The lesson of Michael Dukakis. It's showtime for Biden.
"Shame on me for not effectively dealing with it. . . . I wasn't going to pay any attention to the attacks."
Michael Dukakis, reflecting on his defeat
Trump attacks. Trump mocks and insults. He says Biden was stupid and corrupt and that Biden kissed Obama's ass.
By the election of 1988 it was no longer morning in America. The Reagan administration had aged badly. The GOP had eight years. In the pendulum swings of politics, the Democratic candidate had the advantage.
Reagan himself seemed addled and spacey, and indeed he cited his own management failure for "Iran-gate." His administration was caught having sold weapons to our enemy, Iran, in order to give money to fund a military overthrow of the Nicaraguan government. It was illegal, against stated policy, and politically indefensible.
Democrats had a strong candidate, Michael Dukakis, a veteran, a Massachusetts governor, a liberal with politics in the sweet spot of the Democratic voter base. In August he led the GOP candidate Vice President George HW Bush by 19 points.
In the November election Dukakis got trounced.
What happened? Dukakis tried to be presidential. He didn't want to dignify absurd attacks. He tried to be above the fray. Dukakis got insulted and looked weak.The public drew an inference: if a candidate doesn't know what to do when he is attacked, he won't know what to do when America is attacked.
Dukakis's mistake, Biden's opportunity: Continue
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Reagan made a comment about Dukakis that maybe Dukaki was some kind of invalid. There was a round of media speculation.Maybe Dukakis had a mental illness, possibly depression episodes. Dukakis considered the remark beneath contempt. The media speculation continued. How sick was he? "I was dogged every day by press questions," Dukakis said afterward, in reflection.
Then George HW Bush said he was soft on crime. A Massachusetts prisoner out on furlough murdered a woman. Furlough programs are common, in place in 22 states, but Bush pounded away at Dukakis as uniquely soft on murder, a crime coddler. And Dukakis opposed the death penalty. Bush made that an accusation. Bush accused Dukakis as being soft on defense, and opposing every weapon other than slingshots. He will leave America defenseless! Bush said Dukakis was a liberal, and a "card carrying member of the ACLU."
Dukakis considered the charges patently ridiculous, too foolish to dignify with a response.
Trump is acting like a bully on a schoolyard. It is body language. His base loves it.
Biden is in the fray, whether he likes it or not. Trump is communicating power and fearlessness, showing people how he relates to rivals, foreign and domestic. He bullies them. Trump first, America first. He is not merely showing disagreement--he is showing contempt-- for the people his base doesn't like: Biden, FBI agents Strzok and Page, Congresswoman Omar, Nancy Pelosi.
Biden has an opportunity to rise or to fail. If he is back in Trump's face, as fearless as Trump, with a sharp attack on Trump's weak spots, the Biden will have been given an extraordinary gift by Trump, an opportunity to prove he is up to the job of being president. Trump has weak spots. Biden has a shot.
Maybe he is up to it, maybe not.
Maybe he is up to it, maybe not.
It is game on.
8 comments:
Exactly. Bullies are cowards who victimize those they consider weaker than themselves to build their own self-esteem. They usually back down when confronted. It is a measure of the weakness of the Republican party that they allow themselves to be bullied and it will only get worse. Currently they are being pushed around with the Syria policy to ensure they will cave on impeachment.
For what? In order to have the facade of power they have abandoned all their previously stated values and seem perfectly ok to a decade of turmoil or worse. Reagan's tactics against Dukakis forshadowed the current torrent of smear tactics, not to mention swiftboating and birtherism, that Republicans have resorted to.
Well said, Rick..."a facade of power" thanks to the legacy of Lee Atwater and his ilk that followed. The dumbed down public is to blame for accepting this facade of political discourse, a reality tv version that mimics a WWE wrestling match.
IMHO, Biden cannot "grow a pair" to face Trump. You either have it in your DNA and upbringing or you don't. On the extremes, power comes from either being born with a silver spoon and feeling entitled or from having to struggle and overcome adversity...often in the face of bullies. I can think of only one candidate who knows how to go toe to toe with Trump and rise above the ad hominem attacks. And, funny thing, like Trump...he's from New York.
