The Battle Begins

The Battle Begins

This morning, after picking up bagels as per my usual Sunday morning chores, Kim and I took the kids and grandkids to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Our annual Zoo membership entitles us to four half-price tickets. Technically we were supposed to accompany the kids, but we drove two cars (technically a car and a truck) and took Buddy along for the ride and just dropped them off and skedaddled. It was a Sunday morning and nothing was on our agenda for the day, so Kim suggested a movie. We dropped Buddy off at doggie day care and went to go see the early show of Twisters. That is sort of a sequel to the 1996 Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton action/adventure movie by the similar name, Twister. For some reason, people who don’t care for natural disaster movies seemed to like Twister and we count ourselves among those people. We loaded up with popcorn and soda like always and settled in for the duration. I have been known to write a movie review or two, so I will say that we would give Twisters probably an 8, so its safe to say we enjoyed it, but were not overwhelmed by it.

What did overwhelm us was that when we came out of the movie, Kim saw that the New York Times was reporting that Joe Biden had announced that he was dropping out of the race for the presidency in November. Boom! Just another twister in a long campaign trail, but one that I feel like I not only anticipated, but actually told a few people it would happen today. Suddenly, all the talk of Joe Biden being another selfish and egotistical politician evaporated into thin air and there were nothing but nice things being said about him on the news. I just wrote about wanting to get back to his just being good old Joe and there we now have it. Good old Joe did the right thing.

No surprise that everyone in the media immediately shifted gears and started talking about the nomination process and the most likely contenders. There was really only one being talked about and it was the one that Joe heartily endorsed fifteen minutes after he made his announcement about dropping out. I guess it is not too much to allow him that fifteen minutes of Joe time since it is almost the last time he will be the top line story. Oh yeah, Joe endorsed Kamala Harris, his Vice President.We’ve all had a few weeks as this boil on our neck was building up a head of steam to consider the alternatives. After getting past the ridiculous notion of Michelle Obama, it was quick to realize that Kamala was really the only choice. Any attempt to unseat her would be viewed as some combination of misogyny, racism, or anti-immigrant sentiment. Those are all categories of voters that Democrats desperately need to win in November. In addition to that, Kamala has successfully courted the youth vote that has trended more progressive and pro-Palestinian and those too are votes that are needed. The people who don’t like Harris are generally either Republicans who weren’t going left anyway or people who feel she has a hard edge from her prosecutorial days. Most pundits are actually thinking that the extensive prosecutor experience she has will make her a strong debater and generally a tough President, something most people agree is valuable.

There is now a moment when Harris’ choice of running mate is becoming a topic of normal conjecture. The fact that Trump has made his selection already and J.D. Vance seems to have as many or more liabilities as assets for the Trump campaign makes the timing of all of this seem very convenient. Some have even suggested that Biden was brilliant for waiting to drop until all the Republican cats were out of the bag from the RNC and let’s just say there were lots of crazy cats to use against them in the coming campaign. The names that seem to be most bandied about at the moment are Governor Roy Cooper of North Carolina, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania (both of whom have already taken the trouble to endorse Kamala) and perhaps Governor Andy Beshear of Kentucky. Several of the other oft-tauted candidates like Governor Gavin Newsom or California and Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg have also made it clear that they are moving out of the way by also endorsing her. With Joe and the Clinton’s throwing him their support (Obama doesn’t give endorsements), the die seems cast on this nomination…but then, anything can a happen in national politics. The most interesting idea I have heard is for Kamala to choose another woman as Vice President, someone like Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan. There is an argument that two women wouldn’t cost any misogynistic voters and it might just energize the female vote. With that in mind, someone said “what about Liz Cheney?” As interesting as that would be, I sense it would have long-term downsides given her starkly different ideological stand on anything other than Trump.

Everyone seems anxious to see a sea change from a campaign emphasizing Joe Biden’s feebleness to one about Donald Trump’s and J.D. Vance’s authoritarian tendencies and their Project 2025 ideology. In one day, people who were bereft of hope are suddenly filled with an abundance of hope. Politics is a very strange arena. The speed with which opinions and votes can change hands is entirely unpredictable. How many times have you seen an election swing in favor of the shiniest penny as much because American voters like something new as because there is less baggage that has accumulated in the negative category about someone who hasn’t been in the public eye so much.

One story line that is going through loudly after Trump’s 92 minute convention acceptance speech is that his schtick hasn’t changed since 2015 and in the electoral world, that is an eternity. It is said that many voters, especially those who are not a part of the diehard base are getting pretty tired of the schtick altogether. That is not only not unusual, it is almost to be expected. After the months of Biden’s weak stage presence, the thing that many people didn’t like about Kamala in 2020 primary showing, was her edginess. That same edginess might just be perfect against Trump, especially with his weak command of facts, figures and the truth. Most of us would love to see Kamala and Trump in a debate. The consensus is that she would obliterate him, so it’s likely he will avoid it like the plague.

We are already seeing a surge in grassroots fundraising today and I too contributed to that blue wave. I feel like this campaign is starting anew today and while we only have 106 days to make it happen, I am even more optimistic than ever that the Party will get a serious boost from this change. Suddenly, Trump is the old dottering candidate and the one with a questionable Veep. In a strange way, I sense that Kamala will be a far more effective presidential candidate than a vice presidential candidate. We will see. Let the battle begin.