|
Sen. Corey Booker was on point and showed he has the
mustard to do the dance with Herr Trump, but I think he
needs a little more seasoning before he is ready for prime
time, to wit: sitting in the Oval Office.
In the second debate, it was a scrum until Sen. Kamala
Harris cooled everyone’s overactive zeal with a caveat that
they were in danger of putting on a food fight instead of
being attentive to the issues and the job of getting rid of
Herr Trump.
Once everyone settled down, Harris showed the spit and
shine that will do her well in the July debates.
Sen. Bernie Sanders looked the usual, like an
overworked civil servant or harried English professor at a
small elite college in the Northeast. He repeated his
favorite lines from decades of practicing them and, at
times, looked like he knew that this was his last roundup.
Mayor Pete Buttigieg came across as serene, grounded
and in control of his narrative but he too, in my opinion is
about eight to 10 years out before he can come into his own
with the “baggage” of being married to a man.
Let’s be frank, his hugging and kissing a man and that
other man becoming a possible First Lady, in drag (?) would
not play well in the southern states. There, the acceptable
rule is that men marry women and not men marrying men. Just
saying!
Now…let’s get to the former matinee idol from Delaware,
former Vice President Joe Biden.
Biden’s stage performance was old (as he is) and tired (as
he appeared to be at times) and what he said did not have me
leaping up and running a lap or two in my living room.
Naw…Biden was flat and his defensive retorts to the
justifiable attacks of Kamala Harris about his questionable
voting history on civil rights and segregation and busing
was not convincing. Understandable but not of the caliber
that everyone could cover for him as he being a political
product of that combustible era.
For all the reasons that Biden professed as his
rationale to enter the political mud wrestling contest of
vying for the White House, they were not convincing or
causing me to reach for my checkbook for his support.
Time has passed Biden by and his remarks reflected a
thinking process that left much to be desired as he being
“sharp” or a formidable foe to take on Herr Trump.
I have been thinking that if I served as someone’s wing
man and vice president for eight years that my boss (Barak
Obama) would be the first out of the gate to glad hand me
and shower me with kudos and would make a Wowza! commercial
in which Biden was endorsed with no reservations. That did
not happen and, to date, has not happened.
Former President Obama is seemingly determined not to
tilt the table towards Biden’s campaign and one can only
think that Obama has some reservations about Biden’s
capacity and his “fire in the belly” to captain the ship of
state.
As most candidates do, they all have baggage that they
will have to relive while on the campaign trail or explain
it away during intensive media interviews. Biden, Harris,
Warren or Sanders will not get a free media pass to the
White House.
As the media are wont to do, they will be examined with
a sharp scalpel and if any candidate is found to be wanting,
those short comings will be glaringly exposed for all to see
and comment upon.
The end game is simple: Get rid of Herr Trump and his
corrupt minions and win the Senate so that Mitch McConnell
will lose his seat as majority leader. Without those two
victories, America faces another four dark years of having a
certifiable buffoon leading this country.
If I were asked to give my dream ticket and some of the
cabinet positions that I would fill from the 20 candidates,
this is where I now stand:
Warren and Booker for president and V.P., Kamala Harris for
Department of Justice, Yang, head of the Department of
Commerce, Hickenlooper, head of the Department of the
Interior, Gillibrand as Secretary of Labor, Tim Ryan for
HUD, Bullock for HHS and Gabbard as Secretary of Defense.
For Biden? Copious warm thank-yous for years of service
and an autographed copy of Dr. Martin Luther King’s book,
Why We Can’t Wait.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at tolliver@juno.com
|
