Dear Tom: Thanks for Trying. Don't Be A Stranger.

Tom Steyer is gone from the presidential sweepstakes, and it's too tempting to look upon it as another way of saying that having endless money, alone, won't get you the political stature you crave.

But it never seemed to be that way with him. He was too humble by half, as opposed to nearly everybody else who seeks high position. He couldn't even criticize fellow candidates and pivot to add some self-aggrandizing phraseology himself; he always stopped short of it. He missed one of the primary attributes of a big-time candidate: A well-applied, but not excessive, amount of ego, 45 notwithstanding to his minions.

It was as if, instead of buying the presidency, he was putting in his riches for a worthy cause. It never had that 'stolen' feeling about it. Yes, he was rich. Yes, that gave him opportunities. But no, he wouldn't--seemed like he couldn't--use that as a podium to say anything he wanted to say. He was a classic liberal who jumped into the fray because he saw, as well as others, the existential threat to our democracy that 45 represents and unfortunately leads.

Steyer had the good will but not the mechanics nor the savvy. If it's early-on for someone like him, the latter can't be gained except by wading into the river and either fighting the current or drifting with it. He tried both. Neither worked as well as he thought it would.

Even so, he made contributions. He was the first to call 45 "a fraud and a failure," which is, of course,  absolutely true. Except he added it at the conclusion of one of his campaign ads, with a scrunched-up face that reminded me of a neighborhood scold. I don't know who was advising him, if anyone, but to start such ads with that phrase and then proceed, within 30 seconds or a minute, to demonstrate it, would have been so much more effective. Someone missed that connection.

His raising of awareness of the dangers of climate change will be one of the best memories of his candidacy. He could still promote this through his support of the eventual nominee through an attempt to gain influence. That nominee should pay attention.

He absolutely poured himself into the South Carolina primary, a Joe Biden stronghold, believing that getting on the ground with the folks would be superior strategy to soliciting support from the operative pols. Again, whatever political advice he was receiving failed him. Biden got the needed endorsement from House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, with whom Biden worked in consecutive Congresses from both his seat in the Senate and Vice-President. When things look challenging, pols often rely on what they know. Sincerity alone, from someone like Steyer, is admirable but inadequate to fill the vessel of a candidate's qualifications.

He's right: There's no path to the White House from here. There never was for someone without the kinds of political experiences that nearly all others have steeled themselves to have lived through and survived (Mayor Pete being the notable exception; he falls in-between Steyer and the rest).

Steyer is a good man and a businessman with soul. He's shown us that the combination of the two are possible. But the nice-guyness of his basic approach, instead of the darkness that 45 projects, served to hold him back from the confrontations and the ultimate win-lose situations that all politicians must ultimately face to either come away with positive glows or lose and then need to rebuild confidence and support in comebacks. Everyone in that realm has been through it.

He seemed like the bowl of Goldilocks porridge that was always too cold and too bland; not to be automatically rejected like the hot one and certainly approachable, but neither to be willfully ingested, either, like the one that was just right. Maybe he can manage that someday.

That he has gambled and lost at the country's highest level of political competition may sour him from re-entering a fray at a different level, or sharpen his instincts when he returns. Here's hoping it's the latter. This writer, for one, has appreciated Steyer's clear, honest if slightly naive approaches to the fundamental challenges we now have; they provided a modicum of clarity through all the noise and nonsense and a reminder of what's really at stake. For that, he gets a tip of the hat for trying.

The Spanish have two ways of saying good-bye: adios (with the implication of forever) and hasta la vista (see you later). Let's hope it's the latter, with the concomitant wish: Don't be a stranger.

Be well. Be careful. I'll see you down the road.


Mister Mark