New Orleans There are some parts of the current US presidential campaign that if it weren’t such a serious situation would be hilarious. For example, it’s hard not to get nostalgic for the good old days of elections when a candidate could be called a “flip-flopper,” and that might actually hurt their campaign.
Take the beleaguered Republican effort to try and limit their damage with American women while keeping evangelicals in check on where they stand on abortion. These days watching former President Trump stumble forward with his finger in the wind on this issue of choice, it’s a wonder he doesn’t trip over himself. One day, he’s voting for a pro-abortion position on the Florida ballot, and, literally, the next day, he’s voting against it. Some of the anti-crowd is no better. One prominent evangelical was quoted rationalizing about Trump’s back-and-forth, in essence that he was OK with Trump equivocating on abortion, if that’s what he had to do in order to get elected, as long as he got right later.
Now, as a voter, you have to ask yourself, where in blue blazes does the man stand? It brings to mind the great country-and-western song, where a daddy is telling his son, “if you don’t stand for something, you don’t stand for nuthin’ at all.” None of this can be comforting to voters, right or left or in the middle. Reportedly former President Clinton had one great line in his remarks at the Democratic Convention, when in referring to Trump, he said, “Don’t count the lies, count the “I’s.”
There can’t be any doubt where Vice-President Harris stands on abortion, but following the way the media is whining over her lack of press conferences, you would think that they were clueless on her positions and platform. It’s such an exercise in privilege. Rather than parsing her speeches, her statements, and her position papers, it is as if none of that matters, if they don’t get a special serving on a silver platter. This is not a candidate, as Trump was in 2016, who had never been elected to public office, but someone who has served in one elected position after another for twenty years. She is also clear about how her positions have changed over the years on certain issues. Voters may not agree with Harris, but it is absurd for the media to fabricate an issue that they don’t know who she is, what her positions are, or that she needs to “define” herself, whatever that might mean.
Meanwhile, on the rest of the tickets, Senator Vance’s popularity continues to fall like a rock, and Governor Walz’s popularity seems to rise like a balloon. Digging into Vance’s positions has become a scary trip into extremism on one thing or another, and when it comes to women, he seems to believe they should be either breeders or Stepford wives. Has there ever been a national ticket in the last hundred years in America that is more misogynist than the current Republican standard-bearers? Digging into Walz’s background is almost boring. He was in the military, and left to run for office, how bad can that be? He was a high school coach. You may have bad memories of your own high school athletic personnel, but that’s hardly a reason to vote one way or another.
Any way you shake it, these two candidates are night and day. For all the this-and-that, it’s not hard to figure out where the candidates stand. Eventually, the campaigns might even focus on the big issues for the country’s future. Maybe that will happen after the debates? The clock is ticking to the countdown, and early voting ballots will be out soon. People get ready. It’s important.