"Sweet are the uses of adversity, which like the toad, ugly and venomous, wears yet a precious jewell in its head."
William Shakespeare, As You Like It
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| Trump trash talk. "I am young." |
Joe Biden caught a good break. Trump talked trash.
Pete Buttigieg caught a break, too. Franklin Graham condemns him.
Being criticized is good, and often it is very, very good. It seems un-intuitive. People running for office often miss this point. After all, they submit their names for public spirited reasons and instead of getting thanks and praise, they get criticized.
The instinct is to shrink back, wondering what they did wrong. The candidate must have done something wrong. That instinct persists to candidates at the highest levels in politics, thinking that criticism must be justified, that being "above criticism" is good, and that criticism always hurts.
Wrong.
Nobody--no voter, not TV viewer--remembers for a second a politician saying something unobjectionable, some anodyne thing everyone agrees with, like, "I will work hard, listen to the voters, and do the right thing because as Jefferson said. . . . "
Yeah, yeah, whatever. This is just time wasting boilerplate. We know who someone is by what they are not, and what they truly believe by what they lose votes over by being something else instead.
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| Young man |
Biden got called "Sleepy Joe" by Trump, and Trump set himself up in contrast to Biden as the younger, more studly guy. "I'm a young, vibrant guy," Trump said.
"I just feel like a young man. I'm so young I can't believe it. I look at Joe. I don't know about him. I would never say anyone else is too old. I know they all are making me look very young both in terms of age and in terms of energy."
This helps Biden.
The attack validates Biden's implied assertion that of all the twenty candidates, Biden is the head-to-head guy who is the general election candidate. Moreover, Trump immediately moved the frame to sexual virility and assertion youth. Trump said "vibrant," lightly disguised code for virile.
Trump is trash talking and metaphorically grabbing his crotch.
He is associating alpha male dominance with youthful sex drive--and he still has it, he brags. Trump is at his most pathetic and mockable when he attempts to be Mr. Young Stud.
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| Graham: Buttigieg is sinning |
The trash talk makes Biden look credible and reasonable in comparison--a good matchup frame for Biden. The serious older guy versus the fat old bragger in denial. We know the cliche: the old guy talking about how "vibrant" he is.
He buys a red Corvette convertible. Sad.
Meanwhile, Buttigieg gets criticized by Franklin Graham. Lucky, lucky Mayor Pete.
Franklin Graham said homosexuality was a sin, defined forever by God as "something to be repentant of, not something to be flaunted, praised or politicized."
Buttigieg is the most conventional of foils, a happily married man, a town mayor, a person who projects that he would be a good, considerate neighbor, calm, safe, friendly, and reasonable guy.
Mr. Rogers. Andy of Mayberry. George Bailey in It's a Wonderful Life.
It gives Buttigieg an opportunity to communicate sincerity rather than pugnaciousness, and steadfast self-possession rather than apology. "Your quarrel, sir, is with my Maker" Buttigieg said to Mike Pence.
Buttigieg presents more as an earnest example of a Christian than he does as a spokesman for gayness. He switches the frame to the nature of Christianity. Buttigieg presents as the real Crhistian, comfortable with his faith, with no need to fight over it. That contrasts well with Graham, the old school finger-pointer.
Buttigieg reflects the next generation of Christians. Buttigieg was never going to get the votes of old Republican Christian homophobes. This way he gets the attention of people who don't think Graham speaks for them.
Buttigieg reflects the next generation of Christians. Buttigieg was never going to get the votes of old Republican Christian homophobes. This way he gets the attention of people who don't think Graham speaks for them.
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| Buttigieg, in New Hampshire |
Buttigieg emerges not as a champion of some kind of aggressive homosexual agenda, that dangerous boogy-man threat posited by the religious right. Instead, Buttigieg presents as a married man who wants to stay home, keep his lawn mowed, attend church, love his neighbor.
Both Biden and Buttigieg get respect for having an enemy.
Biden stands unapologetic against Trump; Buttigieg stands unapologetic against Christian bigotry. Not everyone will agree with Biden and Buttigieg, which is why their position has credibility. They won't win all the votes, the ones they deserve.
Democrats aren't sure who they like, but they know who they don't like.
5 comments:
It starts...
The Vice President did not do well on The View. Perhaps he was fatigued and the appearance was iIl-advised. I fear that the attacks on his age and mental state will be difficult to brush off and we will see his polling sink with the result a short and humiliating campaign ala Jeb. It's a long run to Iowa and I think he would have to win or at least beat Sen. Sanders there, not to mention the scrutiny he will endure in the upcoming debates.
Also tiresome that the 2020 campaign begins with two old white men trading insults...
Joe f*****d up. He should have made a complete and unambiguous apology to Anita Hill well before announcing his candidacy. He could have positioned himself as a man with the wisdom and courage to grow. He could have put it all behind him, now no-one is satisfied. His half assed faux apology is worse than had he just shut up. He appears tone deaf.
As my 70th draws near, I look around for old men and women who defy the stereotype of being too old to work, regardless of whether they do. My vanity needs wrinkled male icons, the Supreme Court and Congress have been prolific sources if only in glimpses. Yes, 2020 is my new Camelot with Sanders, Biden, and Trump in televised combat, unquestioned relevance, set in vigorous and fearless poses. It's a Time magazine cover of a trio in battle, young skeptics in their fifties and sixties look on in awe at what the near eighty year olds are starting not ending, power fueled campaigns winding up not winding down in a forced retirement.
This is the apex of my life of white male privilege, glorious and reinvigorated in my identity group, a fast track never slowed by the intersectional aerodynamic drags of race, gender, gender preference, national origin, religion, uninsured illness, racism or poverty. Indeed, Biden, Trump, and Sanders spendidly showcase every advantage I've had and even assure me it can continue into my eighties abetted by a political system we unapologetically control and ferociously will not defer.
Anita Hill at 62 steps from her classroom at Brandeis. She questions how we built this political power, who we cast aside, what statutes of limitations justice can bear. A bell tolls-- and a self reckoning-- as a brace of ignored women and minority candidates look on.
We don't need the white man to save us.
Or the Second Coming of Hillary.
Mayor Pete differs from Biden in that his notoriety is the result of insightful, measured responses whereas the latter can, evidently, only benefit by his silence.
Andy Seles
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