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Two Terms, Two Returns
On March 4, 1889, the outgoing First Lady of the United States said “I want you to take good care of all the furniture and ornaments in the house, and not let any of them get lost or broken, for I want to find everything just as it is now, when we come back again…
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Boring Historical Data 2024
This is the second to last blog of my presidential election series. Thank you for reading any. If you made it this far, there may be something worth reading at the end. It’s almost election day and we (those nerds like me who follow the news TOO much) are exhausted. For some reason…
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From Joe’s Basement
March 2020 is a time most people will remember where they were and what they were doing when the nation, the world, shut down. COVID-19, a Coronavirus, hit our shores and you know the rest. You lived it. 2020 was a presidential election year. Donald Trump sought reelection, and a mass stable of Democrats…
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Microtargeting
In the early hours of November 7, 2012, Mitt Romney’s wife Ann cried inconsolably and asked his campaign staff, “How did this happen?” According to Mark Halperin and John Heilemann’s campaign chronicle Double Down, his vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan was equally confident. Romney had penned an acceptance speech but NOT a concession speech. That’s self-assurance.…
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John Kerry and Swift Boating
In 2004 two blue bloods faced off in the presidential election. Incumbent President George Walker Bush was challenged by John Forbes Kerry. Both hailed from aristocratic families of the northeast, although Bush’s father, the forty-first president, had migrated to Texas after serving as a naval combat pilot in World War II. Kerry was born in…
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Al’s Dilemma
In October of 2024, Vice President Kamala Harris is learning that it is very difficult to run for the presidency as a sitting vice president. Richard Nixon discovered this in 1960, as did Hubert Humphrey in 1968. In 1988 George Bush became the first Veep elected since Martin Van Buren in 1836. Al Gore was…
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BORE-ING
On Sundays in mid-February, people gather around their television sets, sometimes with family and friends, to watch the Super Bowl. An exclusively American spectacle, it’s a huge event with great absenteeism the next day. Musical stars perform at half-time. Often, the game is exceedingly exciting. People cheer, post things, and talk about the game the…
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Politics is a Blood Sport
After his heroic service as the youngest Naval combat pilot in the Second World War, George Herbert Walker Bush left the aristocracy of the Northeastern United States for Texas to make his mark on his own. His father, Prescott Bush had served as a United States senator from Connecticut. He tried his luck in the…
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Courage
In 1956 Massachusetts Senator John F. Kennedy published a Pulitzer Prize-winning book called Profiles in Courage. Speechwriter Ted Sorenson was with his aide, collaborator, ghostwriter, or all of the above. The book increased Kennedy’s name recognition ahead of his 1960 run for the presidency. In 1984, former Vice President Walter Mondale was the Democratic nominee…
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I’m Paying for This Microphone Mr. Green!
For decades, ‘Likeability:” has been a big factor in the electability of political candidates, particularly at the highest levels. In 2008, the usually articulate Barack Obama commented to one of his opponents “You’re likable enough Hillary” which may have cost him the New Hampshire primary. Ronald Reagan was certainly a likable, amiable man. After…
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