From The Hill – Washington D.C. Capitol Hill News
Why I
believe RFK Jr. will be the 2024 Democratic nominee
BY
DOUGLAS MACKINNON, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR - 05/27/23 12:00 PM ET
If the
shocking 2016 presidential election of Donald J. Trump taught us anything, it
should be that voters can still be unpredictable and unpollable, and that
millions of them believe that the entrenched elites from both political parties
no longer hear their voices or speak for them.
Voters
are continually seeking a new champion. Will Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. become
such a champion? I believe so — at least as far as the Democratic primary
process is concerned.
When
that process is final and all the votes from the primaries and caucuses have
been tabulated, I believe Kennedy will emerge as the Democratic nominee for
president in 2024.
Cue the
laughter and pejoratives. Most from the left. Some from the right. In our
increasingly polarized times, everything seems to be viewed through the prisms
of ideology, tribalism, anger, hate and the outright dismissal of voices in
opposition to our own. But if we choose to put down those often-distorted
prisms and open our eyes, there are still facts, figures and pragmatic reasons
as to why the less obvious (or the most ridiculed) might still be the correct
answer.
My first
reason for predicting a Kennedy nomination is that I am still not convinced
President Joe Biden will actually run for reelection, primarily because of
concerns regarding his advanced age and the perception of cognitive decline.
With
regard to Biden’s age being a roadblock to a 2024 campaign, we have this from
former Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who was asked about it at
the Financial Times Weekend Festival: “His age is an issue. And people have
every right to consider it.”
In
a Quinnipiac poll out this week, 65 percent of voters said they think
Biden, 80, is too old for a second term. That’s a share that could very well
continue to rise.
But for
the moment, Biden has declared his intention to run for reelection. And therein
lies reason number two why I believe Kennedy will be the eventual nominee. The
longer Biden stays in the race, the more he hurts the chances of undeclared
Democratic contenders such as Vice President Kamala Harris, California Gov.
Gavin Newsom, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg or even former First
Lady Michelle Obama.
As Biden
lets other potential candidates twist in the wind, Kennedy continues to
crisscross the nation taking almost every media opportunity given to him — even
and especially those on the right, such as Fox News and the New York Post.
Of
course, one of the reasons Kennedy is appearing on conservative outlets is
because many in the now-activist mainstream media refuse to give him a
platform.
Back in
1975 and 1976, when former Georgia Gov. Jimmy Carter ran his longshot campaign
for the White House, some in the media also refused to give him a platform. But
they did so because they ignorantly dismissed his campaign as a joke, not
because they were personally or ideologically opposed to his policies.
Today,
many in the media refuse to have Kennedy on because they are outraged that he
dared to question the lockdowns, masking and vaccine mandates that came in the
wake of the COVID-19 virus. Additionally, I believe many of them are simply
running interference for the Biden White House.
But
again, there is a real danger in viewing the political process with ideological
blinders permanently attached to your face. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch
recently used a statement in a lawsuit over the Title 42 public health order to
give a scathing overview of how civil liberties were trampled during the COVID
era.
The
U.S., he wrote, may “have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil
liberties in the peacetime history of this country….Executive officials across
the country issued emergency decrees on a breathtaking scale. Governors and
local leaders imposed lockdown orders forcing people to remain in their homes.
They shuttered businesses and schools, public and private. They closed churches
even as they allowed casinos and other favored businesses to carry on. They
threatened violators not just with civil penalties but with criminal sanctions
too.”
Many on
the left now condemning Kennedy as an “anti-vaxxer” might have no problem with
these draconian actions. But guess what? Tens of millions of Americans did and
still do.
These
Americans are going to be very open to hearing Kennedy’s voice as he barnstorms
the nation in the face of a liberal media blackout.
The next
reason why I believe Kennedy will prevail is that he is far from the “one
issue” candidate some in the media believe him to be. He is speaking to
multiple issues a majority of voters want addressed — issues which have been
upending their quality of life for years.
Kennedy’s
“ace in the hole” may very well be his simplified campaign message: “Tell the
truth.” He pledges to roll up his sleeves much like his dad did in the 1960s
and engage in honest conversations with the people.
Next,
because of the Kennedy name coupled with his own stated values, RFK Jr. will
make tremendous inroads with Black, Hispanic and disenfranchised voters — a
large part of the Democratic base.
After
Kennedy met with the editorial board of the New York Post, the
editors wrote: “Kennedy has real conviction and charisma, and he’s
fiercely independent of many of the party’s reigning pieties — all of which
should appeal.”
His
message should most especially appeal considering the latest Monmouth
University poll declaring that only 16 percent of respondents said the
U.S. is headed in the right direction.
Biden’s drug price controls are disastrous — are they also
unconstitutional?Who is lying? Merrick Garland or the whistleblowers?
Sixteen
percent.
The
headline for that Post editorial read: “Biden’s a fool to ignore the RFK Jr.
challenge.” To that list of “fools” I would add the activist media and the
Democratic Party. Despise him all you want, but Kennedy is already polling at
20 percent against Biden as his pragmatic voice continues to reach more and
more Americans in search of a champion.
Douglas
MacKinnon, a political and communications consultant, was a writer in the White
House for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, and former special
assistant for policy and communications at the Pentagon during the last three
years of the Bush administration.
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