There is a new look for a president of courage and integrity.
Tee shirts.
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| Ukraine President Zelensky |
I do not mean to trivialize the selection of a U.S. president by writing about presidential costuming. Too late. Trivialization has already taken place.
Donald Trump was a "reality TV" star and tabloid presence who played the role of a decisive CEO and real estate tycoon. Blue suit, white shirt, red tie. He created a brand that gave him credibility as president. Trump's schtick was Mr. Winner. He demolished his enemies. Shave their heads. Say, "You're fired!" Voters liked the schtick in 2016, but had tired of it by 2020.
Had Martin Sheen given political speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2015, saying we needed a president who inspired us, he might have been elected president. After all, we had already seen him on TV in The West Wing, looking like a wise, sensible president.
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| "President 'Jed' Bartlet" |
Americans first need to be able to imagine candidates as president if they are to consider their campaigns. We could do it with Biden. He had put in the time. In the 2020 campaign he was nearly invisible, which made him a generic Democrat, distinguished by not being Trump. As a candidate, that was enough. As president, it isn't.
Biden has a tailwind of events that should be boosting his approval. The economy is booming; unemployment is dropping; COVID is falling away; there is a grave foreign threat. We have inflation because people have money to spend, willing to buy cars well above MSRP. This would normally be enough for Americans to rally around the steady and reassuring voice of a president. Biden struggles with that part of the job. Trump taught Americans to expect bombast and certitude.
Scenes like this one last month plague Biden: The First Lady holds his hand to guide the president from the stage.
Democrats write me complaining that I exaggerate Biden's frailty. "It isn't that bad," they tell me. "Writing about it draws attention," they say. I think I see what everyone sees, except loyal Democrats. In the last year of Reagan's presidency everyone saw Reagan's decline--except loyal Republicans. Biden's condition is worse.
Democrats developed a brand reputation as the party led by prosperous, educated, white-collar workers, especially women. The brand has problems once people leave college towns and coastal metropolises. Democrats are thought too "preachy" and "judgmental."
I believe the Democrat who can "push reset" on the Democratic message is one whose very essence--voice, appearance, biography, and message is fundamentally different. I expect that person to be a red state Democrat because to be successful in a red state means such people would already have distinguished themselves from the national Democratic brand. The candidate likely would have an economic message that rejects global free trade policies that put American workers in direct competition with workers from low wage countries. Such a person won't talk much about culture war issues. He or she won't sound Ivy League. The message won't be about getting race relations right. It will be about getting good, manufacturing, high-wage jobs. What do White, Black, Asians, and Hispanic Americans all want? They want low crime in their neighborhoods and a well-paid job.
Who might such a candidate be? Tim Ryan, Democrat from Ohio, is serving his tenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is giving up his House seat to run for the U.S. Senate. He is 48 years old. I saw him in a Zoom call for an hour where he spoke with donors. Maybe him. If he wins, he will have a national presence.
Never heard of him? He doesn't look like a president to you? He doesn't sound like one, either. He sounds blue collar. It is time to re-think what a president looks and sounds like.
Ryan is a tee-shirt Democrat.
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| Zoom screen shot |
16 comments:
Mr. Sage’s “I believe the Democrat….paragraph recalls Bill Clinton, with James “It’s the economy, stupid” Carville by his side.
The problem for Tim Ryan is that few have heard of him even though he already ran for President. He never made the grown-up’s table.
I too would like to see the Democrats find a place between squinting dotard and spoiled child.
A red state democrat whose voice, appearance, biography and message is fundamentally different well describes Sen. Raphael Warnock. Stacey Abrams would be a refreshing change too, but I don’t know that either of them are interested.
Works for me. Someone under 60 please. Someone 50 would be even better.
Thank you, Low Dudgeon.
People ask me how I manage to come up with something to write every morning. It is easy. Events pour in.
Low Dudgeon's comment is a perfect example of what I attempted to explain today. It will be the basis for tomorrow's blog, which I had planned to be a fuller introduction of Tim Ryan.
Low Dudgeon's comment was dismissive and insulting of Ryan. He went nowhere in 2020 and indeed didn't even make the "big boy table." He is correct. In 2019 Democrats were falling all over themselves to self destruct. They were standing on the stage saying they would't enforce the borders? Were we going to tax billionaires a lot, or were we going to obliterate them? Were we going to defund the police or simply slash their budgets? Should we burn down all the public buildings, or just the ones that anarchists hated the most? South Carolina Black voters sent a reminder message that Democrats briefly heard. So we have a feeble Biden instead of an unelectable Bernie or Warren or whomever.
We weren't ready for someone like Tim Ryan (nor Steve Bullock nor Jon Tester or anybody else who thought the big issue was jobs, not race and pronouns. Ryan flamed out because Democrats weren't ready to hear the message, and they thought everyone hated Trump because Democrats did so themselves.
