Look for the Force in the Rearview Mirror by Al Sikes

Good is possible. We salute it, sing about it. It is called the United States of America.

Perfect is not possible. Full stop!

“Our way or the highway?” In America, happily, the highway is the next election. Not banishment.

So here we are facing seven months to choose the next President. The 2024 election campaign is not likely to be an inspiring one—certainly, the run-up is not promising.

President Biden should have invited competition to find his successor. He didn’t and now he concentrates on running against Trump, and that is his theme. In the meantime, some of his allies are concentrating on taking down Robert F Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr.). Fear of third-party vote siphoning has provoked a companion campaign.

The Republican side, whoops the Donald Trump side, is trying to use revenge as a creative weapon. I say the Trump side because when the leader trashes the Party’s heroes and declares all those who won’t bend their knees RINOs, it is his Party. And his strategists—they too are looking in the rear view window.

This is an election cycle in which one goal, at least people of goodwill would say, should be some measure of national harmony. A cycle during which voters should be confronted with the huge disharmony tax we are paying. Yes tax. Decisions not made. Or, decisions made to prolong debate until the next election. Delay and uncertainty are risk factors that make almost every big decision a taxing one. And I mean money among other negatives.

Here are just a few. Higher interest rates, fractured alliances, failure at the border, stalled military upgrades, and perhaps most distressing, the elimination of United from the USA. We should not need a demilitarized zone like the one that divides the two Koreas. We should argue and then we should find some level of common ground always understanding the value of United.

Now, lest I fail to stir up sufficient controversy, let’s turn Left or Right (your choice) and assess the gathering force in the rearview mirror—Robert F Kennedy Jr.

RFK Jr. is controversial, and so are Biden and Trump.

RFK Jr. is especially attacked for his controversial stands on COVID-19. So, too, Biden and Trump.

I could go down a long list of public or political sins and ask who should be most careful if he chooses to throw the first stone.

If I were an ally of RFK Jr., and I am not, I would be gleeful about this opportunity—this fractured context—for a reintroduction. Look at the polls. Biden and Trump are known by everyone and both are unpopular outside their bases (well below majorities). And those things that make them unpopular are unlikely to change before Election Day, 2024.

So here we are, suffering as a nation from disharmony taxes, and the new (or not so new candidate) leads off his campaign with a gauzy political ad calling for unity. I suspect this is an issue that might take hold among undecided voters, and the only candidate who can be its beneficiary is RFK Jr.

Who knows, maybe there will be a preclusive event—one that changes the head of a major Party ticket. Such an occurrence is doubtful. What is not doubtful is extreme rancor—an assault on United. And while one or another, or so polls say, will squeak out a narrow victory there will be a blizzard, literally or figuratively, on Inauguration Day.

Al Sikes is the former Chair of the Federal Communications Commission under George H.W. Bush. Al writes on themes from his book, Culture Leads Leaders Follow published by Koehler Books.