Howard Schultz: Starbucks Billionaire, but a Viable President?
Earlier in 2019, Howard Schultz announced that he’s running for president provided the Democratic party can’t come up with a moderate that has a chance of beating Donald Trump. The Democratic party is full of progressive candidates (Bernie Sanders, Andrew, Yang, Elizabeth Warren) and pseudo-progressive (Cory Booker, Kamala Harris, etc) candidates and if they don’t pull a good ol’ middle-o’-the-road nominee, Howard will step in. Let me ask you this: Do you want a drug dealer for president?
Schultz got his start in the in the early 80s stumbling upon Starbucks as a salesman for Xerox. He was business savvy and quickly rose through the ranks and several years later opened up his own coffee shop. Schultz is likely a smart man and a solid entrepreneur, but it’s not too difficult to sell an item that the majority of Americans drink. I’d say he was in the right place at the right time. Maybe he’d be good for business and boast of a booming economy, but I have concerns about electing America’s favorite drug dealer as president.
Coffee runs through my veins. I can’t go a day without it and the longest I’ve waited after waking up to drink coffee was about 3 hours. It’s tough for me and many Americans to forego our caffeine fix in the morning. There’s alternatives, but Starbucks is quick and easy. I can walk to a couple Starbucks within a mile, but does Starbucks really benefit me as the consumer? No, it’s far more cost effective to make coffee at home. The convenience factor really gets me as a consumer and I too, am victim, of the baristas’ nimbleness and the ubiquity of mediocre coffee shops. Thanks for the drugs, Howie.
During Schultz’ tenure, “Let’s talk about Race” was marketed on Starbucks cups where baristas were asked to write ‘Race Together’ in a ‘friendly and approachable font to discuss racial relations and white privilege. Well, at least it’s not in comic sans. That went sour quickly with both progressive and conservative voters. Let’s not forget about the War on Christmas. 2016 and 2017 featured upset and hatred from conservative Americans, feeling that Starbucks was pushing liberal bias and a ‘gay agenda’. At this point, I’m not sure even moderate conservatives would consider voting for an independent like Schultz nor would progressive Democratic voters. It’s not like we’ve ever elected a billionaire businessman before and lived in fear of their violent supporters’ reprisal against minorities, destruction of the middle class via higher taxes, vastly eliminating environmental protections, and a continuation of archaic policies. Stick to coffee, buddy. It’s not hard to do a better job than Trump, but a business background won’t save America.