My post was about the CHANGE in who is possible. About who one can imagine as president. In 2020 we couldn't imagine Tim Ryan. Now we cannot imagine Bernie nor Warren nor anyone who goes to the podium and introduces themselves by reporting preferred pronouns and talking about ending grades in school because grades are racist. Thanks to the election in Virginia and San Francisco's recall vote, Democrats are opening their minds to the reality that Trump will win big in 2024 unless they quit shaming people for not having gone to a fancy college or for working in a job where they get dirty or sweaty.
See? I have already written the outline for tomorrow's post. What was the subject of dismissive insult in 2020 is the foundation for the reversal in opinion, helped a little by Zelensky. Why Tim Ryan looked like he wore a tee shirt to campaign in 2019. He is disqualified. Now he wears it to talk with high dollar donors. Smart.
He may not be "the one" but he understands that the zietgeist has caught up with him.
Peter Sage
Interesting article, as usual, Peter.
One question: are you misusing the word “bombast”, such a common error lately? Bombast has nothing t9 do with explosive, aggressive or powerful language, reminiscent of bombs.
Here’s an official list of synonyms: “bluster, brag, braggadocio, bull [slang], cockalorum, fanfaronade, gas, gasconade, grandiloquence, hot air, magniloquence, rant, rodomontade (also rhodomontade)
Sounds like the language of one of our recent presidents, and certainly not in a desirable way!
Low dud, assuming you’re referring to our current president, please give him a break. He’s no dotard, he’s just exhibiting normal signs of being elderly, just like most elderly people do. I’m way too familiar with many of these signs. Most these symptoms don’t, or shouldn’t, deprive you of respect.
While Tim Ryan might do a good job of checking some of the boxes you've outlined on paper, my big problem is that the guy is legitimately uninspiring/boring to listen to. His charisma not what it needs to be for him to ever be remotely competitive on a national level. Someone in that same vein WITH charisma could be an ideal candidate. It's an open question as to who that person is or might be amongst the current democratic party.
And yet David Shor, a Democratic activist/analyst got fired for tweeting a link to a report by a black social scientist about how violent protests caused a loss of support for their cause. The woke wing of the Democratic Party is not going to release their grip on nominations easily.
Terry McAuliffe got defeated in Virginia. Someone to his left is going to do poorly in 2024. Someone to his left with an explicitly racial message is going to do even worse.
Malcolm--
I can't agree, unless by "normal signs of being elderly" you mean "once a marked mental decline begins" in a given person. Take Biden age-mates Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, for example. It's not even close when it comes to mental sharpness, though Bernie certainly has had issues with his physical health.
Neither Warren nor Sanders would ever gaffe like Biden did for instance with NBC's Lester Holt on Feb. 10. It's on tape. Asked about the Afghanistan exit, Biden replied, "There is no way were ever going to unite Ukraine, I mean, excuse me, Iraq, er, Afghanistan". Biden repeatedly loses his train of thought.
I think we can all agree that our current primaries don't result in very good choices. A "top two primary" or "open primary" might be a produce better results.
Thank you, Malcolm, for calling out Low Dud on his often disrespectful references to a duly, legally elected President.
Edc.pers—
Point well taken and just rebuke humbly accepted. I do recall the assiduously respectful attitude most good Democrats adopted during e.g. the Reagan and W. Bush presidencies, when purported lack of mental acuity and intellectual depth were raised pointedly by some. Democrats have always been people of notable cross-partisan consistency and principle.
I agree with Mike. Our current primary system rewards extremism. Schemes like ranked choice voting are promising.
We might do even better ditching primaries entirely and letting parties pick their candidates. It was that way in a lot of the country before the unfortunate reforms of 1972,
I like a born again Christian, Andy Beshear, Governor of Kentucky. John Testor’s buzz cut doesn’t improve his flat delivery and Demo right never take a stand posture . Steve Bullock flamed out. Admittedly Tim Ryan looks like a working guy. But what is striking about him? Where are the teamsters leaders? Where are the ugly fat guys with a snarl and a fat fisted punch? Or even a Shirley Chisholm like personality with a New York driving voice and razor mind. These combed “celebrities” with manicured hands are easily dismissed as being Working class Democrats. Besides who could take on the Corporate power and even come close to reversing 30 years of offshoring and the wallowing pigs and their tax havens…bloated military looking for phony enemies…who wants that suicide mission? Even Ross Perrot ran for cover. So even Darth Vader’s daughter is looking like the real deal, heaven help us.
Dudgeon is right. There's nothing wrong with mocking the president. Where would WSNL be without it? What matters is what they do. Biden got a massive infrastructure bill passed - something other administrations were unable to achieve. After he-whose-name-shall-not-be-spoken called our allies stupid names and idolized brutes like Putin and Kim Jong-un, the U.S. is once again leading NATO and fighting Putin instead of groveling before him. The economy is doing pretty well, too - in spite of inflation.
It seems LD doesn't care how poorly his comments reflect on him or those who share his mindset.
Respect isn't in their vocabulary.
Anyone who was around during Watergate and remember Jimmy Carter being elected could have easily predicted Joe Biden being the next elected POTUS.
It's nice to have an adult in the White House, one who is respected ed internationally, and who doesn't make the US look foolish.
For a wartime president, I prefer Joe Biden. If Trump was in office he'd have given the US to Putin by now.
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