Gov. Kasich: Two-party system may be over
His comments signal possible presidential run.
— Delivering WASHINGTON a strong signal he may run for president in 2020 as an independent, Ohio Gov. John Kasich assailed Democrats for lacking an “agenda,” while predicting the possibility of the “end of the twoparty system.”
Although Kasich repeatedly said Sunday on “ABC’s This Week” he has “no idea what ‘I’m going to do” in 2020, his sharp criticism of the Democratic party mirrors his spirited attacks in the past against Republicans.
With his Democratic colleague John Hickenlooper sitting next to him, Kasich said he has “no clue” what Democrats now stand for other than their intense criticism of Republicans.
In an interview taped Friday in Washington, Kasich complained “we are heading into a mid-term election” where Democrats “are counting on the Republicans bouncing the basketball off of their foot out of bounds. And they’re going to have a decent 2018; a good year.”
“But how can you have a national policy party that has no agenda?” asked Kasich, a two-term Republican governor and former U.S. House Republican.
“No agenda. And Democrats will tell you that.”
Kasich then launched a test drive of a theme he could use in 2020 when he said “we may be beginning to see the end of the two-party system. I’m starting to really wonder if we are going to see a multi-party system at some point in the future of this country.”
“Because I don’t think either party is answering people’s deepest concerns and needs,” Kasich said.
Like Ross Perot in 1992 and 1996, when he launched independent bids for the presidency, Kasich may be counting on voter frustration with both major political parties. For years, Democrats and Republicans have been unable to devise longterm solutions to rising federal debt, health care coverage and gun control.
Yet American political history is littered with failures of third-party presidential candidates, such as Perot, George Wallace in 1968 and Strom Thurmond in 1948.
In addition, Kasich has long-time attachments to such Republican issues as lower taxes and opposition to abortion.
And before his about-face on gun control in the past week, he had been warmly backed for re-election in 2014 by the National Rifle Association.
Kasich repeatedly told ABC’s Jonathan Karl he has no idea what he will do after his term as governor ends next January. He said he would “like to have a voice” after he leaves office.
But when Karl pressed him on running for president, Kasich said “at the end of the day it’s in the hands of the Lord as to what to my future is,” adding, “I don’t know what he wants me to do.”
Insisting he is a Republican, Kasich said he could not “predict what the future is going to be like,” adding he was “not even thinking about” the future.