In an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal Joseph Epstein does a pretty fair job of airing some of my feelings about the present presidential election campaign:
I can’t vote for Kamala Harris. I find many of Donald Trump’s policies—his stand on closing the borders, his economic programs, his unflinching support for Israel—appealing but for one thing: the man who holds them. A friend of mine, also an independent voter, recently told me that on Election Day he thought he would probably hold his nose and vote for Mr. Trump. For others, even with noses held, the smell remains too strong to do likewise.
What, precisely, is wrong with Donald Trump? To start with the obvious, his vanity: his preposterously bleached and elaborately coiffed hairdo, his sprayed-on tan, the lengthy neckties to cover his avoirdupois. Add to this his propensity for insulting his political enemies. (He calls Gavin Newsom, governor of California, “Gavin Newscum.”) Then there’s his hyperbole, everywhere adding to his opponents’ misdeeds, building up his own achievements.
Still, why can’t I live with all this and vote for the man based on the general soundness of his policies? What I can’t live with, what I can’t vote for, is Mr. Trump’s relentless immodesty.
The balance of the piece is devoted to Mr. Epstein’s rejection of Mr. Trump’s “immodesty” which I think I would characterize as self-centeredness.
I’ve already expressed my disapproval of Donald Trump many times. Trump is Trump and beyond that he does not have the inclination or qualities of mind necessary to accomplish what he claims he will accomplish or adapt to changing circumstances. You can’t learn anything if you already know everything.
However, to my eye Kamala Harris is no better. I believe that Joe Biden is objectively the worst president of the post-war period (inflation, border control, sparse accomplishments of his key legislative victories, feckless foreign policy, etc.) and the Harris campaign is trying to straddle running on President Biden’s record with Vice President Harris’s airy goals while denying her commitment to the positions she staked out in her ill-fated presidential campaign in 2020. That she is a poor manager is a matter of record.
Can anyone make an affirmative argument to vote for Kamala Harris. Not a negative argument, e.g. that she’s not Trump or that she disagrees with the putative Republican view on abortion. An affirmative argument based on what she’s accomplished.
I’m skeptical that such an argument can be made but I’m open to persuasion. I think she’s running on identity and her theoretical good intentions.
BTW scolding is not persuasive.
Yet someone has to win.
Harris isn’t even running that far from Biden’s record. Twice she’s been asked point blank if she would have done anything differently from Biden and she answered with a variation of nothing.
I suspect its due to your observation, Biden position’s himself in the middle of the Democratic party, and I observe Kamala positions herself in the center of the California Democratic party — which increasingly is the core of the Democratic party.
One reason to vote for Kamala is her age vis a vis Trump. Trump looks in much better health then Biden was 4 years ago; but the actuary tables are actuary tables.
On the other hand, I believe given the situation in Europe, Middle East, and East Asia, I think a foreign policy change is desperately needed, and for sure that won’t come from Harris.
Well, with Harris you can celebrate the history making event, ( I fully expect Pete Buttigieg to be the Blue candidate in four or eight years), everyone in Washington will keep their appointments, stay out of jail, U.S. foreign policy will continue to lumber towards a mostly profitable war.
Climate change will continue to excuse the millstone of government power around our necks, so we will present less of a threat to other nations such as China and maybe they will keep letting us buy our medications from them.
Her presidency will have the appearance of a continuation of normalcy, but that could turn out not to be the best outcome.
I haven’t actually voted FOR a presidential candidate since I voted for Reagan. I vote against the worse option. This year Trump is worse.
Steve