April 4, 2019--Those Who Live In Glass Towers
In my blog I used to give weekly chutzpah awards. To people who said and did the most shameless things.
I am moved to shake off the mothballs and reprise the award.
If I were to do so, I would then have to retire it as Trump would wipe out the competition.
His most recent award would be for his most audacious display of chutzpah ever.
It would be for mocking Joe Biden for getting into trouble for inappropriately touching women, for violating their personal spaces.
Biden, as a result of what Trump and his accusers have said, is hanging by a political thread and it may doom his candidacy.
Thus far four women have stepped forward to accuse him of making them feel creepy, and, if a few more emerge (as I suspect they likely will), it could very well do him in. In the MeToo era "just" acting inappropriately, especially at a time when the Democratic nominee must appeal to women, particularly suburban women, this could prove to be too big an obstacle for Biden to overcome.
He has liabilities in addition to his advanced age. More than any others is the way he mishandled and disrespected Anita Hill during the Clarance Thomas hearing, which he chaired.
So he has potent political troubles. And understandably his opponents are eager to exploit them. Including nearly all his Democratic opponents. He after all is the front runner in most polls and to bring him down even before he formally enters the race is nothing but an unexpected opportunity for them.
But for Trump to lead the piling on is just too much. This is the person who during his own campaign three years ago bragged on Access Hollywood about how thrilled he was that he was so famous that women let him kiss them and grab them by their genitals.
I have confessed here that all I care about when thinking about who to support for the Democratic nomination is to figure out who has the best chance to defeat Trump. Policy ideas and leadership experience aside, I have argued that it is so essential to the preservation of our democracy to rid ourselves of Trump before he can do permanent damage to our system that figuring who can win makes every other concern insignificant.
Until this week I have been thinking by this calculus that a Biden-Harris ticket would have the best chance of winning.
Now I am not so sure.
If Biden actually wants to run, and even before this I suspected that he might conclude that running for the nomination and general election is too much for someone almost 80, he needs right now to fight for his political life. Including not coyly waiting another month or so before getting in the race.
Assuming there is no smoking gun accusation waiting to be revealed--that Biden sexually assaulted someone, not just touched some women inappropriately--he needs right now to speak about this publicly. To show some moxie in the process as well as contrition. He needs to take Trump on directly in extemporaneous words as opposed to something crafted for him by a spin meister.
Full-throatedly, he needs to say--
"Really? You of all people have the audacity to attack me for my behavior while you, when married to your current wife, had affairs with porn stars to whom you subsequently paid hush money? You who was heard on tape talking about grabbing women's genitals? You have some nerve. You are a disgrace and should seek forgiveness rather than mocking me."
Etcetera, though I'd keep it to less than five minutes.
Nothing of this sort is without calculation. Doing it this way would show Biden to not be finessing the situation or trying to deal with this very real problem via surrogates (he is getting dozens of women who know him to speak for him--like Clinton did after he was exposed by Monica Lewinsky) or a carefully-measured response, much less trying to ride out the storm by holding his fire. Politically, we have to know he has a fire in his belly and is capable of taking Trump on directly.
Dealing with Trump one-on-one will be more than a dogfight and Biden needs to find ways to get under his skin. As the pundits say, he needs to control the narrative.
Instead, as I was writing this, Biden released a video in which he said he is who he is. Physically affectionate, but that times have changed and now he "gets it."
Fine, but now he has to do what I suggested.
I am moved to shake off the mothballs and reprise the award.
If I were to do so, I would then have to retire it as Trump would wipe out the competition.
His most recent award would be for his most audacious display of chutzpah ever.
It would be for mocking Joe Biden for getting into trouble for inappropriately touching women, for violating their personal spaces.
Biden, as a result of what Trump and his accusers have said, is hanging by a political thread and it may doom his candidacy.
Thus far four women have stepped forward to accuse him of making them feel creepy, and, if a few more emerge (as I suspect they likely will), it could very well do him in. In the MeToo era "just" acting inappropriately, especially at a time when the Democratic nominee must appeal to women, particularly suburban women, this could prove to be too big an obstacle for Biden to overcome.
He has liabilities in addition to his advanced age. More than any others is the way he mishandled and disrespected Anita Hill during the Clarance Thomas hearing, which he chaired.
So he has potent political troubles. And understandably his opponents are eager to exploit them. Including nearly all his Democratic opponents. He after all is the front runner in most polls and to bring him down even before he formally enters the race is nothing but an unexpected opportunity for them.
But for Trump to lead the piling on is just too much. This is the person who during his own campaign three years ago bragged on Access Hollywood about how thrilled he was that he was so famous that women let him kiss them and grab them by their genitals.
I have confessed here that all I care about when thinking about who to support for the Democratic nomination is to figure out who has the best chance to defeat Trump. Policy ideas and leadership experience aside, I have argued that it is so essential to the preservation of our democracy to rid ourselves of Trump before he can do permanent damage to our system that figuring who can win makes every other concern insignificant.
Until this week I have been thinking by this calculus that a Biden-Harris ticket would have the best chance of winning.
Now I am not so sure.
If Biden actually wants to run, and even before this I suspected that he might conclude that running for the nomination and general election is too much for someone almost 80, he needs right now to fight for his political life. Including not coyly waiting another month or so before getting in the race.
Assuming there is no smoking gun accusation waiting to be revealed--that Biden sexually assaulted someone, not just touched some women inappropriately--he needs right now to speak about this publicly. To show some moxie in the process as well as contrition. He needs to take Trump on directly in extemporaneous words as opposed to something crafted for him by a spin meister.
Full-throatedly, he needs to say--
"Really? You of all people have the audacity to attack me for my behavior while you, when married to your current wife, had affairs with porn stars to whom you subsequently paid hush money? You who was heard on tape talking about grabbing women's genitals? You have some nerve. You are a disgrace and should seek forgiveness rather than mocking me."
Etcetera, though I'd keep it to less than five minutes.
Nothing of this sort is without calculation. Doing it this way would show Biden to not be finessing the situation or trying to deal with this very real problem via surrogates (he is getting dozens of women who know him to speak for him--like Clinton did after he was exposed by Monica Lewinsky) or a carefully-measured response, much less trying to ride out the storm by holding his fire. Politically, we have to know he has a fire in his belly and is capable of taking Trump on directly.
Dealing with Trump one-on-one will be more than a dogfight and Biden needs to find ways to get under his skin. As the pundits say, he needs to control the narrative.
Instead, as I was writing this, Biden released a video in which he said he is who he is. Physically affectionate, but that times have changed and now he "gets it."
Fine, but now he has to do what I suggested.
Labels: 2020 Democratic Candidates, Gender Relations, Joe Biden, MeToo, Monica Lewinsky
posted by Steven Zwerling at
6:26 AM
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