In my lifetime, Bill Clinton had it. Hillary didn’t. Obama had it for miles. Al Gore, John Kerry, Dukakis, & Mondale didn’t. Bernie has it. Koubuchar and Biden don’t. Pete may not have it, but at least sees the importance of trying to get it.
In spite of the fact that he is deeply, DEEPLY, unpopular, Trump has it.
Cold and gray, with maga beanies and cracked beers barely concealed in koozies, the scene around town looked more like a football Sunday than a January Tuesday. Subpoena Colada, MAGArita, Moscow Mueller, and The Sanders (“You buy the drink and we give it to someone who doesn’t have one!”) were a few of the “Trump Rally Drink Specials” on offer at the Blue Water Grille. trump 2020 and keep america great banners peppered the restaurant while Fox News’s coverage of the president’s impeachment trial occupied the mounted TVs. Cortland Heyniger Sr. and his son, Cortland Jr., posted up at the bar in matching camo Trump hats and flannel shirts. “The other side lies and tries to divide us,” said Heyniger Jr., an Asbury Park firefighter. “You can see it, you know?”
Janis Sweeney, a hair stylist from Winslow Township, celebrated her 60th birthday by coming to the rally. It was her first time seeing Trump in the flesh, her first political event at all. “I like his attitude,” said Sweeney, wearing a leopard-print coat and a pink women for trump button. “He’s a good guy; he’s sensitive.” She and her husband, Chuck, arrived a full day before the event, tagging each other in and out of the line outside the venue as the wind whipped off the icy Atlantic. Eighty-four-year-old Dorothy Cobb and her daughter pulled into Wildwood on Sunday. Cobb sat on the risers inside with a green knit blanket spread across her lap as she clutched a keep america great! sign. “A lot of people think he’s a bully. Well, we need a bully,” Cobb said.
Maybe Democrats like Biden find excitement crass. Maybe creating excitement is beneath his dignity. I don’t know. But it is obvious to me that excitement is essential.
Think back to 2008 and feel the excitement:
Excitement unleashes the creativity and energy of supporters, doesn’t dictate schoolmarmish instructions to them.
Excitement attracts voters, it doesn’t chase them.
Excitement wins.