Where Have all the Political Advisors Gone?
Donald trump’s selection of JD Vance as his vice president (VP) and Joe Biden’s anointment of Pamela Harris as the Democrat presidential nominee defy political wisdom. Where have all the political advisors gone?
Where is another James Carville, who became a national celebrity by successfully managing Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign and married his Republican opponent, Mary Matalin, who served as deputy campaign manager for George H.W. Bush?
Where is another Dick Morris, who sat for weeks in a lonely hotel room, feasting on DC’s best foods and falling victim to a prostitute while successfully navigating Bill Clinton’ successful 1996 campaign?
Usually, the VP choice is guided by defined characteristics.
(1) Has some appeal to those not expected to vote for the candidate.
(2) Does not act as lighting rod and antagonize swing voters.
(3) Has government experience and some success in the positions.
(4) No skeletons in the closet.
(5) Cannot harm the election campaign and may help.
These considerations can also apply to a presidential candidate but other factors, mainly attachment to the Party principles and platform are overriding.
Has trump been too lackadaisical in his selection of JD Vance as his running mate? Does the VP play a role in deciding the election?
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the perfect politician, did not halt the setting aside of Vice-president Henry Wallace in his 1944 campaign. Wallace had become too progressive in his actions and too mystical in his appearance. He antagonized Party leaders who feared the conservative wing of the Democratic Party would sooner vote for Republican Dewey than allow a controversial Henry Wallace to continue in office.
Missouri Senator Harry Truman had served the Democratic Party well and without rancor. He had no special qualifications for VP until his Senate Resolution 71, on March 1, 1941, created a Senate Special Committee to Investigate the National Defense Program. Due to Truman’s adroit leadership, the committee became known as the Truman committee. Driven by the historical knowledge that waste, nepotism, and fraud accompanied defense contracts, Truman’s committee investigated defense contracts and “proved an able ‘watchdog’ during a critical period in the nation's history and received credit for uncovering corruption, waste, and fraud, thereby saving American taxpayers billions of dollars.” Nominated as Roosevelt’s running mate, Truman’s honest and populist attitude and Midwest association brought new constituents to the Democrat Party and by nomination time, Washington journalists had named him "one of the ten most valuable officials in Washington." Harry Truman had the correct characteristics for a VP nominee.
Donald Trump’s major voters are those who emotionally detest the Democratic Party, rebel at its neoliberal policies, and feel disenfranchised by a liberal establishment. An NBC poll of January 2024 calculated Trump’s base at about 33 percent. He needs many more voters, must use every avenue to find them, and cannot afford to alienate more than he has already alienated.
His VP choice, the irritating JD Vance, adds nothing to Trump’s ticket. Vance’s addition of more irritation to the irritating Donald Trump; of using lies and insults to hide a lack of understanding of the issues, will alienate more voters. Behaving as a Trump lookalike, Vance has no appeal to those not expected to vote for the candidate. His bombastic attitude acts as a lightning rod and antagonizes swing voters. He has little government experience and no time to have success in the position. His major “skeletons in the closet” are his previous refutations of Trump and his rejection of the impoverished people of his youth. In the 2016 presidential election, “he called the Republican presidential candidate an ‘idiot’ and said he was ‘reprehensible.’ Privately, he compared him to Adolf Hitler.”
Vance’s book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which brought him fame, has detractors and these detractors, many of whom are stereotypical trump supporters, may steer their anger at Vance to a refusal to cast their vote for their previously approved candidate. Some comments on the book.
JD Vance should not be held up as a representative of Appalachia or working class people, as his book displayed a contempt for both, Appalachian author Silas House wrote on X.
Hillbilly Elegy was celebrated as an explanation for why white working class voters became attracted to Trump and for its compelling personal narrative, but what people largely ignored at the time was the utter contempt he (Vance) had for people facing economic hardship and the people that he grew up around, a host of "Appodlachia," a progressive Appalachian podcast, said on TikTok.
Steve Williams, a Democrat running for governor of West Virginia, reacted on X. "I read 'Hillbilly Elegy.' It drove me crazy," he wrote. "It affirms negative stereotypes we've fought our whole lives to overcome. Appalachia has a rich culture and unbreakable resilience that should be celebrated, not reduced to harmful tropes."
