Former Attorney General Eric Holder has moved the needle on whether he plans to run for president in 2020 from “meh” to “eh.”
That is, he’s still playing coy on whether he’ll make a run for the White House. He has not come right out and said, “Yes, I plan to run,” but he has not flat out rejected the idea. I may be one of three people in media who cares about this, but I’m going to bring you updates so long as there are updates to be brought.
On MSNBC this week, host Chris Hayes asked former Justice Department spokesman Matt Miller: “Is he running for president? Is Eric Holder running?”
Miller responded, “I keep asking him, because I want to know if I have to quit my job and move to Iowa. So, I don’t know.”
“If he will promise to be my press secretary,” Holder himself interjected. “I might consider it.”
“You are considering it,” said Hayes.
“Yes, I’m thinking about it, but I’ve not made any determinations,” the first African-American attorney general in U.S. history responded.
Ah-ha! There it is! Holder is “considering it.” His answer here is, like, a half-step up from where he was in February when he was interviewed by the Washington Post’s Jonathan Capeheart.
“Why do you feel at least a flicker in the belly to even think about running for president?” the Post columnist asked Holder.
The former Attorney General gave the most political answer possible, saying, “Well, because I care a great deal about this country. I’ve spent the vast majority of my professional life in public service. I think I’ve got ideas that I hope would resonate with the American people. I think I’ve got the guts to potentially do the things that I think the next president would have to do.”
Holder added, in what sounded like an acceptance speech: “This is not a time to be half-stepping; this is a time to deal with a changing America. An America that will be wounded by the experience that we are presently going through. So, it is all of those things. It doesn’t mean that ultimately, I’m going to do it. I’m certainly going to be involved in what happens in 2020. But I care about this country. I care about the way in which people in this nation are treated. I care about the notion of fairness, of equality.”
The really funny thing here isn’t that Holder, who holds the dubious distinction of being the first attorney general to be held in both civil and criminal contempt, keeps dancing around the question. The funny thing here is that members of the press keep asking him about running.
Are there really people who want to see this?
