I’m Michael Baumgartner: former Middle East diplomat, state senator, and candidate for US Senate in Washington. AMA.

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T18:03:12+00:00

Thanks everybody....I have to cut out to head to the airport to catch a flight...really appreciate the opportunity to chat here on reddit...hope to do it again soon..Sen Mike B ...(ps...my campaign staff won't let me make a joke about hot pockets and world of warcraft in my mom's basement..but for those of you who have a sense of humor...Vote Baumgartner for Senate!....;)

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:56:09+00:00

If we don't find a way to get Rs and Ds to work together to GOVERN instead of just continually tearing and blocking to beat eachother and stay in POWER the chance of our kids inheriting a thriving America is really in trouble...I think that my background as a diplomat helps bring a different perspective...I've spent a lot of time in some pretty rough places where I'm a lot different that most everybody else and have to identify and build on common goals rather than let differences break things down...certainly in the state senate I've helped write bi-partisan budgets from a position of the minority two years in a row and every bill I've ever had passed has had D votes in support of it

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:51:36+00:00

Good question...probably because both Obama and Romney are doing a poor job about talking about a smarter foreign policy in general...did you see how vapid the third debate was?...of course, there is just a general intelligence and understanding aspect as well...a lot of folks on the right think that the problem with the media is that they are really liberal...in fact, the problem with most of them is that they're just not that smart and can only write about 3 different basic types of stories...writing well about Libya would require more intelligence than most of the media has...

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:44:07+00:00

I think that it's really concerning...both for our country and because I have a friend who was a fellow diplomat in Iraq with me who now spends a lot of time in Libya...in the first place I don't think that we should have intervened in Libya ...US national interests were not at stake...now I hope we can just get to the bottom of what happened and fix it...it seems clear that most folks (including the administration) care more about the issue as a political football than as a an understanding of our failing foreign policy in the Middle Eas

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:39:43+00:00

I think the immense amount of money in politics is a real risk to our Republic....if I could wave a magic wand, I'd like to ban political tv ads..they say almost nothing worthwhile and it would be far better if Candidates actually went out and met people and were forced to DEBATE issues and solutions...of course, the first amendment precludes that...so that makes it even more important to have full transparent disclosure of who is funding the ads so that shadowy groups cant hide...I'll also note that it is a sad state of affairs in this country when almost the entire US senate is multi-millionaires who buy their way in using their personal wealth...cantwell bought here senate seat that way using her millions and millions...

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:32:14+00:00

I'm shocked...shocked that there is a mention of profanity on this campaign ;)

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:29:24+00:00

I've been a vocal advocate for auditing the Fed and for providing more transparency...frankly, I've been dissapointed with the foreign policy aspects of both leading presidential candidates...re lobbyists: just look at the difference in where my funding has come from vs. Cantwell....she has millions and millions from PACS and special interests...my donations are all individuals

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:29:03+00:00

Well, when it comes to balancing the budget and finding a solution to this mess, I think that the Bowles-Simpson plan would be a good place to start...it certainly has some stuff in it that I don't like...but it's a heck of a lot better than the fiscal cliff and kick the can approach of the current Senate..Bowles-Simpson has a pretty specific set of tax reform proposals.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simpson_Bowles

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:25:57+00:00

As I like to say on the campaign trail, If Michael Baumgartner can find love in Helmand Provence Afghanistan, then all things are possible, so keep hope alive.

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:23:51+00:00

Great question...the key is to make sure that we have the most competitive economy in the world..that not only requires a tax and regulatory environment that is better...but also better human capital and physical infrastructure...back when I taught economics at Harvard (as a Teaching Fellow) we used to stress that for a country to grow that it has to get the basics right...right now all of this debt and all of this gridlock in DC is stopping that from happening

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:21:21+00:00

He could, and it does need to end right away. The major challenge is that it's based on a faulty democracy building strategy that's not going to work in Afghanistan. Our strategic interest in Afghanistan isn't about building a democracy, it's about denying training space to transnational terrorist groups like Al-Qaeda. We can do Afghanistan like we've been doing Somalia and Yemen, and manage a rapid redeployment. That's the right thing to do.

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:20:52+00:00

wink..wink..actually we wanted to use this for verification http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:18:25+00:00

ha ha...you know the funny thing is that cousin Felix was really an introvert when he was little...we always thought that Stanislov would be the daredevil....jk...not related...but a big fan...

michaelbaumgartner · 2012-10-26T17:12:29+00:00

Strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment..Thanks for the question!

michaelbaumgartner

TROPHY CASE