JD Vance, the self-described hillbilly, may have a new elegy ─ the vice-presidential candidate who enabled the defeat of Donald Trump.
The Democratic Party showed no political smarts. What political campaign team prepared Biden for his catastrophic debate with Trump? How could a fiasco of this type occur?
Knowing time was running out and Biden might still exit the race, why weren’t the Dem politicos prepared with a rescue plan that could be immediately implemented and placed in motion? Instead, Biden arbitrarily anointed Kamala Harris, who had been rejected in the 2020 nominating process and had faulted in her initial years as vice-president. From these rejections, and without a nominating process, Harris remains as an unknown who has been thrust by one person into appearing before the electorate as the candidate for the highest position and for having the talent to challenge the incoherent Donald Trump. Yes, she was selected as VP, one step from the highest office. She was not selected as heir to the highest office. Her selection came by default ─ in 2020, the Dems needed a woman, preferably African-American, and not too aggressive. Harris was a compromise with no indication that she would be preferred in 2024. Why would she, she had not shown generated much interest in the 2020 race.
Kamala Harris has one appeal for those were not expected to vote for Biden ─ The U.S. government close relation to Israel and support of Israel in its war on the Gazans does not correspond with her view, which is seen as more sympathetic with the Palestinians. A good reason to vote for Harris; a debatable reason to have her head the democrat ticket, assuming the Israel Lobby will charge up the engines and succeed in convincing voters that she is antagonistic to their beloved Israel. Will her stance on Israel translate into government policies that prevent the genocide and provide a just solution for the Palestinians? Remember Barack Obama’s sympathies with the Palestinians and his pledge to the Arab peoples to consider their grievances and right the wrongs committed against them. While Obama held presidential office, nothing changed in Middle East policy
Harris is considered more liberal than any Democrat, except Bernie Sanders, a carrier of Biden’s policies with a slightly more radical tinge. Well and good for those who favor Bernie; not too good for conservative swing voters who may dislike Kamala more than they dislike Donald. To her credit, she has government experience and success in several positions. She arrives with a major “skeleton in the closet” ─ her closeness with former San Francisco Mayor and California State Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, who gave her two political appointments that launched her political career and led to accusations of nepotism. Reportedly, 29 year old Kamala Harris dated 60 year old Willie Brown, who had been separated from his wife since 1981.
When she was Joe Biden’s running mate, Harris polled low in the polls, running around 37 percent favorable. Despite the negatives to her anointment, Kamala Harris has been received with initial approval by the electorate. Her favorable poll jumped immediately to 43 percent and $200 million poured into her campaign. These can be perceived as pent up demand for anyone but Biden or Trump. If the nomination went to the convention, the anyone may have been elevated to the preferred and highly increased the possibility of defeating Trump.
That does not mean that Harris would not have been selected as the candidate. Her entrance to the race with a new mission has introduced a highly effective Kamala Harris. She is speaking well and resonating well, energizing audience who have been responding enthusiastically. The Democratic campaign has a lively and confident campaigner and the electorate has a functioning human being who is trustworthy and credible, radiates optimism, and is not a scheming egomaniac. The VP has converted staunch opponents of her operating style into eager supporters.
The Dem presidential candidate has a choice of several VP candidates from swing states to complement her liberal views and appeal to dubious voters — those who question policies on immigration (Mark Kelly, Az.), Israel (Josh Shapiro. Pa.), and too radical (Andy Beshear, Kentucky). Being Jewish, Josh Shapiro may thwart those who disapprove of Harris’ lean toward favoring justice for the Palestinians, her most controversial policy.
Trump will run more scared and a frightened Trump is a more inglorious Trump, if he can be more inglorious than now. Attacking a woman is not as acceptable as attacking a male. Without smearing an opponent, Trump has little to say. He is sewer bound, destined to be trapped by his disgusting rhetoric.
Where have all the political advisors gone?
The GOP left them at Mar Largo.
The Dems found them in the White House, in the oval office. Faced with the moment of truth, the winning Joseph Biden has proved to be the equal of FDR, the previous best politician of all time. There was more to Kamala Harris than was apparent and Joe Biden knew it.