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Ted Cruz's Swing and Miss: "Democrat kingmakers jettison Joe Biden and parachute in Michelle Obama.” [1]

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Date: 2023-09-25

I can see where an intelligent, independent, popular, and honest woman like Michelle Obama would attract a certain amount of admirers. And indeed, she does. But every cycle we are treated to this constant refrain of “Michelle will swoop in.” And of course, “At the last second.”

Yesterday, I ran across an article where Ted Cruz opined, presumably not from Cancun, that Mrs. Obama will be drafted into the 2024 race to rescue the Democratic party. Let me stop right there.

First of all, the Democratic party does not need rescuing. We have only managed to, under President Biden’s leadership, create the best first term economy in American history, been able to put Covid vaccines in the arms of anyone who wants them, passed infrastructure legislation, and made cuts to the deficit.

Sound policy is netting results.

Secondly, we do not need to turn the race for the Presidency into a reality television show. This is not Next Food Network Star. One of the beautiful things about Mrs. Obama is that she would always want the best candidate to have the role. She is many wonderful things, however, with no elective experience it is hard to conclude she would be our best candidate, and to her credit, would be the first to point that out.

Third, and perhaps most importantly, is the fact that she has, in no uncertain terms, rejected the notion. She has not been coy, like Tom Brady is about his never quite certain exit from the NFL. She has been at all times definitive. Nevertheless..

“So here’s the scenario that I think is perhaps the most likely and most dangerous. In August of 2024, the Democrat kingmakers jettison Joe Biden and parachute in Michelle Obama,” he said. “I view this as a very serious danger.” Cruz said choosing the former first lady as the Democratic nominee would be a decision the party could rally behind. Choosing a Black woman is a choice that would not disrupt the party or “infuriate African American women, which is a critical part of the constituency.” “Michelle Obama, because she was first lady, has the ability to kind of parachute in above all four and say, ‘Hey we’re not picking among any of you. You guys can all fight it out next time,’” Cruz said. “I think in terms of a solution that unifies Democrats. There ain’t nothing like that.”

Here Cruz reduces the party, along with black voters, by casting them into a role of a mindless monolith that can be directed at will of “kingmakers.” We don’t know who these “kingmakers” are. Are they superdelegates? The right wing boogeyman known as George Soros?

David Geffen? Who are these people that would be able to get a woman, who has repeatedly disclaimed interest in elective politics, to run for the highest of them all? This theory is reductive and it is misogynist. Mrs. Obama has agency and is clearly, not unwilling to exercise it. She is not some puppet on a string marked, “In case of emergency.” That isn’t how it works, Senator Cruz, and for that matter, Joe Rogan.

Mrs. Obama has consistently said that she will never run. She has never left the door open. She has never been noncommittal. She does not want to be President. She does not want to be drafted, and she does not want the job.

And the reasoning for her “support” is rife with backwards thinking.

Consider the drivel from an American newspaper, the Montgomery Independent-

3. While Michelle Obama was not President during the two terms her husband was, she lived in the White House with Barack Obama for eight years, and is thoroughly familiar with the duties, responsibilities, and challenges of the Presidency. 4. Michelle Obama would benefit greatly from the advice of a former President whom she knows better than anyone else, although, of course, she would not have to take his advice.

Those were 2 of the 10 reasons written for why Michelle would be a good President. Number four basically reads as “As long as Barack is around to pull the strings..” Ridiculous. Infuriating.

These beliefs and the idea that these imaginary “kingmakers” would knock on the door and persuade her to do something she does not want to do is actually pure misogyny. If a woman does not want to do something, she should not be pressured about it. She does not owe us anything. There is no duty here.

And this ignores that there exists in our party a multitude of qualified women, if the opportunity arose, who have either been willing to take a spot on the ticket or have run themselves. Senator Warren, and Governor Whitmer come to mind, along with, and stop me if you have heard this name, the sitting Vice President, Kamala Harris who you know, might have a passing interest.

But this is all designed to foment trouble. However, while I expect it from the right, the troubling pattern is for previously respected and presumably unbiased journalists to stir up controversy.

For months now, we have seen a concerted effort to cast President Biden as old, or unhealthy, when Trump himself looks half the time to be unaware of his surroundings. We have seen unrelenting negativity in the press, despite unprecedented successes, and it is no longer a function of what there is to report, but what they are being told to report. The American press is not a news oriented industry anymore, it is an entertainment industry. For some, controversy is entertaining.

But the constant upheaval and division they have created, deliberately and for their own goals, should be addressed by the FCC. Bad actors should be punished.

As for Mrs. Obama, I have no doubt that if she wanted to, she would be a fantastic elected official.

This is not the point. The point is she has made clear her wishes and her wishes continue to be marginalized.

This habit of fantasy politics we have created is dangerous to democracy. The idea that she can be convinced to do something she does not want to do is insulting, both to her and the voters. Mrs. Obama is not sitting around waiting for a knock on the door where mythical power brokers sit her down and rhetorically twist her arm. It isn’t happening. It isn’t going to happen. And if actually we do maintain the level of respect for her we claim to, we should not want it to.

We are going to have to face it.

We are “stuck” with the most successful President of my lifetime.

Biden's two-year record stacks up well against the very high bars set by FDR and LBJ, beginning with the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan to stimulate the economy, followed by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to provide for repairs and extensions to the nation's roads, bridges, railroads, water systems (the need for which is obvious, for instance, in Jackson, Mississippi, where I live) and broadband. In 2022, he secured passage of the PACT Act, expanding health care and benefits for those who were exposed to toxic substances during their military service, and the CHIPS and Science Act, funding advanced scientific research and investing $53 billion to manufacture silicone microchips in the U.S. The crown jewel in 2022 was the Inflation Reduction Act, which does more than any previous legislation to mitigate climate change, allows Medicare to negotiate with Big Pharma to cut prescription drug prices, begins to crack down on tax evasion by corporations and the very rich and much more. In December, the Respect for Marriage Act, protecting both same-sex and interracial marriage, was passed, as were a reform of the Electoral Count Act, making it more difficult to overturn an election, and reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

Suck it up. Organize. Do the hard work of messaging the fact that in the history of our country, there has never been a more productive first term. Really, selling success should not be that hard. But we can’t let misinformation go unchallenged, and we have to start holding the press legally accountable for broadcasting lies. It is really that simple.

As for Mrs. Obama? We should support her efforts to be whatever she chooses to be.

And, chooses not to be.

-ROC

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-ROC

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/9/25/2195301/-Ted-Cruz-s-Swing-and-Miss-Democrat-kingmakers-jettison-Joe-Biden-and-parachute-in-Michelle-Obama

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