Political thinking outside the box

As a long-term political watcher who didn't vote for either President Donald Trump or President Joe Biden -- and considers himself an independent with both conservative and liberal streaks -- I am among the millions of Americans who hope we can have decent choices at the top of the major party tickets for the 2024 election.

It appears we have some potentially good choices in the Republican field. The Democrat field needs some out-of-the-box thinking.

I searched extensively to try to find something good to say about Robert Kennedy Jr., who has announced a longshot bid to challenge Biden as a Democrat. My parents used to brag that they were the oldest people in a rally for Sen. Robert Kennedy in 1968. Unfortunately, his son’s position on vaccines is pre-Covid and sufficiently outrageous to be a disqualifier.

Marianne Williamson is the other announced “major” Democratic candidate. I also tried to find something that would make her announcement more than a promotion of her self-help books and courses. I do like some of her expressions, as noted by an article in The Center for Public Integrity on March 27, 2019: “We need a new burst of freedom, we need a whole uprising of consciousness among the American people…New paradigm leadership is where the leader is holding the space for the brilliance of others….”

For now, President Biden has a clear lane to the Democratic nomination. That’s regrettable and problematic.

Let’s indulge in wild speculation. While Senator Joe Machin may run -- and I would enjoy seeing that -- let’s go for someone else as well: Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.

Here’s why: First, Kaine is in what I call the right age-zone for the Presidency, the fifties and sixties. He was born in 1958. Second, he has served as a governor, in his case for Virginia (2006 to 2010) as well as senator. Third, he has served helping Jesuit missionaries, in his case in Honduras. Fourth, he doesn’t seem to want the job — perhaps campaigning as Hillary Clinton’s running mate soured him. In many respects semi-reluctant candidates have made the best Presidents — namely, President Eisenhower and to some extent President Ford. Fifth, and perhaps most importantly, he appears to have a wonderful, stable loving marriage and family life.

Addressing that last point, perhaps Kaine is the sort of archetypical man the character played by Anthony Hopkins in the 1998 movie “Meet Joe Black” dreams of for his daughter. It just might help bring us out of our national fractured fairytale malaise if we too followed the wish of the Hopkins-portrayed character: “…what I dream of is a man who will discover her, and she will discover a man who will love her, who is worthy of her…and has the grace, compassion, and fortitude to walk beside her as she makes her way through this beautiful thing called life.”

Turning to the Republicans, I start with former South Carolina Governor and Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley. While I could be accused of playing the gender card in reverse, once again I speculate. Could she be transformative like Margaret Thatcher was for Britain — feminine and tough, Mrs. Thatcher among the boys? Probably not. But the way she extracted herself from Trumpville, shows adroitness and toughness beneath the smile. She has a tough road to get her poll numbers up to be in the top rung to take on the snake-oil salesman.

Staying with South Carolina, the recent addition to the race of Sen. Tim Scott is a breath of fresh air. His announcement speech is worth reading. Here is a small part:

“When you think about the miracle of America, it always comes down to someone who loves unconditionally, who goes the extra mile, who’s tough as nails, and who puts it all on the line. And for me…for me it’s my mom…And for those of you who wonder if it’s possible for a broken kid in a broken home to rise beyond their circumstances, the answer is yes. And for those of you who wonder if America is a racist country, take a look at how people come together. All of God’s people come together, black ones and white ones, the red ones and brown ones working together, because love, unconditional love, binds hearts together.”

Moving two states south, and coming now in second place in the Republican primary race at this point, is a man who it seems the pundits and the polls believe has the best chance to overtake the snake-oil salesman — a nickname I hope sticks. Gov. Ron DeSantis has many of the best qualifications for the presidency: a great educational background, Navy JAG experience, impressive legislative successes as a governor, and a classy family. However, fire-in-the-gut wise, I prefer his wife.

Unfortunately, former Vice President Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seem barely above the Robert Kennedy, Jr. and Marianne Williamson category.

Let’s continue to think outside the political box.

Contact Larry Little at larrylittle46@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Political thinking outside the box