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I offer Joe Biden’s handlers a brilliant three-part strategy that will take the former Vice President directly to the Presidency this November. It’s as simple as it is effective.
Part 1. Keep Joe Biden almost totally secluded. Let him say nothing.
Even in past years, when the man still had his version of a fastball, Joe Biden was known for his ability to place his foot squarely in his mouth, to bumble and fumble, and to say things that opponents feasted upon and lost him votes. While age sometimes brings wisdom, Joe has found that it also brings an increasing ability to wander off track and to say the wrong thing at the wrong time to the wrong audience.
My guess is that young voters and former members of the Bernie-for-President movement have come to like Joe a whole lot more over the last several weeks, for the sole reason that he hasn’t said a thing to remind younger voters how much he is firmly rooted in the past, and left-leaning voters how much he is rooted to the middle. When it comes to convincing us that he’s the man for the job with his words, Joe’s campaign strategists have learned that less is more.
Part 2. Let his Trumpness blather on.
In much the way that Joe moves one step closer to the White House every time he keeps his mouth shut, Poor Old Donald moves one step further every time he opens his. “I’m taking hydroxychloroquine,” says the sad dolt. “If certain types of light can kill the virus, why can’t we just shine it down the throats of infected people,” says the man who is neither stable nor genius.
Every day the Donald believes that he is demonstrating his brilliance by holding a press conference and answering tough questions—he calls them mean questions—from reporters. Can it be possible that nobody has the ability, or more likely the nerve, to tell the man that daily he plays the fool. He’s like the kid who is walking around with his fly open, and nobody dares to tell him that he’s got a problem. Yes, it constantly amazes me that about a third of the people in these great United States believe all of the absolute nonsense that he spews daily. But I have made my peace with the fact that there is madness out there, that luckily I don’t live where the madness prevails, and that a Presidential election cannot be won with 33% of the vote.
I believe that with each lie, each insult, each instance of bullying or stupidity, he loses one vote from people who are undecided or moderate. For a normal candidate, subtraction by one for each blunder would not be a problem. But Donald Trump has that miraculous ability to say and tweet foolishness in such amazing volume that he can actually lose the election by doing nothing more than opening up his mouth. (It’s the Biden principle in reverse.)
Part 3. Unleash Barack Obama
For the longest time Barack Obama sat on the sidelines, and it made perfect sense. First, the former President didn’t want to back the wrong horse. Second, if Biden won, he didn’t want it said that Joe had won the nomination simply because he had ridden Obama’s coat tails. Third, he respected the idea that a former President should attempt to blend into the woodwork after his time in office. He tried hard not to be partisan, not to take sides publicly, not to criticize the person who had replaced him, if nothing else, out of respect for the Office.
But the man who had been so gracious when it came to turning over power to a person whom he recognized as a far lesser man, has had enough. Trump seemingly cannot help but claim greatness for himself by demeaning the accomplishments and the ability of his predecessor. Obama has not only had it on a personal level, but he realizes that it is he, not his former Vice President, who can excite people and turn the tide against the Orange Man in the Red Hat. He recognizes that he, not Joe, has the ability to energize voters on a massive scale and bring them to the polls. If Obama says, “I’ve had enough, and I’m not going to take it anymore,” this can become a very winnable referendum on Trump vs Obama. Joe Biden, as an interested bystander, would lead a wave of blue to a Democratic win in November.
My three-part strategy cannot fail as long as each of the protagonists plays his part to the hilt:
Joe: Wave and smile, but show us that silence is golden.
Donald: Blather on, act the tyrant, play the fool. You’re a natural at it.
Barack: Speak your mind. Remind is of what an intelligent, articulate leader sounds like.
My can’t-lose strategy has three parts for three people. It’s as simple as:
Shush.
Rant.
Inspire.
