For months now, when he has not been otherwise occupied by the morass of impeachment, staggering, stressful, and often controversy-laden episodes of his own making, or the perils of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Trump has been posing inquiries regarding the whereabouts of the 44th President, one Barack Obama. In his own uniquely devilish and condescending way, everything about Trump’s repeated attempts to bait an off the cuff, or elseways unscheduled reaction, or response from #44 was the very antithesis of the reserved nature of both the Obama Doctrine, and the man himself.
President Obama had stated, long before there was a campaign to determine the Democratic nominee for Election 2020, that he would not publicly weigh in until the intraparty battle was resolved. No one knew this better than Donald Trump. But, as we know, needling his perceived adversaries is as much a part of the Trump persona as his penchant for hyperbole, “truthful,” or otherwise. His spinmeisters would probably say it’s a strategy. The truth, more likely is, he can’t help himself. It’s a behavioral pattern rooted in the fabric of his DNA. In either case, it had zero chance of altering the course of how…and when the former President would initiate his engagement in campaign activities.
Actually, check that. To be fair, the how was, undoubtedly, quite a bit different than initially envisioned. Absent the coronavirus pandemic, the rollout, most certainly, would have entailed a huge rally, probably with a number of the former Democratic candidates, including Senator Sanders, and of course, Obama and Biden. But that particular dynamic was changed not due to Trump’s berating, chiding, or impudence, but because the new now, as opposed to new normal, dictated by social distancing practices and stay-at-home orders, required it.
On Monday, Senator Bernie Sanders suspended his campaign activities, and endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden. Pursuant to that action, In an altogether anticipated move, President Obama followed-up yesterday with his Biden endorsement. Mr. Obama spoke warmly of his former VP, and friend, cast him as someone who gets things done, and who helped manage H1N1, and prevent the Ebola epidemic from becoming the kind of pandemic we are seeing now with COVID-19. He did this without mentioning Trump by name, of course. Nevertheless, in view of Trump’s constant badgering and goading, it’s fair to say, we’ve reached the point when the appropriate phraseology is “Game-on!”
Having vanquished Secretary Clinton four years ago, there is probably nothing in the political realm that would energize Mr. Trump more than the chance to take down Biden, armed, as Mrs. Clinton was, with Barack Obama’s imprimatur. A win in November, though not a one-on-one with Obama, would surely suffice, by Trump’s accounting, as having attained the full set. What could be more satisfying?
As Trump hastens to put the pandemic behind him and restart the economy, he longs to regain what he had imagined would be the equivalent of Thor’s Hammer, to bludgeon his way to victory. If there is one thing, he is well aware of, it’s that a hot economy is the elixir that smooths the way for incumbents to secure re-election. He had bragged more about his having rebuilt the economy than almost anything, except, perhaps his robust ratings, Super Bowl-like, he has recently called them.
That’s enough for now. I expect between now and November, there will be plenty of opportunities to reflect on the 2020 race. This post was meant to establish that we now have identified the principals. All of Trump and the GOP/conservatives’ speculating about Bernie, Bloomberg, Cuomo, et.al., can be put to rest now. Trump’s dream match-up appears to have materialized.
Democrats still have to figure out how to solve the challenge of coalescing. Republicans are already solidly lined up to back their heroic (to hear them tell it) champion. The key question at the moment is when and if the campaign will take on a sense of normalcy, complete with rallies, debates, arenas filled with conventioneers, and the other trappings of a Presidential Election Year.
All that remains to be sorted out. What we know is, “Donald Asked, Where’s Obama: President Obama Responded!”
I’m done; holla back!
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Consult the links below for more detailed information on a variety of aspects relating to this post:
https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/14/politics/obama-endorses-biden/index.html
https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/04/donald-asked-wheres-obama-president.html
https://thesphinxofcharlotte.blogspot.com/2020/04/donald-asked-wheres-obama-president.html
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