Desperate times don’t always call for desperate measures. In fact, they sometimes loudly cry out for a good dose of realism.

Though the Democratic Party desperately needs to nominate a candidate who can defeat President Donald Trump in November, it doesn’t follow that the party should turn to someone making promises that can never be kept, offering solutions that are purely fantastical.

Democrats need to nominate a realist. And a uniter, someone to bring together both the party and the nation. They need a candidate who can win in states where winning matters, in the all-important Electoral College – Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin. They need to nominate a candidate who can expect to get votes from liberals and moderates and even from some Republicans who have tired of the nonsense that has been the Trump presidency. Democrats also need to nominate someone who won’t frighten normal people with talk of revolution.

Mike Bloomberg is the candidate best positioned to do all of that, and more.

The former mayor of New York City is a pragmatist who gets results. He’s been wildly successful in business and in politics, has demonstrated an uncanny ability, in both arenas, to assemble successful teams, to find real-world solutions to actual problems. He’s also got the resources, from his own personal fortune, to be in the race for the long haul.

Though Bloomberg’s first appearance in a Democratic presidential debate last week was broadly panned, a much different, more assertive Bloomberg showed up at Tuesday’s debate in Charleston, South Carolina. He took it to Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont socialist who has become the party’s front-runner. But not for long, one hopes.

Though there are other moderates in the race who could, at least on paper, be solid standard-bearers for the Democratic Party -- Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar, Pete Buttigieg -- each has his or her own flaws. And while we would normally be inclined to support a home-state candidate such as Elizabeth Warren, whom we admire, we are dismayed by her campaign attacks on multiple other candidates and by appearing to move further to the left on many issues.

Since Bloomberg skipped the first four nominating contests, he’ll first appear on primary ballots on March 3, also known as Super Tuesday, when 14 states, including Massachusetts, stage primaries.

Bloomberg is a proven problem-solver, a realist, a man whose political views are what used to be called liberal, but not wildly so. Those looking for a uniter would do well to take a serious look at Bloomberg.