Full disclosure. Your blogger isn't an ESPN junkie, but he did live in Chicago during the Chicago Bulls championship years, hence the title to this week's post. If you, gentle reader, are a sports junkie, then you may have immediately understood the innuendo behind the title. If not, let me try to use sports history to frame the current political climate.
If you were looking for a recap to the White House Correspondent's Dinner, here's a summary:
http://bcove.me/6zks4ecg
The Democratic talking head Paul Begala is fond of saying, "Washington D.C. is Hollywood for ugly people". My only added comment here is that there's a fine line between satire and ridicule, and people will draw that line differently.
Okay, back to the sport of politics. Jerry Krause was the General Manager of the Chicago Bulls during their heyday, when they won (non-consecutive) 6 NBA Championships. Probably not coincidentally, those teams also featured a reasonably talented guard, "from North Carolina!", named Michael Jordan. Despite their winning ways, there was ever-present a certain degree of animus between Jordan and Krause over a myriad of issues, mostly surrounding the portion of the success attributable to Krause's prowess as a GM (in draft picks) versus Jordan's gifts as a basketball player. Attempts by Krause to claim a share of the championship mantle were met with ridicule by Jordan and likely the majority of basketball fans. Krause was simply not that well-liked for a variety of reasons, but most fans grudgingly give him some credit for his role in creating a championship team around the superstar Jordan. He's talented, but is simply not a star.
Hillary finds herself in a very similar position today. An acknowledged technocrat, she's played a significant role in now 2 separate Democratic Presidential administrations, her husband's and now Obama's. But, like Krause, it seems very likely that her role, however large, in both those "teams", will be but a footnote in the much larger biography of two highly charismatic presidents. And again, like Krause, and perhaps many of you gentle readers, being in the position of second/third behind-the-scenes fiddle time and time again, can sometimes simply suck, sitting back and watching the popular kid take all the credit and the glory.
What does this portend for the general election? In my election lifetime the closest I can recall a bureaucrat being elected President was George H. W. Bush (the first one). VP to the GOP demigod Ronald Reagan, Bush had arguably a more distinguished service and political career, but lost badly to Reagan on the charisma front. And ultimately, he lost to the uber-charismatic Bill Clinton after being a one term President. I'm not predicting (today) that Hillary will meet a similar fate, but even the haters can probably concede that Donald Trump is a celebrity "star", albeit in very non-PC orbits (reality TV, tabloid media, etc...). It's no coincidence that reality TV and the media outlets like the National Enquirer and The Drudge Report are popular, as is the Donald. Or, as I like to point out, monster truck shows always outsell the symphony. Always.
For readers who are also sports fans, I've been trying to find basketball player equivalents to the current crop of candidates, based on their roles in their teams/parties. It's an imperfect "science" but there may be a glimmer of truth to the comparisons.
Donald Trump. His NBA doppelganger is Charles Barkley. Sir Charles is both loved and loathed, and has an endearing ability to remain unfiltered under the media spotlight. He (Charles) has had his share of public indiscretions, but what Democrats should find worrisome is that Charles is more popular now than he ever was during his playing days.
Ted Cruz. Had to go to college basketball for his surrogate. Initially I considered Christian Laettner, but in reality, Christian Laettner was talented, albeit despised. No, I think an even better comparator is Marshall Henderson. He played for Ole Miss, and was generally despised, and now plays for the NBA development league. A much better comparison to Cruz, who's 15 minutes of fame starts to draw to a close on Tuesday.
John Kasich. This was remarkably easy. NBA sixth man. Who? Exactly. Sorry John. Sometimes the truth sucks.
Bernie Sanders. Had the hardest time with Bernie, but ultimately, chose a doppelganger who, in the NBA, was simply never expected to be there, much less be competitive. If this were a football comparison, I'd probably lean Doug Flutie, but we're not mixing sports metaphors, so for Senator Sanders we're going with Jeremy Lin. "Lin-sanity" was a lot like what "feeling the Bern" is nowadays, and the Chinese Evangelical baller from Harvard is easily as extraterrestrial as the Jewish Democratic Socialist candidate from Vermont.
So while the Presidential campaigns look forward to November and the general election, I'm working hard to focus the blog on a non-party lines analysis of the party standard-bearers and opining on the strategies and tactics they'll employ to win the White House. So thanks as always for following, buckle your seat belts, because I suspect it's going to be a very bumpy ride.
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