20 June 2019
Runners and Riders Jostle
Across the pond.
By J R Thomas
Laughing at the number of eager hopefuls wanting to succeed Theresa May? That’s nothing. Move six hours west. The number of Democrat aspirants for the Presidential nomination is now 23; way beyond a minicab or even a mini-bus. Almost enough to half fill a Greyhound, and maybe they should consider hiring one to do combined road shows. At least that would spare the voters from twenty three separate town meetings or flag waving rallies.
We’ll spare you the backgrounds of all these dreamers, the Shaw Sheet ain’t big enough for th’all of them. We can tell you though that seventeen of them are men, or at least represent as men, and the other six represent as women. We are not going to attempt analysis by sexual preference because we hold to the curious old belief that that is a private matter, and in similar vein we will keep well away from ethnic origin, not least because, as the saying has it, it’s a wise child that knows its own father. (Alas, perhaps, not that wise now, just one with a DNA test kit.) We will give an honourable mention though to Richard Ojeda who has done the decent thing and dropped out, with words that deserve to be remembered: “When I was a child, my grade school teachers told us all that anyone in America could grow up and become president. I now realize that this is not the case.” That’ll be a good line at cocktail parties, but that’s your fifteen seconds of fame sir, we must move on.
Briefly on, to the Republican’s. Here we have one probable runner, a Mr Donald Trump, formerly of New York, and one other declared, William F. Weld, aged 73, and representing maturity and moderation. Mr Weld’s name may have flashed before you on a previous occasion, in 2016, when, Chuka Umunna-like, he was then running for the Libertarian Party, as vice Presidential candidate. He has also been Governor of Massachusetts, in the 1990’s. He too has some memorable words on his Presidential aspirations: “I hope to see the Republican Party assume once again the mantle of being the party of Lincoln.” We assume he is not praising the virtues of civil war, or theatre going. There is also one other familiar name who says he may try shoving Mr Trump out of his day-job, but probably not familiar enough, John Kasich, ex-governor of Ohio and also (Republican) contender in 2016. At 67, he might capture the youth vote, or at least the upper end of it.
That’s enough oxygen of publicity for losing Republicans – it’s got to be the Donald’s ball to run with if he wants it – so back to the Twenty Three. There may yet be a few more – ex secretary of state John Kerry has modestly brushed aside questions about what he is doing in the early 2020’s, and, if the present list ends in disaster and an inability to agree, then Mr Kerry might just step forward as the unity candidate. But the obvious unity candidate seems to be the current leader of the pack, Joe Biden. Mr Biden got off to a bit of a stumbling start, venturing into the very dangerous territory – for a man anyway – of abortion law reform. Joe is a Roman Catholic and says that he personally believes abortion is always wrong, but will put his personal views aside to represent the electorate’s views on the matter. That is probably the only way for an honest and principled man to play the issue, and in spite of some criticism from louder elements of the debate, has won him support in the country. Joe is popular precisely because of this type of stance – a decent and good natured man who, perhaps more than most of his competitors, understands Democrat voters. And understands that quite a lot of them voted for The Donald in 2016, not because of a sudden urge to become Republicans but because they felt forgotten by their own party. They may be Democrats but they are also conservative in many things, and the party of Hillary and even of Barrack is too middle class, too bourgeoise, too preoccupied with political correctness and radical and socialist ideas to meet the simple needs and dreams of poorer Americans. Maybe that is populism, but maybe it is also just being in touch with what voters actually want. The threat to Joe, if you believe this theory, is Bernie Sanders, but an awful lot of Bernie’s rivals are now seizing his clothes, and as an Independent he lacks some of the infrastructure of the Democrat Party – though he has made that into a virtue.
Then who? Kamala Harris is the rising star, a Californian Senator, bright, humorous, and with a definite charisma. We ought to mention Elizabeth Warren – there, we’ve mentioned her – but she lacks all the things Senator Harris has, with a large touch of Hillary into the bargain. It must be among the first three. Mustn’t it? Barring stupid remarks, hidden pasts, lack of money. So maybe it might just turn out to be Kamala, on the basis that Joe and Bernie are male, white, and old. So is the present incumbent. ~If you were making the decision for the American people (or casting this as a movie) that is how you would set it up. But is that how the American people will want it?
Back, once more, to the Grand Old Party, or more precisely, its slightly semi-detached current President. Everybody has been reading the Mueller report on the links between the President and Russian influence over the 2016 election. Well, actually, very few people have been reading it, but some at least thumbed through the executive summary in hope of finding juicy stuff on Donald. Without much luck. Mr Mueller could not find anything incriminating about the President and all his men, and had to satisfy himself, and his anti-Trumpian readership, with somewhat mysterious remarks to the effect that if he thought the President was not guilty of any crimes, he would have said so. This, it is unsubtly hinted, relates to the efforts of the Administration to get Mr Mueller removed, or to influence him in his conduct of the investigation. It is rather rum stuff, you may think; either the President and/or his team have broken the law, or they haven’t. Quite so, but the hint is that they have strayed to, or beyond, the edges of constitutional propriety. Richard Nixon was accused of the same thing, though it somewhat paled beside other of Mr Nixon’s activities. The only way to get that out in the open is impeachment, and so far there is no sign of it. Democrat party leader Nancy Pelosi (yes, still in the job) does not want to go for that on the grounds that it is a dangerous weapon to use casually. And, she has not added, attempted impeachment might be used by Mr Trump in his 2020 campaign to prove that the Washington swamp is still trying to drag him down. Good thinking, Ms Pelosi.
Let’s have one last quote from amongst those Democrat hopefuls, this from John Delany, ex- Congressman: “I think I’m the right person for the job, but not enough people knew who I was or still know who I am.” If we find out, we’ll let you know, sir.
