Commentary
The budget deal hammered out June 27 by the Legislature and Gov. Gavin Newsom achieved its major purpose: Getting him through the current budget cycle until next year’s Democratic presidential primaries.
Of course, that may not matter. President Biden might take one of those rejuvenating potions they advertise for seniors on late-night TV, while dodging numerous ethics scandals, and cruise through challenges by Bobby Kennedy Jr. and others to be renominated on his way to a second term.
In the event Biden drops out, Newsom has avoided—so far—the budget crashes that plagued his predecessors in their stalled bids for the Oval Office: Govs. Pete Wilson in 1976, Gray Davis in 2004 (recalled in 2003), and even Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2012 (biographer Ian Halperin said he was working on amending the Constitution to allow foreign-born candidates)….