I am afraid I disagree. Biden has lost the working class. His economic success is only for the $150,000 per year and up class -- The college grad middle management class. Those of us trying to send kids to college and buy gas and pay rent on $70,000 a year on the other hand are not feeling this Biden economic boom. In fact for us it feels like another mean trick played on us just like open borders, Woke working man hatred, and DEI. Biden's only hope is to capture a good portion of the 25% of Republicans who are Never Trump Republicans (NTRs) like me. To do that he must get rid of the DEI diva and find a VP who is not fully repellent to NTRs. The question I will ask on election day is will I be able to hold my nose and vote for a Democratic president who supports the brutal Harvard elite who find me deplorable? Will I be able to vote for a senile president over an insane president? Yes I can, but only if the Democratic VP is tolerable. This may turn out to be a race between young Vice Presidents. Neither Crazy Trump nor Doddering Biden is certain to finish their term. And Kamala is barely tolerated by the Democrats and fully disdained by all Republicans and most independents. Dump DEI Diva and all the Dems will still vote Biden, most Independents will likely vote Biden and my group, the cherished 25%, the NTRs, will be able at least to split between the two. In that metric Biden will win. But Keep Kamala? And guaranteed, Crazy will be the USA.
To be fair, he did mention border security in the last section, as well as economic issues, as well as bucking progressives. (I would go further on that point, and line up a plethora of Sister Soljah moments to really get the point across.)
Anyway, I think this advice is broadly in line with yours, although he doesn't mention the VP problem. Even though it will never happen, I fantasize about a Nikki Haley VP spot as a Democrat, creating a sort of unity ticket. It would be game-changer, I bet. (And it has the optical advantage, so important in Democratic politics, of replacing a woman of color with another one.)
Two things not mentioned: Biden could propose a small business bill of rights. This appeals to independents and Hispanics, it celebrates an American spirit of entrepreneurship and fair competition as well as upward mobility, it fits with traditional Democratic concern with the little guy, and it's populist insofar as it's intrinsically opposed to big business, the mega-corporations, the economic royalists, to use FDR's term. What would be in such a law? No idea, but I'm sure they could come up with something good, have Republicans block it, and run on it.
Thing two, picking up on your points about colleges, in the wake of the scandals that have rocked academia in recent years -- anti-Asian discrimination disguised as banal merely nudge-y affirmative action, anti-mainstream DEI and other wokeitudes, free speech and free inquiry, the corruption of academia for reasons woke and not (check out Freakonomics' episodes on bad science and social science), college presidents who can't come up with a right answer on genocide of Jews while solemnly parroting progressive talking points as university policy, the recent explosion of expensive administrative positions (discussed by David Brooks in a recent column, but a now long-running scandal), all amid ludicrous price-tags, even as the Yales and Harvards apparently have access to the best investment advisors on the planet who grow their mega-gazillion endowments quicker than anyone else can make a buck, plus the scammy for-profit academic sector that gets rich off false promises to the striving poor -- I would make them punching bags on the campaign trail and vigorously propose reforms. Once again, what specific reforms? Not sure. That's for some Brookings person to write up. But I think the message would resonate, especially in those Blue Wall states.
No real mention of out of control migration, which is emerging as the electorate's most important issue?! Perhaps because Open Border Joe with this 32% approval rating on the issue has probably missed his chance to not fail miserably.
Thanks for the analysis. I feel a certain rage at the idea that only two states get to hold primaries., and the race is done. That suggests a certain weakness in our primary system--hold them all in one or perhaps several stages. I'm also feeling some anger at US citizens who vote on the basis of minor blips in the economy and consider the constitution and women's health care to be side issues. And I also remain angry at the fact that Trump would have no chance if we counted actual votes, instead of states.
I am afraid I disagree. Biden has lost the working class. His economic success is only for the $150,000 per year and up class -- The college grad middle management class. Those of us trying to send kids to college and buy gas and pay rent on $70,000 a year on the other hand are not feeling this Biden economic boom. In fact for us it feels like another mean trick played on us just like open borders, Woke working man hatred, and DEI. Biden's only hope is to capture a good portion of the 25% of Republicans who are Never Trump Republicans (NTRs) like me. To do that he must get rid of the DEI diva and find a VP who is not fully repellent to NTRs. The question I will ask on election day is will I be able to hold my nose and vote for a Democratic president who supports the brutal Harvard elite who find me deplorable? Will I be able to vote for a senile president over an insane president? Yes I can, but only if the Democratic VP is tolerable. This may turn out to be a race between young Vice Presidents. Neither Crazy Trump nor Doddering Biden is certain to finish their term. And Kamala is barely tolerated by the Democrats and fully disdained by all Republicans and most independents. Dump DEI Diva and all the Dems will still vote Biden, most Independents will likely vote Biden and my group, the cherished 25%, the NTRs, will be able at least to split between the two. In that metric Biden will win. But Keep Kamala? And guaranteed, Crazy will be the USA.
To be fair, he did mention border security in the last section, as well as economic issues, as well as bucking progressives. (I would go further on that point, and line up a plethora of Sister Soljah moments to really get the point across.)
Anyway, I think this advice is broadly in line with yours, although he doesn't mention the VP problem. Even though it will never happen, I fantasize about a Nikki Haley VP spot as a Democrat, creating a sort of unity ticket. It would be game-changer, I bet. (And it has the optical advantage, so important in Democratic politics, of replacing a woman of color with another one.)
Two things not mentioned: Biden could propose a small business bill of rights. This appeals to independents and Hispanics, it celebrates an American spirit of entrepreneurship and fair competition as well as upward mobility, it fits with traditional Democratic concern with the little guy, and it's populist insofar as it's intrinsically opposed to big business, the mega-corporations, the economic royalists, to use FDR's term. What would be in such a law? No idea, but I'm sure they could come up with something good, have Republicans block it, and run on it.
Thing two, picking up on your points about colleges, in the wake of the scandals that have rocked academia in recent years -- anti-Asian discrimination disguised as banal merely nudge-y affirmative action, anti-mainstream DEI and other wokeitudes, free speech and free inquiry, the corruption of academia for reasons woke and not (check out Freakonomics' episodes on bad science and social science), college presidents who can't come up with a right answer on genocide of Jews while solemnly parroting progressive talking points as university policy, the recent explosion of expensive administrative positions (discussed by David Brooks in a recent column, but a now long-running scandal), all amid ludicrous price-tags, even as the Yales and Harvards apparently have access to the best investment advisors on the planet who grow their mega-gazillion endowments quicker than anyone else can make a buck, plus the scammy for-profit academic sector that gets rich off false promises to the striving poor -- I would make them punching bags on the campaign trail and vigorously propose reforms. Once again, what specific reforms? Not sure. That's for some Brookings person to write up. But I think the message would resonate, especially in those Blue Wall states.
No real mention of out of control migration, which is emerging as the electorate's most important issue?! Perhaps because Open Border Joe with this 32% approval rating on the issue has probably missed his chance to not fail miserably.
Thanks for the analysis. I feel a certain rage at the idea that only two states get to hold primaries., and the race is done. That suggests a certain weakness in our primary system--hold them all in one or perhaps several stages. I'm also feeling some anger at US citizens who vote on the basis of minor blips in the economy and consider the constitution and women's health care to be side issues. And I also remain angry at the fact that Trump would have no chance if we counted actual votes, instead of states.