Where We Are Now

I had a lovely surprise this morning when I noticed that this orchid from Trader Joe’s had rebloomed. It’s not uncommon for them to rebloom if you give them a little care, particularly the phalaenopsis, but this was the first of this kind to cooperate with me.

I could claim that it’s my acumen and care that caused the rebloom, but the orchid and its care before I bought it have a lot to do with that too.

I’m glad that the transfer from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris went off so smoothly. It certainly didn’t seem it would as recently as a week ago. The public approach of the “dump Biden” faction gave no indication. One of the wishcasts was that Biden would gracefully remove himself as a candidate and then everyone would spontaneously support Harris, but significant sub-factions wanted to dump Harris or have an unscripted circus that would have continued the bleeding. A member of one of those poured out his butthurt publicly.

Given that lack of strategy, I conclude that Biden orchestrated the handover. Do you think that all that support just gravitated to Harris naturally? That it was spontaneous good will that gave Harris all those convention votes? You sweet summer child. No serious politico, and I would like to think that includes Nancy Pelosi, would make a move that big without full planning. That would include the rapid endorsements from sitting members of Congress, unions, Black organizations, and others who are important in the Democratic Party. It would include promises from state Democratic Parties of support at the convention.

I learned my strategy back when Biden was a power in the Senate. Far more of Congress seems much less strategic now, although perhaps I wasn’t paying as much attention back then. Bernie gets it. AOC gets it. But there was far too much flapping around. If I wanted to go through the depressing events again, I could make a list of those who don’t get it, although most of them at least were smart enough to get into line when the changeover occurred. Probably because someone told them to, with a hint of threat.

If you believe that the events of the last week were spontaneous expressions of good will, then you probably see an easy path to the win in November. As a strategist, I see a great many bumps in the road, some from our allies. We can celebrate, perhaps even until the convention, but we will also have to work. I am concerned about the latent sexism and racism of the American electorate.

I’m pleased with Harris as our candidate. She looks good in her appearances, and, perhaps most important, she is happy! We need some happiness now, and I think it will be effective against the dour Donald Trump. I backed her in the 2020 primary, although I was not unhappy when Biden got the nomination. And I have my small suspicion that I shared a house with her when she was tiny that gives this a personal edge.

A narrative is developing that paints Biden’s dropping his candidacy solely as an act of patriotism and handing the torch to a new generation. We’ve seen parts of it over the past few days, and it probably will be in its finished form by the end of the convention. We live by narratives, and this one will be particularly important for defeating Trump. So I’m not going to pick at it, although, like all historical narratives, it will skip and modify some parts of what happened.

All that said, I am very curious about Pelosi’s part in this. She has been very quiet, which could mean a number of things. Barack Obama’s silence is mystifying. But here we are, and we can only support Harris with everything we’ve got and ride out what is to come.