The timely advice of former President Barack Obama may have rescued the Democratic Party’s fortunes, which were facing a steep decline. But in the coming days, the Democrats might have to weave their poll campaign with fresh ideas. by Gopal Misra
Finally, President Joe Biden, an octogenarian, called it a day on July 21 announcing that he was not seeking a second term.
For the Democrats, the day ushered in with a sigh of relief that the old patriarch had finally decided he would not be in the presidential election fray anymore. According to some knowledgeable sources, it was not easy to persuade the old man to quit the race for the White House. The credit goes to the party’s idealogue, Barack Obama, who already had served two terms as the US President, for ending the current political impasse.
Biden’s brief announcement of not contesting the presidential poll was also accompanied by a historical announcement endorsing the candidature of Kamala Harris, an Indian-African, for the Presidency. It is hoped that her name would be finalized at the party’s convention scheduled in the first week of August.
Biden’s initiative in endorsing his Vice-President, Kamala Harris, a brilliant lawyer, blended with the Indian genius accompanied by the Jamaican dynamism, for the world’s most powerful office is historical. She is a first coloured woman of Indian-African bloodline, contesting for the most powerful presidency on the earth.
It is being stated that the timely advice of Obama, perhaps, has rescued the party’s fortunes, which were facing a steep decline. Apart from advising Biden to quit, he also might have asked the outgoing President to endorse Kamala Harris as the party’s nominee for the presidency.
A meticulous strategy
During his tenure in the White House, Biden has been adhering to the political strategy of his mentor, Obama, that the Democrats should have a strong base among the black and coloured people. The Biden Administration has not only appointed the Air Force chief, Gen Charles Brown, a Black, to lead the world’s most powerful Air Force, but also made Ketanji Brown Jack, a well-known Black woman jurist, a Supreme Court judge. He is also credited for appointing as many as 35 federal judges.
However, the Democrats have also to serve the interests of the corporate world, especially the manufacturers of weapons and ammunition. Since Trump’s peace talks have antagonized the defence-industrial complex, the Democrats are keen to rope them in for strengthening their political base, perhaps, with huge funds.
The support of the Biden Administration to the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Israel with the state-of-the art weapons is likely to be a big agenda during the election campaign. It is going to be a challenging task before the Democrats to maintain a balance between their social engineering for votes as well as their efforts for keeping intimate ties with the weapon manufacturers. They are confident that their agenda of social engineering would checkmate Trump’s growing popularity. And the profits of the war industry would retain the strength of the American dollar in the global economy.
Another significant difference between the Republicans and Democrats is that the Republicans are keen that the American companies should revive their manufacturing base in the country. On the other hand, Democrats are keen to retain China as the manufacturing destination due to the availability of cheap skilled labor for manufacturing their products .The successive US administrations have been compensating their workforce by the unemployment allowances.
Trump’s belated decision
During the third week of July, Donald Trump surprised everyone by announcing J.D.Vance, once his strong critic, as his Vice-Presidential nominee. By winning his critics to his fold, Trump has shown his political maturity in recent weeks. It is also stated that in bringing Vance to support Trump, his wife Usha, a former Democrat, too has played an important role.
Her genius received international recognition, when she spoke at the Republican meeting, where the candidature of Vance for the post of the vice-president’s post was announced.
In the convention, few asked whether Usha, daughter of the Indian parents known for their knowledge, is a practicing Hindu.
It is also being stated that she brought Vance and Trump together as close political allies. Earlier, Vance was quite critical of Trump, but later he realized that the Biden Administration promotes wars, while Trump is keen to keep the US away from unnecessary conflicts. In recent months, the dedication of Vance made him a confidant of Trump. This proximity finally led him to become his running mate for the vice-president’s post.
Meanwhile, the campaign against Trump and Vance, believed to be conspired by a section of the pro-Biden Christian zealots, failed to make the religion an issue in the election campaign. Their efforts to make the marriage of Vance with a Hindu girl without converting to the faith also couldn’t make any headway.
The courage of Vance accompanied by the genius of Usha has finally ended the issue of inter-faith marriage. They have emerged as great supporters of Trump’s march to the White House.
It is hoped that the Democrats would soon be realizing that there are few takers of their communal agenda, though blended with the efforts of a concept of a plural society. There are few takers of the logic that Trump is not a true Christian like Joe Biden, a devout Roman catholic. His decision to not contest for the presidency, however, could also be attributed to the failure of the radical Christians to become a political force helping him in achieving the political goal.
On the other hand, Vance is quite popular among the white workers in the Midwest. Meanwhile, the deliberate efforts of the Biden Administration to implicate Trump in various legal cases have failed. His popularity has soared. Biden supporters’ efforts to invoke religion and racial issues also couldn’t make any headway.
The Democrats might have to weave their poll campaign with fresh ideas.
The Usha-Vance marriage is not only the valor of Scots with the proven Indian genius, but it also carries the concept of peace and fair play ingrained in Irish blood. India’s much acclaimed labour leader, V.V.Giri, who later became President, was arrested at Dublin for participating in the Irish freedom struggle. Indians are also quite aware of how the British colonialists had used well-built Scots for massacres in India. Thus, the power couple, Vance and Usha, has a formidable partnership of courage and valor accompanied by the Indian genius.
Few were surprised by the recent critical comments of Vance about the U.K. and Germany. He stated that the UK behaves like Islamic jihadists and Germans function as a bunch of idiots.
Democrats might seek their American diaspora to get some political support.
They also hope that the European members of NATO might be asked to share the cost of security, if Trump returns to the White House. Their lobbies might also be working for the Democrats, but these countries are keen to end the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict. They may back Trump for ushering peace in Europe.
They remember how Trump had negotiated peace with the Taliban ending the Afghan War. Trump’s agenda for peace is being reaffirmed by his VP nominee, Vance, who is also a war veteran.
It will not be easy for Kamala to weave a new narrative to justify the support extended by the US-led West to the ongoing conflicts in the world. In spite of his all-inclusive social agenda, it is going to be difficult to bring common people to support conflicts across the continents, at their cost.
