Obama, Where Art Thou?
Waiting for his thoughts on the Democratic civil war.
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Today in Free Expression, columnist Kyle Smith praises Christopher Nolan’s “Odyssey”; columnist Ben Sasse defends the filibuster; and Dominic Green tries to make sense of the U.K.’s new prime minister.
But first, the only thing necessary for the DSA to prevail is for normal Democrats to say nothing . . .
Still Leading From Behind
—Matthew Hennessey
The Democratic Party was cohesive enough in 2020 to make a definitive statement about what it wanted in a leader. A crowded presidential primary field consolidated around Joe Biden to beat back challenges from two insurgent candidates looking to drag the party to the hard left. Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders—who isn’t even a Democrat—and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren failed to overcome the institutional pressure in that pandemic year to nominate a moderate.
Mr. Biden’s job was straightforward: Stand still and provide a minimally acceptable alternative to the chaos merchant running the GOP. Just be normal.
Looking back you can see that it didn’t have to be Mr. Biden. Someone else might’ve been better for Democrats in the long run. Pete Buttigieg came across as clean-cut and composed. Andrew Yang wore a “Math” button and had written a book called, “The War on Normal People.” Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar didn’t dazzle, but she had an everyday woman appeal that could’ve caught on.
It says something about how rapidly the radical left has advanced that none of these people are much in the discussion about the future of the Democratic Party in 2026.
Mr. Biden’s age and experience helped him in 2020. Democrats felt the republic couldn’t survive another Trump term. But age and experience are no longer the coin of the realm in Democratic Party politics. The same goes for normalcy.
Revolution is in the air. The sense among Democratic voters is that the party hasn’t done enough to fight Mr. Trump and his MAGA movement. The Biden administration was limp and ineffectual. New York’s Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries have been too complacent. Aipac runs everything. Those dastardly Jews!
We see the young Democratic Socialists of America supporters in New York and elsewhere panting for the guillotine. What we don’t see? The institutional Democratic Party’s inner turmoil.
This weekend some of it spilled out into the open when two former Barack Obama advisers mixed it up on X over the role their former boss has—or, rather, hasn’t—played in the Michigan Senate primary between mainstream Rep. Haley Stevens and the Sanders-aligned Abdul El-Sayed. When Ben Rhodes and Neera Tanden are smacking each other around publicly, you can be sure there’s a bloody war raging behind the scenes.
The day will come when Mr. Obama will have to speak for himself. He’ll have to take up the question posed in the famous labor union anthem, “Which Side Are You On?”
I think we know the answer, but it will be instructive to hear it from him.
Hey Hey: Just when it seems there are no more discoveries left in the animal kingdom, a 15-pound monkey shows up. Scientists have discovered the “Likweli” monkey in the rainforests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The species is small, with short black hair and a distinctive orange mouth. The little guys look a bit like they got into a bag of Cheetos. — Emma Camp
Smokin’: In 1954, Englishman Roger Bannister was the first person to run a mile in under 4 minutes. A Scot, Josh Kerr, gave the world record a haircut on Saturday. He completed the distance in 3 minutes, 42 seconds. These are never easy feats. Mr. Kerr outdid by less than a second the previous record set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999. Now we’ll see how long the new record stands. No doubt there are already hungry runners gunning for it. Best of luck to them. — Jack Butler
Unsheathed: This summer, Marcin Wiśniewski found a 2,700-year-old sword in Poland’s Gdańsk Forest District. The blade was buried upright. It’s a remarkable discovery. Yet neither Mr. Wiśniewski nor Poland are strangers to such finds. Fox News reports that the lucky Pole found an entire hoard of Bronze Age weapons in the same area. Last year, archaeologists stumbled upon medieval weaponry in a Polish lake, and a Vistula River fisherman caught a 700-year-old sword. Anyone in Poland checked under a couch for the Ark of the Covenant lately? — J.B.
Christopher Nolan Knows His Audience
Kyle Smith
“The Odyssey” director seeks the broadest possible audience for his films. He’s in the blockbuster business.
Yet Mr. Nolan’s latest is suffused with a respect for our cultural patrimony, the heritage passed down by our forefathers.
Read Kyle’s Column ⧁
America Needs the Filibuster
When partisans talk about killing or “reforming” the filibuster, they’re saying they want to turn the Senate into another House of Representatives. That would be a tragic mistake. The filibuster prevents the dramatic pendulum swings that are the natural result of simple-majority lawmaking.
By Ben Sasse
Andy Burnham Is Mad for It
Mr. Burnham is the Mancunian Candidate. He has the “mad for it” manner of a Manchester raver from the 1990s. Where once Labour leaders talked Marx and the class war, Mr. Burnham quotes Smiths lyrics as the socialism of vibes.
By Dominic Green
Vance Has a Steep Climb to the White House
If history is any guide, his challenge won’t be winning the GOP primary. It will be winning the presidency.
By Matthew Continetti
Therapy Culture Swipes the Dating Apps
References to healing journeys, boundaries, trauma and emotional availability are all the rage.
By Jonathan Alpert
Enough With the Disney Remakes
The failure of ‘Moana’ suggests audiences are finally tiring of these rehashes.
By Jack Butler
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OMG. Hennessy thinks the dems he named were normal? Buttgag the do nothing paternity leave taking performative bike rider for one mile ? Klobuchar the salad eater with a fork staff yeller harridan? Andrew Yang may be a normal but as an Asian he’d be unloved by the KKK Jim Crow big tent for votes but not power DNC.
Face it. Waxwork Biden was perfect. Not sentient enough to actually lead but at least able to pretend to be alive
And The Obama? Maybe if you shoveled some money his way, ventriloquist Ayer’s might tell him what to say.
“A crowded presidential primary field consolidated around Joe Biden to beat back challenges from two insurgent candidates looking to drag the party to the hard left.”
None of this was organic or the will of the electorate. It was the Democrat party machine selecting it’s nominee. The same thing happened in ‘16 and ‘24.
Perhaps if the party leaders actually allowed its constituents to select their own candidates, the party would evolve to its natural equilibrium.