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Election Day: The incumbent and the veep

 


Diane and I were talking recently about how the incumbent President, Joseph Biden, has seemed to do relatively little campaigning for his Vice President, Kamala Harris.  We both agree on that observation, but we had different interpretations. 

My initial thought was, "Maybe Joe is grumpy.  Yes, he has supported her and done everything he had to as a party guy, but he was dumped over and may be ticked off."

Diane thought this must be wrong.  The reason is more likely not that he is grumpy about campaigning but that she and her team have decided he is more a liability than an asset on the trail. 

Whatever.  

Looking at this from a broader PoV. Harris is in a familiar position in US presidential history. She cannot seem to be disloyal to the incumbent president whose mantle she has inherited -- nor can she present herself as a mere acolyte. She has to be both her own woman and a loyal party gal. 

It is easy to get this wrong. George H.W. Bush annoyed a number of Reagan admirers by suggesting that his own sort of conservatism was "kinder and gentler" that that of his predecessor. Al Gore tried to be Bill Clinton without the sexual baggage but ended up being Clinton without the charisma and presence. 

Hubert Humphrey -- ah, THERE is a close analogy.  Johnson was deeply unpopular (and in bad health, though the public didn't know it) and decided early on in 1968 that he would spend the balance of the year trying to preserve his administration through the agency of his vice president.

Once the party nomination was secured, though, some of Humphrey's advisors wanted him to resign as VP during the campaign that autumn in order to create politically helpful distance between himself and Johnson.  HHH declined any move so drastic though at the end of September he gave a speech advocating a bombing halt in Vietnam.  Johnson was furious. 

Harris wants to talk up the Biden legacy (mostly infrastructure and support for NATO) and to inherit the support of its friends, while establishing that she is different. Different not just in sex or complexion or even age. Maybe less wedded to Netanyahu -- the 2024 issue most redolent of 1968. 

She must thread the needle. Today's votes will give us an idea of how well or poorly she has done so.

This post, by the way, will be the last reference to the presidential election you will see on this blog this week.  I will see if dust settles a bit.   

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