Tee shirt president.
There is a new look for a president of courage and integrity.
Tee shirts.
I do not mean to trivialize the selection of a U.S. president by writing about presidential costuming.
Too late. Trivialization has already taken place.
Donald Trump was a "reality TV" star and tabloid presence who played the role of a decisive CEO and real estate tycoon. Blue suit, white shirt, red tie. He created a brand that gave him credibility as president. Trump's schtick was Mr. Winner. He demolished his enemies. Shave their heads. Say, "You're fired!" Voters liked the schtick in 2016, but had tired of it by 2020.
Had Martin Sheen given political speeches in Iowa and New Hampshire in 2015, saying we needed a president who inspired us, he might have been elected president. After all, we had already seen him on TV in The West Wing, looking like a wise, sensible president.
Americans first need to be able to imagine candidates as president if they are to consider their campaigns. We could do it with Biden. He had put in the time. In the 2020 campaign he was nearly invisible, which made him a generic Democrat, distinguished by not being Trump. As a candidate, that was enough. As president, it isn't.
Biden has a tailwind of events that should be boosting his approval. The economy is booming; unemployment is dropping; COVID is falling away; there is a grave foreign threat. We have inflation because people have money to spend, willing to buy cars well above MSRP. This would normally be enough for Americans to rally around the steady and reassuring voice of a president. Biden struggles with that part of the job. Trump taught Americans to expect bombast and certitude.
Scenes like this one last month plague Biden: The First Lady holds his hand to guide the president from the stage.
Democrats write me complaining that I exaggerate Biden's frailty. "It isn't that bad," they tell me. "Writing about it draws attention," they say. I think I see what everyone sees, except loyal Democrats. In the last year of Reagan's presidency everyone saw Reagan's decline--except loyal Republicans. Biden's condition is worse.
Democrats developed a brand reputation as the party led by prosperous, educated, white-collar workers, especially women. The brand has problems once people leave college towns and coastal metropolises. Democrats are thought too "preachy" and "judgmental."
I believe the Democrat who can "push reset" on the Democratic message is one whose very essence--voice, appearance, biography, and message is fundamentally different. I expect that person to be a red state Democrat because to be successful in a red state means such people would already have distinguished themselves from the national Democratic brand. The candidate likely would have an economic message that rejects global free trade policies that put American workers in direct competition with workers from low wage countries. Such a person won't talk about culture war issues much. He or she won't sound Ivy League. The message won't be about getting race relations right. It will be about getting good, manufacturing, high-wage jobs. What do White, Black, Asians, and Hispanic Americans all want? They want low crime in their neighborhoods and a well-paid job.
Who might such a candidate be? Tim Ryan, Democrat from Ohio, is serving his tenth term in the U.S. House of Representatives. He is giving up his House seat to run for the U.S. Senate. He is 48 years old. I saw him in a Zoom call for an hour where he spoke with donors. Maybe him. If he wins, he will have a national presence.
Never heard of him? He doesn't look like a president to you? He doesn't sound like one, either. He sounds blue collar. It is time to re-think what a president looks and sounds like.
Ryan is a tee-shirt Democrat.