August 21, 2020
It seemed to me that a very strong breath of fresh air entered the 2020 election arena last week when Joe Biden finally announced his Vice Presidential candidate pick as —-Kamala Harris! And, I am very pleased that the women voters in my blog group got the candidate they picked as their #1 choice. As one of my fellow male voters wrote, “As usual, the women got it right.” Now, all we have to do is to hope and pray that a great majority of our electorate agrees with them. By the way, none of my women blog members who voted were Black, Jamaican or from India. I believe that says as much about the good character of my women blog members as it does about their appraisal of the character and ability of Kamala.
I think it is fair to sum up what Ms. Harris brings to the Biden campaign in two, very significant, words—ENERGY and POWER! To note that those two ingredients are sorely lacking in good ole Joe Biden could be a ‘given’ considering his age and mental condition. Now Joe can relax—which he needs and deserves to be able to do—and take the ‘high road’ in the debates while Kamala demonstrates her ‘bull-dog’ best skills as a prosecuting attorney to indict Trump, Pence and their enabling Republican Senator ‘friends’ for their crimes against our democracy. I fully expect she will demonstrate those qualities in her acceptance speech from the virtual Democratic Convention, the Wednesday evening before this blog is released.
I assume that all of my blog readers understand that I first choose the subject (title) and then start writing each blog on Sunday. Then, I add bits and pieces throughout the week. Given that the Democratic Convention starts tonight (Monday) and closes Thursday with Joe Biden’s acceptance speech (barring any surprises), I think it fair and reasonable that I will be able to include comments about significant speeches or events throughout this week the ‘morning after’ they happen and then sum it all up before this blog’s Friday evening release. Since Ms. Harris is now confirmed as Joe’s VP candidate pick, I see no reason to go over her background or qualifications for the position now. As the old saying goes, “The proof’s in the pudding!” Joe and Kamala have about 12 weeks to make a great one. Then, if their ‘pudding’ wins the blue ribbon award on Nov 4th, the real ‘cleaning up the kitchen’ work begins. I wish them Godspeed and good luck! I’m afraid that the future of our fragile democracy rests on their shoulders.
I was very impressed by the speeches of Michelle Obama and Bernie Sanders. Trump must have hated to have listened to every word Michelle said because he immediately focused his ‘tweet venom’ on her via harsh criticism of the Obama presidency. She really ‘nailed’ his incompetency as a President and his total lack of empathy for the people he is supposed to serve. Bernie gave, I thought, one of the most eloquent endorsements of Joe Biden I have ever heard while bashing Donald Trump. I wish I had created the line, “Nero fiddled while Rome burned. Trump plays golf”. Kasich was as sincere as he always is and Amy Klobuchar missed a prime-time opportunity to excel. I just barely managed to stay awake for the entire two hours but didn’t have the energy to listen to any of the post-convention broadcast critiques.
Tuesday evening was of series of eloquent bits and pieces which, I think, can fairly summed up as comparing Biden’s vs Trump’s character as good vs evil, their abilities as competent vs incompetent and their goals in governance as ‘for the people’ vs ‘for himself’. I really enjoyed seeing and hearing the voting roll-call tele-cast from the real location of each voter. How the producer enabled that to happen deserves an award of some sort. Dr. Jill Biden also deserves an award for giving the most eloquent, intelligent, kind and loving endorsement of a husband I’ve ever heard. She will be a great ‘First Lady’ and I’d love to see her in the White House.
Kamala’s Wednesday night was a continuation of endorsements of the Biden-Harris team offered by the broadest coalition of the most diverse elements of a political party I’ve ever seen. I am absolutely certain that that ‘programming’ is the result of the Democratic National Committee’s belief that endorsing ‘diversity’ was the best, if not the only, way to ‘up the odds’ of defeating Donald Trump and regaining control of the Senate. If ‘character’ really matters in this political contest, the DNC is doing a great job of providing the evidence of the ‘good’ of Joe Bided and Kamala Harris vs the ‘evil’ of Donald Trump and his enablers –including Mike Pence. Kamala’s presentation of her personal history and family life filled out the picture –a strong woman with real family values. Given Bill Clinton’s relationship with Harvey Epstein and Hillary having a bad hair night, I just wish that neither of them had to muddy the water of a special Kamala evening.
Thursday night was Joe Biden’s chance to shine—and that he did—with the best, most coherent, speech I’ve ever heard him give. At first, when the young man who had the stuttering problem began to explain his special relationship with Joe, I thought to myself that this might be pushing the ‘pandering button’ as bit too hard. But, the teenager did such a fine job I found myself forgiving the producers and remembering the fine movie The King’s Speech which, for me, added better understanding and real appreciation of Joe’s ability to overcome a significant handicap. If you readers remember, I suggested (in a previous blog) that Tammy Duckworth be given serious consideration for the V.P. position. Talk about overcoming handicaps, that fine lady is at the top of my list and her endorsement of Joe was very well spoken. I had only one big problem with the ‘programming’ of the event and that was probably due to the fact that I don’t watch much television. I didn’t (and still don’t) know who the lady interlocutor ‘was’ and I didn’t think that she, or her jokes, were either appropriate or funny. The issue of picking leaders of our government doesn’t warrant the theatric element of ‘comic relief’. I really liked the fireworks at the close of the program.
Between watching the PBS news and then the virtual Convention broadcast that followed every evening, I’ve had no time for an evening ride with Hubris yet this week. Tonight, I get to hear the summary analyses of Mark Shields and David Brooks, my favorite political pundits. Maybe thereafter, if I’m not too tired, and no monsoon thunder and lightning are threatening, I’ll saddle up and with a hearty shout of Hi Ho Hubris, Aawaay! we’ll put the political ‘stuff’ aside for an hour or two? —-Or, maybe I’ll just have another ‘Loutini’* and call it a night? “We’ll see!”, said the blind man.
Lou
Copyright, August 21, 2020, Louis J. Christen
*’Loutini’: for those of you who do not know, that is the name given to my personal favorite drink. Fill a large Cocktail glass full of crushed ice, pour it half full of ‘Stoly’s vodka, fill the remainder of space with Bombay Sapphire gin, add one cocktail onion and one olive. Do not stir! Enjoy! ljc