A presidential rematch that would slow us all down

On Tuesday afternoon our granddaughter, who is in first grade, came for a visit. She drew two beautiful pictures of someone she said looked "sort of" like her. Then she asked me if we could watch Roadrunner cartoons, which I have on DVD. We watched three episodes. As we older folks know, Wile E. Coyote tries over and over to catch the Roadrunner, who not only escapes, but he sticks his tongue out at his inept nemesis each time. Watching the Roadrunner is not only a wonderful time of mutual laughter with our granddaughter, but also a great metaphor that may even reach our current politics.

For some fun with a serious twist, let’s say we and our best leaders are the Roadrunner, and our lesser or incompetent leadership, of whatever political party or powerful private institution, is Wile E. Coyote. My impression is that over my lifetime we Roadrunners have barely escaped our too often incompetent or egomaniac leaders. They may not try to blow us up with Acme explosives or bash us with a boulder, but they do keep trying to manipulate and subordinate us.

Thank goodness for our fast feet and mature instincts.

Yet that mental speed and dexterity is at severe risk.

At this moment, our now 80-year-old, often confused and befuddled President seems poised to take on an only slightly younger egomaniac. Right after enjoying a dinner of mac and cheese with our granddaughter, I turned on the television to watch a short press briefing by President Biden on the missiles that landed in Poland. An astute leader, instead of saying they likely did not come from Russia, could have said something like “Russian aggression was the underlying cause of this matter, no matter whether they fired the missiles or it was from a defensive anti-missile fired by the Ukrainians.” Clearly, he was showing that at an age when only a few have their full facilities at full speed, he seems unlikely to be in that select few.

Then almost immediately that evening former President Trump gave his speech announcing the obvious, he is running again for President. The only thing new in his speech was his claim that the Republicans just crossed the threshold and would control the House. While that claim may well have been accurate hours later, the major networks had not called that House race at that moment. Furthermore, he claimed he had made the difference in that election and in an overwhelming number of others.

Two old guys, like Rocky Balboa and many real-life others, who don’t know when to pass the torch.

So, let’s not let them catch us in another lose-lose election. Continuing with the metaphor, remember that the Wile E. Coyote group should also include our enemies, who may be more willing to literally blow us up.

Luckily the midterm elections may have given us two possible candidates to grab the torch — one Democrat and one Republican. One thing I like about both candidates is that they are governors. Governors typically make tough decisions. Another thing I like about both these governors is that they are relatively young.

On November 13 Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who won reelection by a substantial margin, told CNN, “I can tell you we stayed focused on the fundamentals, right, whether it’s fixing the damn roads or making sure our kids are back on track after an incredible disruption in their learning.”

As a Presidential candidate she will likely face the question as to how she managed the state of Michigan during the COVID crisis, especially regarding the extent of educational shutdowns. However, her liberal positions on hot button social issues may be helpful in a national election. She is surely a contrast with my other midterm-exposed possible 2024 candidate.

That other candidate is Florida's Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, who won reelection by an overwhelming margin. At this moment it appears that he is the only candidate that has a realistic possibility of beating Donald Trump in the Republican primary.

In his victory speech election night, DeSantis both reiterated many of the domestic issues that will likely be on the minds of voters in 2024 — perhaps even more so than today. As reported by rev.com following the election, he noted: “We chose education over indoctrination. We chose law and order over rioting and disorder…. We have respected the rights of parents. We have respected our taxpayers, and we reject woke ideology. We fight the woke in the legislature. We fight the woke in the schools. We fight the woke in the corporations. We will never, ever surrender to the woke mob. Florida is where woke goes to die.”

My sense is that new younger leadership will re-energize the Roadrunner in all of us and protect us from Wile E. Coyote.

Beep Beep!

Contact Larry Little at larrylittle46@gmail.com.

This article originally appeared on Kitsap Sun: Larry Little: A Biden-Trump rematch would blow up in America's face