“We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us” Pogo (well. Walt Kelly, really).
We’re not in the US, but I can feel the trauma, the shock, of the election. The people voted, and the majority of them didn’t vote the way we wanted and expected them to vote. A couple of days ago, at a Craft Fair at the Shiinoki Cultural Complex in Kanazawa, Michele got into a conversation with a local, and he asked, “Why?” Michele said she didn’t have an answer.
I don’t really either. But the distraction of being in a new environment gives me the luxury of not thinking about it very much. That makes it easy for me to fall back on my old answers, and I don’t think, at 84, my old answers are really the answers that fit today. My politics are almost a perfect match with Senator Bernie Sanders, so I love his answers, but as much as I love them, I think Bernie’s answers are outdated.
What I do think, however, is that Harris and the Democrats didn’t lose because Harris didn’t go on Joe Rogan enough or used the wrong typeface in her ads. I don’t even think that Harris lost because we are a sexist or racist nation. We are, probably, but that’s not why we lost. I think we lost because the economy was better under Trump. It turns out that most people thought their lives were better under Trump. I don’t mean because of Trump; I think Trump looked good because he inherited the fruits of the Obama recovery. But that may just be my Liberal rationalization.
Coastal California is one of the most Liberal parts of the country, and our Liberal policies have not solved any of our biggest problems. California has the largest homeless population in the country, and we give our children a shitty education. We are #37 in Pre-K-12 education and #22 in High School Graduation Rate, according to U.S. News & World Report. How can that be if our ideas are so much better than, say, Florida, ranked #10 in Pre-K-12 education and #19 in High School Graduation, or Georgia, #25,#17?
What we do do well is take care of our elite selves. Silicon Valley is booming; we have 186 billionaires, an almost infinite number of millionaires, and our elite colleges are the best in the world. We have great parks – National, State, and local – and we keep the homeless out so we don’t have to see them and feel bad or even guilty. Many of our highways are perpetually congested, so we are making special lanes so those who can afford it can pay a little money – for them – to get where they want to go faster.
Don’t get me wrong; I love my life in the United States of America, and especially in California, but the laws and policies are made for me – by people like me – and that is not the way to get votes from people who are not like me. I don’t know what the answers are, but I do know that saying that people who voted for Trump are stupid or saying that Trump is a fascist is not effective.
Populist Revolt Against Elite’s Vision of the U.S. New York Times
Not really a big surprise, still a big shock. It’s very likely not as bleak as it looks this morning.
It’s probably going to be a little worse if you are Jewish, or Muslim, or undocumented, or a woman, or anything but white European male, for that matter. The white male hierarchy – and it must be larger than I imagined from the viewpoint deep in my little bubble – will have more legitimacy.
The very rich will do better, NATO and Ukraine worse, but in our day-to-day lives, we (Michele and myself and most people we know) probably won’t notice much change .
“Thank you, Chicago, for your energy; thank you, Kamala Harris and Jim Walz, for your vision; and thank you, Joe Biden, for your service.” Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
“The existence of my family is just one example of something that was literally impossible as recent as 25 years ago … This kind of life went from impossible to possible. From possible to real. From real to almost ordinary.”Pete Buttigieg
“Tim Walz is a weaponized Norman Rockwell painting.” Ezra Klein
“And to be clear: In my entire career, I have only had one client. The People.” Kamala Harris
I thought I must have blogged about almost every Democratic National Convention since Obama. However, as I go back through my blog, I see that the only Convention I commented on was the 2020 Democratic Convention, which was during Covid and was more of a virtue convention on Zoom (mostly, at least, as I remember). Maybe I haven’t written about past Democratic Conventions because all conventions are pretty much the same – especially political conventions.
Political conventions are pep rallies, and the latest Democratic National Convention was no exception. It was more professional than most pep rallies, which is to be expected because the same guy – Ricky Kirshner, who has 26 EMMY Nominations, 9 Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, and an Edward R. Murrow Award – has been doing DNCs since Clinton. Still, it was a bunch of talking heads, of which only a few were interesting. On the first night, that included Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hillary Rodham Clinton – introduced as the former United States Secretary of State, which, I guess by the introduction, is higher than Senator – and President Joe Biden.
Of the three, I thought Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Hillary Rodham Clinton gave the best speeches, and President Biden gave the weakest speech. In Ocasio-Cortez’s case, I may have been overly influenced by my admiration for her, but I don’t think so. Ocasio-Cortez – or AOC, if you prefer – is a staggeringly good politician. She has been on the National Stage for less than six years, and she is already a household name. I was surprised at how good a speech Ms. Clinton delivered. Now that she has nothing to lose, she is much looser and less preachy. Listening to President Joe Biden’s speech, I was reminded that, even at his best, he is not a natural public speaker.
