REPORTERS AND COMMENTATORS NEED TO SLOW DOWN ON THE ELECTION HYPE
Some years back there was a song with the verse "slow down you move too fast you've got to make the morning last." That should now be replayed as "slow down you move too fast we need to make the primary elections last." I am not a fan of the election cycles. They are far too long and wasteful. As soon as one election is over the next one seems to begin. I recall that on the morning after Barack Obama was elected president Mitch McConnell, the republican leader in the Senate, promptly announced that his job for the next four years was to make sure Obama did not get reelected! It seemed to me that this epitomized the unfortunate mentality of many of our politicians who are busy being caught up in their election cycles and party business and do not seem to be worried about doing much for the country.
In the current cycle of primaries for the 2024 presidential election our political reporters and commentators seem to be in a rush to push to the end result of the primaries. Since this entire process is a great waste of time and money I understand the desire to get to the end. However, the nominating conventions are 5 months off and in terms of reflecting on the current election season I see no reason to rush the results. It seems to me it will be better if we let the primary season evolve in order to sort out the candidates and issues now facing us.
The two leading candidates are not popular with the electorate. They both seem to be stumbling through as they try to create momentum and a case for themselves to be elected. Donnie Trump suffers from an incurable case of overstated self-esteem such that in his view there is nothing to discuss in the election except how everyone that supports him is wonderful, his campaign is wonderful and when he gets in office he will do wonderful things. Joe Biden keeps bouncing back and forth as he can't seem to get his policies straight. He acts like a bobble head doll, whether it be on the war in Gaza, the problems at the border or how to make people believe he's done well on the economic front. He's raised a lot of money but has not created a lot of support.
If "No Labels" emerges as a party or another candidate in each of the respective established parties appears to be electable, they would probably move to the front of the news coverage to the chagrin of the Biden and Trump camps. The problem is for any such person or movement to get some momentum while all of the reporters are locked into our traditional primary structure and analysis of who's out front. Biden has no opposition in his own party. However, some people are now encouraging people to vote "no candidate" in democratic primaries to mark their disappointment with Biden known. Biden's campaign response is that he is caught in a difficult situation with multiple choices. Yet, we expect our president to be able to make those decisions.
On the republican side Nikki Haley keeps going and attracting some support and more money than is expected. I am not a Nikki Haley supporter but what is discomforting is that the reporters keep analyzing her situation with comments such as "how does she justify going further" after the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries. It's not difficult at all to see why she decides to go further. She wants to be president and she has made a significant encroachment into Trump's support. As she notes he is a " disrupter not a uniter." Many people, including a lot of republicans, do not like Trump and do not want him to be president. They are looking for another viable choice and they are not enticed by the democratic choice. These conundrums should be allowed to play themselves out and not be drummed out by reporters and commentators casting dispersions upon Nikki Haley, and others who may appear, because they will be fighting an uphill battle.
In New Hampshire Trump won 54% of the vote, Haley 43%. 46% of republicans did not vote for Trump. In South Carolina Trump won 50% of the vote and Haley 40%. 50% of voters in that republican primary did not vote for Trump. His campaign attracts certain people and repels others in his own party. Even allowing for crossover voters who are not republicans that voted in those two primaries it clearly shows that of people that could vote republican approximately 1/2 of them did not support Donnie. As Trump's so-called base is only approximately 30% of the American electorate that would mean that he is not attracting a large slice of the electorate. As much as those numbers can be shuffled and accepted or disparaged, they show a large percentage of people looking for a better choice. There are no primary results which show the support for Biden but there is a constant reporting of the lack of enthusiasm for Biden. This would suggest that he is also in danger of falling short of a majority in an election.
In 2016 we had a prior presidential election where both candidates were unpopular. Hillary Clinton got the majority of the votes but lost in the Electoral College. Statistics from a number of states show the votes for Hillary Clinton were considerably lower than the number that Barack Obama had received. She was not a popular choice even though the democratic party put her in the forefront and tried to move her right through to the election throughout the entire electoral season. It did not work. Trump was not popular but with two undesirable candidates the number of people who voted for third parties, wrote in names, or did not vote for a presidential choice at all soared. They made up the difference in the pivotal states Clinton lost. We are facing the potential for a similar result this year. It seems to me it would be a good idea to encourage Nikki Haley and others to continue to test the electorate to try to find more desirable candidates this year and not just declare that the primary season is over, the two front runners are the inevitable winners and it's time to let them start beating on each other for the next eight months.
Silence Dogood