Recovering from terrible days and major debacles is part of the crucible that every winning presidential campaign must pass through. The late night Oval Office news conference with a horde of shouting journalists was a moment of exquisite awfulness that has the good fortune of having occurred 269 days before the American people make a profound choice. Though the valley floor is deep — and the hike out painful and long — the Biden campaign can recover by being tough, mean, and hard.
It must also be smarter. The decision-making around the evening news conference was appalling. Truly. Every aspect of it was shockingly terrible. There is no attention to detail around basic technical matters like lighting, makeup, staging and presentation. The White House communication operation seems modelled on Chernobyl. The campaign was not involved whatsoever in the debacle, which was run by the White House team, which needs help immediately.
There comes a moment in every campaign when a question must be asked. That moment has arrived for President Biden’s White House team.
How the f*@k did that happen?
Understanding how is the first step towards a greater and happier future, where the campaign can become about what it must be about. It must be about the existential threat posed to the American way of life by Donald Trump and his fascist movement.
Understanding how is key to making sure it never happens again.
It is also manifestly important for people involved in politics at the White House to understand what happened at the late night Oval Office siege.
The cloistered campaign, which has always been delusional, ended with a whimper is the answer to “what happened?” It’s over. Kaput. Done and dusted. Because the president is hidden from public scrutiny each appearance becomes a high-stakes affair where the slightest anything dominates the news, and becomes instant fodder for a deepening crisis. The results speak for themselves.
What is the campaign about right now? Is it about Trump, or something else? Remember this: any time it is about anything other than Trump, America is losing. Truly. The fascists are at the gate. Repelling them means that there is no time for mollycoddling, delusion, feelings, or anything beyond the ruthless execution of a political strategy aimed at building an American coalition of decency, sanity and normalcy to end this era of madness. It has gone on for long enough, and now it must end.
It is wake-up time at the White House. It is a brutal moment, and it sucks. Utterly. The good news is that resiliency builds character and strength. The effort ahead is going to require every ounce of it.
Joe Biden is going to be the Democratic Party nominee, and he can never be sabotaged like he was by such ineptness again.
It is time to get back to the drawing board for a new strategy that involves communicating with the American people much more effectively.
A few weeks back, I wrote about something that would work:
It’s time to start the campaign. It’s time to take the gloves off.
Winning is the only option President Biden and his team have. The performance must improve.
I have lived through life and business transformations many times haven’t you? I survived. Why? Freedom. What’s on the line here isn’t the performance it’s democracy. The first principle in Timothy Snyder book On Tyranny … it’s NOT to SURRENDER to fascism. DONT GIVE UP WHAT YOU ARE ALREADY BLESSED WITH.
Think about it. I would vote for anyone other than Trump. Wouldn’t you?
Keep it simple. It’s freedom through the constitutional government that’s on the line … not Joe Biden.
His campaign may suck for now but I’m not voting for them I’m voting for US because this is the last election I will have a choice.
Good ideas and clear thoughts. Biden needs a guy who isn't afraid of a scrap. You have the cred, cojones and composure to assist him. I can only hope you and he both see this asset as one to be exploited.