The second night, Tuesday, was another night of talking heads – most of whom were forgettable – which ended with three super speeches. The first was by Kamala’s husband, Doug Emhoff, who I thought gave a better-than-expected speech. The night ended with Michele Obama and Barack Obama. Of the three, I thought former First Lady Obama was the best speech. By far. She came dressed for battle, in a sort of ninja outfit, her arms bare and her hair pulled back from her face in a long braid.
What I thought was most interesting about the speeches was the comparison between Michele Obama and Barack Obama juxtaposed to Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. Michele Obama and Kamala Harris’ childhoods were in segregated worlds. Tim Walz and Barack Obama were not; Walz because he is White and Obama because his early childhood was in Indonesia and Hawaii. Their speeches reflected that. Both Obama and Walz gave speeches that said we can all get along, with Obama saying, “That’s the America Kamala Harris and Tim Walz believe in. An America where We the People includes everyone. Because that’s the only way this American experiment works.” and Walz saying, “But I’ll tell you what, growing up in a small town like that, you’ll learn how to take care of each other that that family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do, but they’re your neighbors, and you look out for them, and they look out for you.”
Michele Obama and Kamala Harris were much less conciliatory. Michele Obama had similar words as her husband but from a different point of view, saying, “Kamala knows, like we do, that regardless of where you come from, what you look like, who you love, how you worship, or what’s in your bank account, we all deserve the opportunity to build a decent life. All of our contributions deserve to be accepted and valued because no one has a monopoly on what it means to be an American. No one.” And Kamala by saying,” “In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man…Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails.” In speaking about the Republican position on abortion, she said, “Simply put, they are out of their minds.”
The third night included Governor Josh Shapiro – who I read was the vice-presidential nominee that the Democratic establishment wanted – former Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz. I thought Walz was terrific, a poster child for the mid-west. Still, as somebody who was in the Army for three years, what I find most interesting about Walz is that he was a Command Sergeant-major. There have been many vice presidents who were officers and many who were privates, even vice presidents who were not in the military, but only one other sergeant, Al Gore. Gore served in the Army as an enlisted man, spent six months in Vietnam working for an Army newspaper, and was discharged as a Sergeant E-5; despite that, he was not a career NCO like Tim Walz. Having been a career NCO and not having graduated from Harvard – Walz went to Chadron State College in Nebraska – will bring a much-needed new outlook to Washington.
The last night – the biggest night – was all about Vice-president Kamala Harris. The speakers were old friends, various members of the House of Representatives, and even a member of the Central Park Five, a group of young black men who had been wrongly charged and jailed for a crime they did not commit. Harris’s speech was excellent, but it came after several days of hard-to-follow great speeches. For me, the most appealing thing about Harris is that she will bring a new outlook to the presidency. I hope.
I say “I hope.” because we have been here before. By here, I mean an outsider bringing a new perspective to the inside of the Beltway thinking that has seemed to deadlock Washington. Biden was effective because he had been around long enough to understand how Washington works and doesn’t work. Harris has not been in Washington nearly as long; she was a Senator for only four years before becoming vice president for another four years, but hopefully, she has been around for enough time to know where the power is and how to bring change.
“We are effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.” Senator JD Vance.
[The] false claim by Trump that Harris is generating fake big crowds with AI was a true Captain Queeg moment, maybe the most bat-guano crazy thing I’ve seen in 40 years of covering presidential elections. Will Bunch National opinion columnist, Philadelphia Inquirer.
But there’s no question something big happened on July 21. Lenny Bronner in the Washington Post
“I don’t know where you all are, but Gov. Tim Walz, everybody gives him thumbs up. By the way, I didn’t get that 100 percent thumbs up for any of the other candidates.” Democratic strategist Donna Brazile.
Vice-president Kamala Harris is going to be the next President of The United States. That shocked me, and I’m not sure why. Part of the reason, I think, is that I thought an Elizabeth Warren or Amy Klobashure type would be the first woman President. Harris seems too young or too lightweight, too amateur, because of her coltish demeanor and laugh. Now, I think that is part of her draw.
Ambition is not considered a virtue in women. “She is ambitious” is a slur, just like “He has no ambition” is a slur. That Hillary Clinton was ambitious was one of the things that many people didn’t like about her, and Harris being ambitious was a detriment when she ran for President in 2020, but this time around, Harris didn’t run for President; she was in the right place at the right time, and it seemed to just fall – for lack of a better word – on her.
Even if Harris thought Biden might drop out, she must have been somewhat surprised when he did; still, she moved extraordinarily quickly to round up support and money. She started with the party royals; the Clintons backed Harris on the first day after Biden withdrew, and the Obamas were brought around on day 4. That’s impressive. There must have been other contenders, but Harris sewed up her nomination before they even got started. Then she didn’t pick the guy the party establishment wanted her to pick. She picked the guy she wanted. Harris immediately took control.
I voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, and I voted for Joe Biden in 2020, although I didn’t really vote for either of them; I voted against Donald Trump. Since then, Trump has become even more erratic and bitter and, to my thinking, even harder to vote for. He has become a senile old man ranting about how everybody is cheating on him and treating him wrongly. Strangely – or weirdly, if you prefer – Trump has retreated to Mar-a-Largo.
Michele thinks that the reason Trump is holed up at Mar-a-Lago is because his crowds are smaller than Harris’ crowds. That may be a factor, but I think the biggest reason Trump isn’t holding rallies is because he is afraid after he was almost shot dead at the rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. And, I have to say, I don’t blame him; I’d be afraid, too, if some wacko had tried to kill me.
Meanwhile, Vice-president Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz are on the campaign trail and drawing record crowds. It turns out that Walz is a great campaigner and an effective attack dog, playing bad cop to Harris’ good cop (which is, after all, one of the main jobs of the VP). It turns out that Harris was right about her VP choice. That’s a good quality to have as President.
Found on Gary Peterson’s Twitter account with a caption saying: “The satanic woke Olympics have gone too far in mocking God, which is why we need Christ himself to pass the torch to our new messiah, President Trump, who will make sure that blasphemy has no place in winning the gold.
I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin. Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA! Donald Trump on Truth Social June 13, 2024.
Art restorers use the term photodegradation to describe the process by which a painting fades. The colors remain present; they just become less vivid. That’s the Joe Biden story. David Frum in The Atlantic
The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman. Malcolm X in 1962.
“I took on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rule for their own gain. So, believe me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type.” Harris to staffers at her campaign’s offices in Wilmington, Delaware, and sure to become a theme.
A lot has happened in the last two-ish weeks: Trump was shot and nominated—probably winged and coronated, is a slightly better descriptor—Biden withdrew from his campaign, Harris immediately became the new presumed presidential candidate, Mukesh Ambani’s, youngest son Anant finally got married in a wedding that, reportedly, cost $600M, and we broke the record for the hottest day on earth – two days in a row.
When Donald Trump was shot, my first thought was of President Reagan getting shot and how it raised his poll numbers because of the sympathy generated by him being shot. It gave me a sinking feeling that history would repeat itself. However, the shooting – and the coronation, for that matter – does not seem to have changed Trump’s numbers very much. He still has an approvable rating in the low forties and an unfavorable rating in the low fifties.
When Biden withdrew from his reelection campaign, he immediately backed Harris. Well, maybe not immediately, but quickly. He withdrew with a letter and then, shortly afterward, Tweeted his backing of Harris, and, by all accounts I’ve read and heard, Harris immediately started rounding up backing. Almost overnight, Harris raised $1.5M from a Zoom call with Black Women and rounded up enough delegates to get the nomination.
At first, I was sort of put off by the speed of the whole thing. By not having an open convention, it seemed like the party insiders were feeding us their choice and, once again, not waiting for us – the hoi polloi – to have our say. I don’t feel that way anymore. Michele was on the “White Women” Zoom call for Harris, and her enthusiasm has rubbed off on me. But, it’s not just me; in two, maybe three weeks, Vice President Harris has gone from being a problem to being almost everybody’s answer.
When Barack Obama ran for president, I almost immediately thought he was going to win. I have the same feeling about Kamala Harris. I’m not sure why; it just seems to be in the zeitgeist—well, in the zeitgeist and Michele’s enthusiasm, and the incredible rate at which Harris is raising money. To quote the LA Times: Since Vice President Kamala Harris vaulted into becoming the likely Democratic nominee for president a week ago, a groundswell of identity-based grassroots groups have sprung up online to rally behind her. The nightly calls are raising millions of dollars and securing hundreds of volunteers, drawing comparisons to the grassroots efforts that fueled former President Obama to victory in 2008.
As an aside, one of the interesting things about Barack Obama and Kamala Harris, who are both mixed race, is that they self-identify as primarily Black. Logically, as Spook used to say, which is not as advantageous as their abandoned half. But I know the feeling. When I was relatively young – say 14 – I didn’t believe in God. I don’t remember ever making an actual decision about it. Thinking back on it, I’m sure my atheist grandfathers and my atheist Dad were an influence. And, as far as that goes, my atheist Mother who would explain, when trying to get me to go to church, “I don’t believe in God, but people who do seem to be happier, so you should go to church.”
Still, identifying as an atheist seemed to be a cheap way of denying my Jewish heritage which was not an advantage. So, when asked – and people in those days seemed to care more about what religion somebody was, so I was asked – I would say something along the lines of “I don’t believe in any religion, but my heritage is Jewish.” End aside.
Back to Vice-President Kamala Harris. She is going to win this Presidential Election election. I started out by writing; Right now, I think that she is going to win. then I think that she is going to win. But both of those read too tentative so I’ll stick with: Kamala Harris is going to win the 2024 Presidential Election election.
