Sam Nunn - Not a Happy Democrat

Former Democratic Sen. Sam Nunn of Georgia (wiki bio) doesn't think the Democratic candidates are "serious". He's got concerns and he's ruminating as to what he can do to fix things up. He thinks the current primary process is broken and forces the candidates to swing to the fringes instead of core functions of fiscal responsibility and national security.  

...(he) said Friday he is frustrated with the direction of the presidential race and acknowledged talking with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and others about an independent challenge to the major parties.

He's says he's not interested in starting his own campaign, but if he ran he'd only be interested in the "top job".

"We've had conversations about frustration with the fact that the process is flawed," Nunn said of Bloomberg, who has sent mixed signals about a potential independent White House bid. "I've told him ... it may be time for some serious people to look at what I call a time-out and having people of good faith in the Democratic and Republican parties to come together and address the issues that the parties don't seem to want to address.<</p>

Nunn is investigating options for an for an independent slate. No comment from the Bloomberg  camp.

Since Sam Nunn's 24 years in the Senate and since, he's always been billed as a moderate Democrat with a strong national security reputation. He was on the DLC in 2000 and was a "Third Way" New Democrat with a reputation for bipartisanship.  

Personally, I have always viewed Senator Nunn as a conservative and a fair-haired guys club type. You might remember Sam Nunn as the senior Democratic Senator who appealed to President Clinton to give up on "gays in the military" in 1992. Is that the source of his discomfort of our slate of candidates?

Nunn has spent a large part of his retirement on non-profit nuclear nonproliferation and he's not likely to appreciate using nuclear weapons as a threat nor a bargaining chip.

Sam Nunn is Co-Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a charitable organization working to reduce the global threats from nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.

In addition to NTI, Nunn is on the board of Directors for General Electric, Chevron Texaco, Coca Cola, and Dell Computer, as well as the  Center for Strategic and International Studies, and the Sam Nunn School for International Relations at Georgia Tech.

You can listen here to a recent speech Senator Nunn gave at the Council on Foreign Relations on nuclear risks. Nunn believes the world is heading for a new nuclear tipping point.

Perhaps the recent dialog on the use of tactical nuclear weapons by the Republican candidates, Obama's pledge for a non-nuclear presidency, and Hillary's reaction fed into Nunn's lack of regard for the slates.

Sam Nunn and I are not in the same "wing" of the Democratic Party and I can assume we disagree on a few issues close to me. He's a bit of an enigma with no positions on abortion or affirmative action, but strongly for prayer in schools and against GLBT rights. He's generally for increased defense budgets yet actively panned spending money on the missile shield defense system. Nunn believes strongly in not moving left or right but is a realist that focuses on problems rather than ideologies.

What are his issues for this A-list of Democratic candidates?

Is it simply that he's getting mobilized by the establishment, the MIC?  

Is Senator Nunn suffering from a deficiency in cultural diversity?

I don't know the answers. Senator Nunn has flirted with a Presidential run in the past so maybe this is just his sputtering last hurrah. No matter how far apart we may be though, people of Senator Nunn's experience deserve attention.

What's exactly are his concerns about the Democratic candidates? I hate to just say it's their diversity...that may just be too trite.