Like a Fine Wine, the VP's Debate Performance Gets Even Better with Age

It Was Great. And With Each Passing Day, It's Impact Grows.

Back in the olden days like when I was in high school during the War of 1812, it took information a lot longer to travel from one city or country to another. The Battle of New Orleans which if I recall correctly was fought around the time of my prom night took place a couple weeks after the end to that war was negotiated.

More recently, like when I was really in high school, most meaningful analysis of major national events came via print media. There were deadlines to be dealt and printing presses to be run through and distribution networks to be navigated and often a week would pass before a big influential magazine like Time Magazine might offer a commentary that would help us better understand what we saw or felt.

Heck, back then, television network news had a 30 minute slot around dinner time and then, barring a national calamity, nothing again until the next day. Producers and reporters and anchors actually had a few hours to consider a development, sleep on it, do some reporting and write something thoughtful before they commented on it.

Now, commentary comes in real time via a digital firehose on which virtually everybody on the planet has the ability to offer their hot takes. The faster and shorter the take, the easier it is to be meme-ified, the more viral it can become. If there’s good video to go with the hot take, all the better. A good meme can dominate a full news cycle easily, possibly several. Of course, today a news cycle is roughly equivalent to the half-life of the element Francium which is about 22 minutes. (Francium is the element with the shortest half-life.) For non-scientists out there, 720 Francium half life equivalent news cycles equal one full Scaramucci.

As a result, we live in a period of maximum reaction and minimum reflection despite the fact that we, as humans, ought to know that is a formula for disaster. It ends up with the entire society acting like a 17 year old boy. Not a good thing.

I however am not, as you may have gathered, a 17 year old boy. Per the above, that would’ve had to have happened during the James Madison administration. So I do periodically like to cast my glance backwards and reflect on things that are long ago in the context of the modern whirr of events. For example, today I have been thinking about what happened during the debate on Tuesday. Remember that? Those were the good old days before the news cycle became dominated with stories of eating cats and dogs. (See earlier meme reference.)

Here are a few thoughts I have had in the couple of days since the debate:

• James Madison is a good place to start. There is a controversy brewing surrounding him. It’s about his place in history although it has nothing to do with the fact that is the primary author of the U.S. Constitution and our fourth president. Rather it has to do with the fact that until next January, he will have been undisputed holder of the title of America’s Shortest President. But once Kamala Harris is sworn in as our 47th president, in part as a result of her stellar performance on debate night, I predict controversy will erupt. Madison was reportedly five feet, four inches tall. Harris is listed as being five feet, four and half inches tall. This may lead Madison-o-philes to argue that he was slightly taller in hopes that they can shed this distinction which no doubt bothered Madison ever since the days he had to hang out with his six foot two inch tall friend, Thomas Jefferson. Personally, I think the discussion is petty but given Harris’ performance and Madison’s contributions to the Republic, perhaps one conclusion we might draw is that we may need more shorter presidents.

• What was very clear from the debate is that right now we need a president like Kamala Harris. Of the two choices we have, she’s the one who is brilliant, eloquent, qualified, strong and of excellent character. The other option is a putrescent boil on the ass of humanity. It doesn’t seem like much of a choice to me. But we’re told the race is close even though today, two days after the contest, polls seem to suggest it may not be as close as it was with two of the most reliable measures of voter opinions, one from Morning Consult and one from Ipsos, both showing her with a five point national lead over Trump. Personally, I have a sneaking suspicion that Harris will win and win by more than is expected.

• What is also unexpected however, is what the debate showed. This was expected to be a referendum about Donald Trump. As for much of the past nine years in U.S. politics, it was expected, he would be setting the tone and establishing the narrative for the race. Harris, through her actions throughout this campaign and especially on debate night, demonstrated that she is over that and we should be too. She is setting the terms of this race. She is setting the tone and the agenda. Trump is a tired has-been whose act has grown as tedious as it is dangerous. It is not that he is no longer a factor. But she is the one setting the terms much as she did during the debate from those first moments when she approached Trump to shake his hand and she had the big baby scurrying into a corner trying to avoid having to look her in the eye. Which, as it happens, he did not do again for the remainder of the debate. So, per her, now it is a referendum on the relative fitness for office of two candidates one of whom is supremely well-suited to lead America in this moment and one who is the corrupt, failed leader of a hate-fueled national movement that is marching straight toward the scrapheap of history.

• It pisses me off that a common line of commentary since the debate was that the the Vice President won by "baiting" or "goading" Trump and because he fell for that. She didn't win because he lost control. She won because she was brilliant, prepared, effective and eloquent, because she was in command of the facts, because she was clearly more presidential, because she was unquestionably better prepared to lead this country. Sure, she pushed Trump's buttons. But that would have meant nothing if she had not delivered the goods. Her win was not about the shortcomings of the man on that stage, it was because of the strengths of the woman who won it decisively.

• Doubt it? Then consider Trump’s decision, announced via Truth Social, less than 48 hours after the debate, not to debate her again. He is behind in the polls. He says that he won the debate. He argues he is a master debater. He asserts she is not his intellectual equal. By that logic, he should be eager to debate her again but he knows that she whupped his ass and that even if he managed to be on his best behavior as he was during the Biden debate, she would do so again. He’s not afraid of his weaknesses or her triggering his bad behavior. He’s afraid of her substance and the fact that he’s got nothing to offer voters as counterpoint except weak insults and failed slogans that today sag like one of his many chins.

• Having said all this, one other idea that I am left with after this debate concerns one of its intended central topics: the Economy. Please dear readers, I beg of you, when someone says "people are worried about the economy" probe further. What people? What are they worried about? Push back. Our economy is leading the world's biggest countries in growth, we're setting job creation records, stock market records & prices are way down. We've invested unprecedented amounts in next generation technologies and infrastructure, the job and wealth creation engines of tomorrow. Are there issues that impact certain people, to be sure. But first, make the case that Bidenomics has not only worked, it has been a huge success. And then take the time to point out what a disaster for the economy--for jobs, for the deficit and debt, for inequality--Trump was. He is a walking economic disaster area with bankruptcy after bankruptcy (six of them) preceding his miserable stint as president. The arguments for the Biden-Harris economy are strong, the arguments against Trump are compelling and only Harris has a real plan for the future that will benefit the vast majority of Americans. That's the real economic story.

• You can only imagine how Putin and Netanyahu both of whom are counting on a Trump win to save them from the consequences of their own disastrous judgment and terrible character reacted to watching Trump sink like the Titanic. Orban may have been elated that Trump gave him a shout out but he must also know that Trump’s looming November loss bodes ill for the global right wing’s effort to weaken democracy everywhere.

• The stakes for those foreign actors means of course, we should expect foreign election interference to increase in the next eight weeks. (One of my colleagues on Deep State Radio, Rosa Brooks, and our guest Renee DiResta discussed this on one of our episodes this week. It’s well worth your time and can be found with all our podcasts at thedsrnetwork.com. We do perhaps 15-18 podcasts a week. While you are there sign up to be a member. If you do, you can become a fully paid supporter here for half-price. And if you are a paid member here, let us know and you can become a full member there at half-price.)

• Early voting begins next week. There are important reasons that you vote as early as you can. We discuss that on another of our podcasts, that one with our friends and regulars Simon Rosenberg, Tara McGowan and Tom Bonior. It is well worth your time, too.

I’ll have more on this in the days ahead because old school as I am, I ruminate slowly. So, please come back for more. I promise…this story has a happy ending.