected by the virus and that the health of a community is tied to the economy.

“The best economic policy is to take care of our families,” he said.