In politics as in business or your local high school sports teams, you’ll only go as far as your personnel will carry you.
An example will illustrate. Shortly after the unranked and lightly regarded Marshall Thundering Herd pulled a stunning college football upset earlier this month over the always formidable (at least in the sports media’s eyes) Notre Dame Fighting Irish on the latter’s home field in South Bend, Indiana, the head coach of the three-touchdown underdog (39-year-old Charles Huff) Marshall squad explained how it was that a hopeless-on-paper matchup could produce such an unexpected result.
Without resorting to Huff’s exact words, the young gridiron leader suggested that the NCAA’s generous post-COVID transfer rules within college football allowed him and his staff to recruit athletes that could help the school immediately compete at the highest levels of the sport, if only for a short while. The qualifier, according to the man in charge, was that beneath his starting 22 players, there wasn’t much quality depth. And it worried him.
Everyone understands football is a dangerous sport in that there’s a virtual 100 percent injury rate. Players know it, coaches know it, fans know it. Eventually, every single on-field participant will come down with some sort of issue, be it deep bruises, sprained joints, broken bones or… a series of concussions.
The injury rate in politics isn’t nearly as pervasive, but each party still should develop a deep “bench” of up-and-comers to assure longevity in the public’s mind. Pundits and party members love speculating on who comes after so-and-so, which simultaneously provides hope for the future as well as a sense of wellbeing for the present.
This is where today’s Democrats run into problems. On his 60 Minutes interview nearly two weeks ago, senile president Joe Biden left open the question of whether he was certain to run for reelection. In characteristic Biden fashion, the chief executive indicated his plan all along was to run again and he still intends to do so. But Joe equivocated, suggesting “We’ll see what happens,” which sent Democrats in a tizzy, with liberals scurrying to and fro contemplating who could be the next man – or woman – to take the job.
There’s no clear answer, which seems to make Democrats very nervous, indeed. In a piece titled “The seven Democrats most likely to run for president — if Biden bows out”, Amie Parnes wrote at The Hill:
“President Biden’s statement … that it ‘remains to be seen’ if he’ll run for reelection has prompted more Democratic chatter about whether they’ll have a different candidate for the White House in 2024.
“If Biden doesn’t run again, a number of Democrats are expected to wade into the presidential waters. But even Vice President Harris isn’t seen as a definitive leading contender in such a situation, Democrats acknowledge privately. ‘There’s not one clear candidate and there’s not a rising star,’ said one top Democratic donor.
“Here’s who is generating the most talk and the most confidence: [Kamala Harris; Pete Buttigieg; Gov. Gretchen Whitmer; Gov. Gavin Newsom; Sen. Elizabeth Warren; Sen. Bernie Sanders, and, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez].”
I don’t know about you, but if I were the “coach” of the Democrat team I’d be studying those party transfer wires to see if there’s more and better talent to reformulate a starting line-up in addition to searching for help for the “bench”, too. I’m not a liberal, but even I can see that there aren’t any potential stars in this run-through of likely Joe Biden-succeeders.
To begin with, the two senators listed, Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren and “Feel the Bern” Bernie Sanders, both have advanced age working against them. With senile Joe Biden turning eighty in less than two months and his mental freshness at the center of every controversy surrounding his capacity to do four more years in the Oval Office, it’s hard to fathom Democrats purposely choosing another man or woman well past the normal retirement age.
Sanders himself hasn’t ruled out another run for president, but even a kook like the Vermont senator surely realizes his chances of mounting another campaign are slim and none. I’ve said it before, but Bernie has both age and health working against him. Many forget, but Sanders suffered a mild heart attack during the 2020 campaign forcing hospitalization for several days. The man’s awful temperament and negative worldview makes him a ticking time bomb. The Democrat establishment can’t stand him and no one else seems to like him either, which is a bad combination for everyone whose last name isn’t “Trump”. By declaring that he hasn’t ruled out a third presidential campaign, Sanders is trying to remain relevant for the final years of his unrelenting drive to turn America into a socialist dystopia. “The Bern” recently admitted that he wants to remain in the game until “Medicare for All” is passed into law. With the direction of the Democrat party moving closer and closer to his position with each passing day, it’s perhaps not surprising that Sanders hopes to outlive the electoral grim reaper.
