I don't begrudge Biden for eschewing Populist rhetoric. Not at all. In my opinion, populism tends to be popular, but highly pernicious in most (? all) cases. One of the last things we need is the two major political parties subscribing to dangerous dogma.
The primary failure of Biden's Presidency was his inability to use the Bully Pulpit …
I don't begrudge Biden for eschewing Populist rhetoric. Not at all. In my opinion, populism tends to be popular, but highly pernicious in most (? all) cases. One of the last things we need is the two major political parties subscribing to dangerous dogma.
The primary failure of Biden's Presidency was his inability to use the Bully Pulpit to dispell hideous disinformation from the opposition. He needed to be the Explainer in Chief. Never lie, but explain - loudly - how hollow (and dangerous) Trump's rhetoric and convictions were. He should have been on TV and social media 2-3 times per week shaming the R's who consented to Trump's sabotage of the immigration plan back in the Spring. That was a dispicable politcal calculation that regular, non-college voters could've grasped, if beat over the head with it. He never did. I suspect this was largely a product of senescence of the body, as opposed to opting for timidity, but whatever the case, it was routinely an issue.
The Obama folks have publicly said that (1) the bully pulpit not only doesn’t work because the pulpit doesn’t have much reach anymore and (2) it’s counterproductive because it causes half the country to hate whatever you are pitching.
Your second argument requires Biden to grab media attention. This isn’t a him problem. This is a dem problem. Why? Because dems can’t compete with Trump and the gop on media attention because for a good reason they aren’t crazy. Think about how little Trump would be covered if he acted like Romney. The issue is he lights himself on fire hourly.
I’ll give you Biden isn’t a great communicator. But look at Harris. She is a great communicator now and never ever gets coverage. Why? Because she isn’t a lightning rod for controversy.
I don't begrudge Biden for eschewing Populist rhetoric. Not at all. In my opinion, populism tends to be popular, but highly pernicious in most (? all) cases. One of the last things we need is the two major political parties subscribing to dangerous dogma.
The primary failure of Biden's Presidency was his inability to use the Bully Pulpit to dispell hideous disinformation from the opposition. He needed to be the Explainer in Chief. Never lie, but explain - loudly - how hollow (and dangerous) Trump's rhetoric and convictions were. He should have been on TV and social media 2-3 times per week shaming the R's who consented to Trump's sabotage of the immigration plan back in the Spring. That was a dispicable politcal calculation that regular, non-college voters could've grasped, if beat over the head with it. He never did. I suspect this was largely a product of senescence of the body, as opposed to opting for timidity, but whatever the case, it was routinely an issue.
The Obama folks have publicly said that (1) the bully pulpit not only doesn’t work because the pulpit doesn’t have much reach anymore and (2) it’s counterproductive because it causes half the country to hate whatever you are pitching.
Your second argument requires Biden to grab media attention. This isn’t a him problem. This is a dem problem. Why? Because dems can’t compete with Trump and the gop on media attention because for a good reason they aren’t crazy. Think about how little Trump would be covered if he acted like Romney. The issue is he lights himself on fire hourly.
I’ll give you Biden isn’t a great communicator. But look at Harris. She is a great communicator now and never ever gets coverage. Why? Because she isn’t a lightning rod for controversy.
I agree In theory But I’m not certain in this social media world, (everybody lives in a silo) If it would’ve worked.
Yep. The pod save America guys talked about this actually. Obama used the “bully pulpit” 3 times in his first term. He stopped using it because his
Campaign team found (1) it was ineffective and (2) actually would backfire because it made something he wanted polarizing.