How did the young man who became King David distinguish himself?
He killed Goliath.
Humans want their leaders to be strong.
The commentary preceding the presidential debate this evening is focused almost entirely on the body language we will see. We already know their policies, more or less. The primary question is whether Biden is strong and capable. The secondary question is whether Trump is too crazy to replace Biden, i.e. does Trump have enough self-awareness and self-control to behave appropriately.
The debate tonight is the purest example I could create of a central premise of this blog. Presidential leadership is only a little about policy positions. Policy is the scaffolding for presenting what is important: body language, tone, image. Who looks and sounds like a leader? It is a Hollywood casting decision.
My Democratic readers are hoping for a strong, articulate, clear-headed Biden. My Republican readers expect to see confirmation that Biden is feeble, and hope that Trump avoids looking like the crazy bully that he appeared to be in the first debate with Biden four years ago.
We describe our leaders in myths, fables, and stories. The Judeo-Christian-Muslim God is all powerful. Greek gods had powers, but constraints. Strong Achilles was the hero of the Greeks, but he was petulant and selfish, and not its political leader, only its warrior. Hector, hero of the Trojans, combined strength and virtue as the brave and respectful son of the king, the heir apparent. He had strength and virtue, but Achilles' strength overcame Hector's virtuous strength, which was a warning.
Schoolchildren in America learn that George Washington was strong enough to throw a silver dollar across the Potomac. We learned that young Abraham Lincoln was an accomplished rail splitter.
In a parliamentary system Biden's legislative skills and accomplishments might matter. Democrats are frustrated that the voters don't seem to notice or care. In a presidential system, where voters are electing a commander in chief (the electors are simply a way of counting popular votes) voters want a symbol of themselves and the country they want. They elect an avatar. They want strength and virtue, but first of those is strength. Without strength, there is no opportunity to exercise virtue. Remember Hector.
Winners make the rules and decide what is just and lawful. Trump can never admit to being a loser. He cannot submit to laws and courts. Submission would be off-brand for him. Republican voters who have bonded to Trump accept that set of corollaries to stay loyal to Trump. Republican consider laws to be void and illegitimate when it comes to him. They may eventually regret this, but not yet.
Biden is a poor choice of foil against Trump. Former California District Attorney and Attorney General Kamala Harris might have been a good one but the vice ptesident's office, and perhaps Biden, kept her looking weak. She speaks out clearly only on the "woman's issue" of abortion and on "Black issue" of racial justice, but not on NATO, Ukraine, Israel, the southern border, trade, and external affairs. Democrats may regret that, too, but they are stuck with the leadership they created. The Democratic leader is Biden and today is a public test. If he is strong enough to stand up to Trump, he is strong enough to lead the USA.
That is the only issue in tonight's debate.
9 comments:
Biden’s strength is that he's an honorable man who has lived a life of service to his country and has done much that benefitted it. Trump has strong weaknesses, particularly greed, lust and contempt for the law. He’s also a pathological liar. Anyone who believes anything he says is as crazy as Trump, and Trump is deranged.
Nothing Trump says could convince me to vote for a convicted felon who tried to overturn the last election. Those who do should be ashamed, but they have no shame.
Strength yes- but what about humility? JFK’s “Ask not….” quote would never resonate today. It seems to me a good portion of the country holds no enduring ideals beyond “what’s in it for me?” We have slowly become a selfish culture that prizes individualism, often at the expense of the collective.
Trump shamelessly embodies that narrative in his words, business and personal life, and it resonates with his most devout followers. He’s their hero because of, not in spite of those characteristics. Screw the other guy because they are the “other guy”. He’s not a strong servant leader like George Washington- who rejected being a monarch. His work was done and handed back the baton.
This election is a measuring stick of our collective moral compass.
Anything’s possible. That’s what makes it worth watching.
Will Trump dominate? Will Biden?
Will Trump come across as crazy? Will Biden come across as weak and elderly?
Will the downers work on Trump? Will the uppers work on Biden?
Will the CNN hosts come across as biased? Or will they manage to conceal their biases?
Too bad Hunter S Thompson isn’t still alive to write a sequel to Fear and Loathing on the CampaignTrail. Thompson once said that in some situations, the best thing you can do is find a dark corner of the porch, sit down, rip the top off a beer, and watch…
We all make decisions based on our motivation.
Biden wants to help Americans, and he has a great record of doing that.
TFG wants to help himself, mostly to stay out of jail.
Agree 100$ Mike.
(AP) President Joe Biden has just been admitted to Walter Reed Hospital due to an overdose of Adderall and cocaine.
Biden had been preparing for his debate Thursday night against former President Donald Trump, and he was found unconscious in his bathroom this afternoon with an empty prescription bottle and lines of cocaine on the bathroom counter. It's been speculated that Biden was getting "juiced-up" for tonight's debate.
More details will be provided shortly.
“Will the CNN hosts come across as biased? Or will they manage to conceal their biases?”
Stick around after the debate. CNN will probably do some fact checking, and that would be inherently biased against Trump since he’s such a notorious liar.
Trump is kicking Biden's ass. Trump looks Presidential. Biden looks like he belongs in a rest home.
Biden looks like a senile old man who is totally lost. Biden looks nasty with his funny faces, too.
I'll give Joe Biden about two weeks before he withdraws from the Presidential race due to pressure from senior-level Democrats.
Pull him. He is destroying the Democratic Party. Any company could find him another job in the back room. His sales days are over.
At the convention back room boys and girls make new decision amid the cigar smoke and the woke taking a toke. Gavin would fry Trump at the stake . Who else?
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