Andy Seles
For the record, for anyone who cares, Joe Biden was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Look it up. Also, one week before Christmas in 1972, his wife and one-year old daughter, Naomi, were killed in a car accident. His sons were injured. And we all probably remember that his son Beau died of brain cancer a few years back. I think his son Hunter has struggled with substance abuse. Joe Biden has a lot of life experience in addition to his political experience.
Trump Has Already Slapped Biden Silly
If bully is the name for a guy who picks on weaker people but then backs down when confronted, what’s the name for the guy who picks fights with guys even bigger and gives them an ear ringing smack down? In my life from bully Bobby in 3rd grade and the fearsome A-T in 7th, to Ewing and Bellamy in the army, to Dennis and Loomis in Miami during college, to Jeff in Medford up into my 40’s, there have been many pugilists who pick fights and vanquish whomever fights back. In fact, I have found those who verbally standup to these guys are usually the ones who end up backing down.
Trump and his lifetime of thugs from Roy Cohn to Rudy Giuliani, in fact, are pugilists who don’t back down. Ask Jeb Bush, Ted Cruz, or Marco Rubio if Trump runs away when confronted. Ask Barrack Obama who humiliated Trump at the 2011 White House Correspondents’ Association dinner if Trump got up and left or stayed and faced it. “That evening of public abasement, rather than sending Mr. Trump away, accelerated his ferocious efforts to gain stature in the political world,” wrote the New York Times in 2016 about his “yearning for revenge”. Behold Obama’s legacy in smoke and ruins.
Democrats say just stand up to Trump and he’ll wilt. Ask James Comey, the most powerful cop in America who Trump threw to the curb with a public firing, or Robert Mueller who no longer appears in public, whether Trump folds or will “punch back 10 times harder” as his wife boasted in the 2016 campaign. Ask the entire GOP establishment if Trump backs down from fierce battles over power, or instead grabs you by the throat.
Democrats are challenged in understanding “bullies” and raw political power. When Trump had Kavanaugh punch our senators in the face, we cried ouch and foul as he was sworn in and were befuddled he didn’t obey our #MeToo hashtag and disappear like Al Franken. We are confused by Trump sinking China’s economy, making NATO pay up, his ISIS graveyards and refugee camps, EU groveling for a trade deal, the President of Mexico dispatching 100,000 troops to the borders to hold back uncontrolled migration—all as Trump demanded.
The plurality of Democrats just 60 days ago thought Biden was our best hope to take down Trump. Trump agreed, didn’t wait for the primaries to even start, and began a merciless pummeling of Joe and Hunter. Bernie collapsed with a heart attack, and Warren has filled the void and is ascendant, she’s exactly who Trump wants at the top of the Democratic ticket. The dismembering of her is going to be one of the ugliest sagas in political memory, and it could get uglier still once she is limping and the next contestant steps up at Trump’s fight club from Queens. Who will that be?
Our best hope now is impeachment, but with Democrats too timid to hold a vote on the house floor, and Trump rubbing our faces in that embarrassment, being forced from office is not looking any more promising than Joe Biden. The bully isn't afraid. We need to deal with dynamic.
The Dems need someone who talk down to Trump, the schoolyard bully. Biden might be able to it. I can picture Joe taking the tone, "What the Hell is wrong with you?"
Curious what people think about Elizabeth Warren standing up to Zuckerberg and Facebook. Her recent false ad caper shows courage.
Interesting commentary from all. I find myself agreeing more with Thad Guyer than I often do in this instance. Fact is, Drumpf just doubles down when confronted with opposition, and there can be no doubt in anyones mind that this is going to be the nastiest campaign in my lifetime for sure and possibly in the history of the Republic. I'm not throwing my commitment to any single person at this point, still too early. I like Elizabeth Warren, I think she is a fighter and will carry the fight to the REgressives, especially on Finance and Consumer Protection, if Bernie Sanders get the nomination I will do everything I can to see him elected, but there are a number of possibilities I would prefer, even before his recent heart attack (which his campaign tried to cover up. So much for transparency). Regardless, I will be working Blue, the stakes are simply too high to try and sit this one out.
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