"Every successful modern presidential candidate for change decried the country’s shortcomings while offering a heavy dose of optimism and cheerfulness."Then Rove cited John F. Kennedy's "New Frontier" speech at the Democratic convention and Ronald Reagan's "American spirit" speech at the Republican convention.
The way for a Democratic progressive to preserve and expand progressive policies is to sound like Reagan, not JFK. Reagan was soothing and reassuring. Reagan said that the magic elixir of American goodness and greatness lies within us. We don't need to create it. It's here.
Reagan presented himself as a change agent with old-fashioned values.
Together, let us make this a new beginning. Let us make a commitment to care for the needy; to teach our children the values and the virtues handed down to us by our families; to have the courage to defend those values and the willingness to sacrifice for them.
Let us pledge to restore, in our time, the American spirit of voluntary service, of cooperation, of private and community initiative; a spirit that flows like a deep and mighty river through the history of our nation.
Surprising language, isn't it? That is how Republicans used to talk before Trump. Reagan is now a RINO.
In the postwar America of 1960, Americans still believed in the capacity of the government to do great and good things. We had survived World War II. We could build freeways, create a green revolution in crops that would end famine, go to space. New men would do new things. JFK sounded like this:
It is a time, in short, for a new generation of leadership--new men to cope with new problems and new opportunities.
All over the world, particularly in the newer nations, young men are coming to power--men who are not bound by the traditions of the past--men who are not blinded by the old fears and hates and rivalries-- young men who can cast off the old slogans and delusions and suspicions. . . .
But I tell you the New Frontier is here, whether we seek it or not. Beyond that frontier are the uncharted areas of science and space, unsolved problems of peace and war, unconquered pockets of ignorance and prejudice, unanswered questions of poverty and surplus. It would be easier to shrink back from that frontier, to look to the safe mediocrity of the past, to be lulled by good intentions and high rhetoric--and those who prefer that course should not cast their votes for me, regardless of party.
But I believe the times demand new invention, innovation, imagination, decision. I am asking each of you to be pioneers on that New Frontier.
This is not a JFK era. For a great many Americans, "new" means dangerous. For some, "new" means we are heading into a potential climate dystopia, while for others "new" means we are being forced into electric vehicles. Both are bad. New means social media that destroyed newspapers and replaced them with rumors. New is deep fake. New is job-killing AI. New is China spying on us with TikTok. New is scary vaccines. New means schools with dangerous curricula. New means lazy kids staring into their phones. New genders. New pronouns. New races and ethnicities, newly visible, newly sharing power. New jobs we aren't qualified to do. New layoffs.
There is a reason Ohio has become red and Silicon Valley is bright blue, and it contains a message for us. Well-educated people are handling newness, but a giant mass of more rural and less educated people who had done manufacturing work find all this newness unwelcome.
Kamala Harris and Tim Walz will make convention speeches and strike a tone. Harris' choice of Tim Walz was a good start. Republicans are at work saying that that the chubby former geography teacher and football coach, the enlisted man moving up the ranks, then congressman and governor, is a hidden communist, socialist, forward-edge, Tampon-pushing weirdo. He doesn't look the part.
In their speeches next week Harris and Walz must reassure enough Americans the new generation they represent won't push so headlong into the future that they become enemies of the people left behind. We are probably at a knife's edge of that tension between tradition and the future, which is why the election is close between a Democrat and a convicted felon who orchestrated an effort to stay in power despite losing the 2020 election. The Trump campaign argues that Harris and Walz are far past that tipping point, and a lot of people agree.
Harris and Walz need to show they will lead into tomorrow by respecting yesterday. That is what language and tone are for. No need to celebrate the frontiers of the unexplored future. Better to be respectful and caring. Pull yesterday into the future. To be progressive, sound like Reagan.
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14 comments:
Hindsight and foresight can both be 20/20? When he was directly relevant, Reagan was derided by Democrats as a low-wattage, bellicose old cowboy. A throwback obstacle to social progress domestically and worse, on the international stage, likely as not to set off World War III. He presided over the so-called Decade of Greed, which spawned Donald's Trump's first wave of celebrity.
I wonder if there's any info on what Reagan thought of Trump? Certainly not as presidential timber, I would think. Then again, recall the Christopher Lloyd character in the 1950s dismissing as ludicrous the possibility that actor Reagan would be president 25 years later. Nonetheless, who can deny the Reagan-Dubya-Trump arc points decidedly downward?
The two party system is a reflection of the class system in America, one party serves the wealthy 1% and the other everyone else, or tries to. Unfortunately, not everyone in the 99% understands this, and so the vision of an egalitarian utopia, which in fact the founders quaintly had in mind, remains just that. I personally scoff when politicians, in either party, ask for sacrifice, it usually means more for them.
There is a reason for the dark tone of the current Republican party, Their ideology is a failure and now they only have fear and intimidation to advance their agenda. Reagan would not be welcome today.
It’s hard to imagine Trump “offering a heavy dose of optimism and cheerfulness.” But since Harris and Walz came into the picture, I do feel more optimistic.
On the other hand, Karl Rove was considered the “brains” behind Bush, the president who left office with the lowest approval rating in the history of the presidency – 22 percent. I’d be very leery of his advice.
Former President Donald Trump is dominating Vice President Kamala Harris among white working class voters, as they find themselves neck and neck in the presidential race, according to a national Pew Research/SSRS poll.
Rove maybe be a political whiz but he's been behind a lot of policies that have been very damaging to working class families and the nation in general.
Reagan's policies continue to do harm to us average Americans, which is what the GOPee seems to be all about - then and now.
I'm reminded of how Reagan was not fit to hold office in his second term, which led to a then-record level of corruption.
This is why so many grifters want to see TFG back in office, as he was likewise unfit for office 8 years ago, and corruption will ramp up.
Have you ever noticed how little corruption there is when Democrats are in power?
Reagan would embrace the current GOP as his policies were also very harmful.
I wonder, however, about the GOPee's love of Russia.
Remember Reagan's hot mic comment about bombing it?
I agree with Peter’s analysis.
Kamala Harris often speaks about, "What can be, unburdened by what has been.”
The problem for many working class Americans is that “what has been“ were good-paying manufacturing jobs. College-educated elites exported most of those jobs to places like China or automated them out of existence.
And those same elites’ version of “what can be” turned out to be impractical, disrespectful advice like “learn to code.“
The Democrats need a more positive message for those people if they want to attract their votes. Telling them to change their “deplorable“ lifestyles and beliefs to become more like college-educated elites is not going to cut it. Neither will feel-good vibes and coconut tree memes.
Roves nickname was "turdblossom" because it fit the little NeoNazi so perfectly. Remember his Prediction of a Thousand Year Konservative Gubbermint "
Be so kind as to provide a link to your assertions. I'm aware that Pew tends to skew to the right , but I don't think I'm familiar with SSRS.
There has been an increase support for Harris in the working class. Still behind Trump, but significantly less so than with Biden. I have heard her speeches in which she talks about the working class workers, so she is trying.
I think being positive is a better message than talking about how everything is terrible. Trump’s message is becoming very stale.
It isn't their lifestyle that's deplorable, but their determination to make a traitorous criminal president, whether he wins or not.
An addendum to my earlier comment: Kamala could say “I guess you can be a female working in McDonalds to being the president of the United States. Isn’t that great?’
An addendum to my earlier comment: Kamala could say “I guess you can be a female working in McDonalds to being the president of the United States. Isn’t that great?’
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