Without Bernie in the 2024 race, the “leftist kook fringe” lane would clear for “Pocahontas” Warren to carry the banner of exorbitant and life ruining government spending and taxation. But Liz will be 75 on Election Day, 2024, and the American public won’t welcome a screechy ultra-liberal nutcase with granny glasses and bugged out eyes.
The word “charismatic” doesn’t come to mind when pondering “Pocahontas” Warren. Whereas Joe Biden could get away with his “soul of the nation” bullcrap rhetoric two years ago, absolutely no one views the faux Native American senator from Massachusetts as a “uniter” type. Just like the current president, she’d be a lame duck on day one of her first term.
Vice president cackling Kamala Harris would be the most natural choice to step into senile Joe’s shoes, since she’s already been briefed on what to do if she ends up taking the oath of office (which I think she’s already done when Biden was temporarily incapacitated for a medical procedure), and her name did appear on all of those campaign bumper stickers in 2020.
Harris has stayed mostly out of sight in recent months, and this is certainly by design. Every time Kamala opens her mouth, she’s either laughing about something that’s not funny or tossing another nonsensical word salad or overtly telling a lie – like when she insisted that the southern border was secure. Kamala’s turbulent staff situation appears to have stabilized some, but maybe it’s because the Democrat powers-that-be are hiding her away at a secret location and she hasn’t had a chance to tick anyone off lately.
If senile Joe opts to hang it up well in advance of 2024, Kamala will impulsively try to fill the void. But she hasn’t been in Washington nearly as long as Biden has and a lot fewer Democrats owe her a favor. Here’s thinking she won’t get far in her quest.
The same goes for Pete Buttigieg, the “I’m Transportation Secretary because I’m gay, have a husband and two adopted kids – the epitome of ‘woke’” default choice in 2020. Democrat voters in Iowa had a year or so to assess all of the party contenders, yet in the end, they chose Buttigieg simply because he wasn’t one of the others and didn’t have much of a history to disqualify him.
The same won’t be true in 2024 when American voters, fresh off of years of supply chain disruptions, inflation, recession and a dwindling belief that the American economy will provide hope for the future, won’t be quite so anxious to take a chance on an early 40’s smooth talking “alphabet person” with a body part-sounding name and nothing on his resume. The Democrat establishment tolerates Pete and Hollywood liberals would definitely favor him, but are culturally conservative southern black voters willing to cast aside an older, more seasoned Democrat hand to select a frat boy-looking elitist socialist?
I don’t see it.
I also don’t see either of the governors Parnes listed in her article as having much chance to achieve national prominence. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer is an airheaded joke of a Democrat politician with an ego the size of Lake Michigan and an uncanny ability to weasel her way to appearances on national cable news shows. Polls apparently show the incumbent way ahead of her Republican opponent in her reelection race this year, but are they accurate?
After all, Whitmer was one of the leading tyrannical voices for COVID lockdowns. It defies common sense to suggest Wolverine State voters are that naïve and possess such short memories as to how absurd Gov. Gretch was when it counted.
Then there’s California Gov. Gavin Newsom, he of the slicked back hair and aura of elitism that never eludes him. For those liberals propping up Newsom as a potential 2024 candidate, have they neglected to remember that the slick-haired one was battling a recall election about a year ago this time? Gavin survived the vote, but he’s also garnered a well-earned reputation for driving the once beautiful Golden State into the ground with bloated budgets, “woke” policies and astonishing mismanagement of resources.
If Newsom says he isn’t running in 2024, I’m inclined to believe him. Every little tidbit of Gavin’s sleaze would come out in a national campaign – and where Newsom is involved, I’d bet there’s a lot of it.
Last but certainly not least… Alexandria Ocasio Cortez? Who would be her vice president, Nancy Pelosi?
It’s hard to make a solid case for any of the Democrat “bench” players to rise up and take control of the party if and when senile Joe announces that he’s retiring. The liberal old guard has been in charge for too long and the next generation of Democrat politicians is either too “out there” (think AOC), too dumb or too unelectable. Democrats are in an unenviable position, indeed.
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