Bredesen continues with Rhodes event despite Blackburn absence
During the Phil Bredesen forum Thursday evening, an audience member asked the former Tennessee governor to name the biggest problem facing the country today.
“I think the inability of Washington to get anything constructive done has become the number one problem in the country,” said Bredesen, who’s now running for U.S. Senate.
That brought cheers from many of the hundreds gathered at McNeill Concert Hall at Rhodes College.
Speaking in an even voice from a seat on stage, Bredesen presented himself as calm and reasonable, and as someone with plenty of experience working with diverse groups to make policy.
He declined to say how he’d vote on the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but said qualifications, ethics and temperament should play a bigger role in judicial confirmations than partisan politics.
He offered a detailed discussion of how he’d like to improve the federal student loan program, making it simpler and cheaper for students.
And just as he has at other moments during the campaign, Bredesen kept his criticism of President Trump to the barest of minimums.
Though the event was billed as “Memphis Matters,” much of the discussion focused on broad issues applicable anywhere in the nation.
The Rhodes College event was originally scheduled as a debate. But Bredesen’s Republican opponent, U.S. Rep. Marsha Blackburn, declined to attend.
“I was really disappointed that the Congresswoman decided not to do Memphis here,” Bredesen said. Supporters of Bredesen mocked Blackburn online with the hashtag #wheresmarsha.
Blackburn’s campaign representative Abbi Sigler wrote in a statement, “Unfortunately, the Rhodes College debate does not fit our schedule, but we are looking forward to other debates.”
After Blackburn declined to take part, the Rhodes College Democrats, a student organization, put on the forum featuring Bredesen with moderator Deidre Malone, president of the NAACP Memphis branch.
It bore the marks of a campaign event. At the end, people stood at the exits and handed out Bredesen yard signs.
Bredesen served as Tennessee governor from 2003 until 2011, and at age 74, he is the Democratic candidate in a closely watched race. It’s one of several contests that could tip the balance of the U.S. Senate toward the Democrats, bringing greater checks on President Trump.
The race is drawing national attention George Will, a nationally syndicated columnist with The Washington Post, called Bredesen “as exciting as oatmeal,” but said the race is a test of whether a seasoned, temperate Democrat can beat a Trump loyalist like Blackburn in the heart of the country.
Tennesseans overwhelmingly supported Trump in the 2016 presidential election.
Bredesen has refrained from criticizing Trump on the campaign trail, saying that if a Trump policy benefits Tennesseans, he’ll support it.
One man in the audience said many of Bredesen’s supporters worry when they hear Bredesen say that. The man asked Bredesen to offer more detail on when he agrees with the president and when he disagrees.
Bredesen didn’t mention hot-button topics surrounding the president, such as the ongoing criminal inquiries against his administration, longstanding questions of Trump’s competency as president, and Trump’s inflammatory comments on matters of race, religion and ethnicity.
Instead, Bredesen stuck to other matters. He said he agrees Trump should have space to pursue North Korea peace negotiations, and agrees with Trump that the government should limit regulations on business.
He said he disagrees with Trump on issues like tariffs.
In another section of the forum, though, Bredesen spoke up for the people he called the Dreamers: young people brought to this country illegally as children or on visas that later expired.
“I think we have a moral obligation to solve that particular issue. These are young people who were brought here. In many cases, they don’t even remember where they came from because of the age they were at,” Bredesen said.
“They speak English, they have no more connection to Mexico or Guatemala than I do,” said Bredesen. He said the society shouldn’t leave their futures in limbo. “I just think it’s unconscionable.”
Bredesen said both parties bear some of the blame for repeated failure of legislation to grant these young people full legal status in this country, since both Democrats and Republicans have often combined a solution of the Dreamer issue with other matters. He said the government should address this question by itself.
Bredesen’s opponent, Blackburn, currently serves in the U.S. House representing Tennessee District 7, an area that covers a wide swath of western and central Tennessee.
Some parts of Shelby County used to be in Blackburn’s district prior to a redistricting.
“Marsha appreciated the opportunity to represent Shelby County and West Tennessee in the U.S. House and looks forward to again having that opportunity,” said Sigler, the campaign spokesman.
“She has continued to work closely with St. Jude, Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital and The Med, Memphis Bio, the medical device industry and the agricultural industry to be of assistance to the Memphis area in developing a healthy and prosperous community. The Memphis region knows Marsha Blackburn is on their side, and she will continue to fight for them.”
The election is Nov. 6. Early voting starts Oct. 17.
Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.