A LITTLE HELP FROM YOUR FRIENDS (PART II)

OUR ADVICE FOR JOE BIDEN, BETO O'ROURKE, AND BERNIE SANDERS

Recently we advised three 2020 Democratic presidential candidates - Elizabeth Warren, Julian Castro, and Kamala Harris – on improving their campaigns. We focused on Warren and Harris because of their top four poll standings and Castro because we recognize the potential someone with his combination of managerial experience and educational credentials has for effectively serving as President.

Now, we advise Biden and Sanders because of their poll standings and Beto O'Rourke because of the extraordinary opportunity we see in his candidacy.

The upcoming September 12-13 Houston debate presents significant opportunities and obstacles for all candidates. The field is narrowing. Even the front runners don't have forever for making adjustments before the voting starts.

Joe Biden

Both pieces of advice we offer you find their roots in popular culture. In The Lion King, the treacherous Scar, plotting a coup and takeover of the kingdom, sings a song written by Whoopi Goldberg and Jeremy Irons titled Be Prepared. He admonishes his co-conspirators of the folly of being caught "unawares" when facing "the chance of a lifetime."

               

We can't give you, Mr. Vice President, better counsel. Being long in the tooth ourselves, we understand the burden learning every nuance of your opponents and their possible lines of attack imposes. It's harder than at 35, 40, even 50 years old. But if you're serious about this running for President business, you must do it.

You were woefully unprepared for the first debate (yes, you did better in the second, but "better" isn’t saying much after that first egg you laid) and it cost you, bigtime. We understand you will make gaffes. That's who you are. You must, however, put in the work, commit fewer errors, and make sure they hurt less. Let your sins be ones of commission, not omission.

Second, you should listen to a country song by Toby Keith (co-written with Scotty Emerick) called As Good as I Once Was. It contains the line, “Im as good once as I ever was: and is about an aging bar room brawler and womanizer who laments the fact he's lost a step (maybe several steps) in his favorite pastimes of fighting and sex. He realizes, however, he still can  rise to the occasion when he must. We get it that you' re 76 years old and not the tornado you once were. But, we think you can get it done at crunch time.

The polls, at least now, say there's a good chance you'll win the nomination. If you do and come face to face with Trump next fall as this nation's only hope for ridding it of that cancer, you must bring your "A" game, like you did in 2012 against Paul Ryan.

Beto O'Rourke

As everyone knows, you aren’t in the top echelon in the polls. Many of Rob's fellow Texans think you should go home and run for the U.S. Senate. You say you won't do that. Fair enough, but what do you do in the presidential race?

In getting back on the trail after the mass shooting in your hometown of El Paso, you said you now plan a moral campaign against gun violence, Trump, and the division he's sown in the country. You said you'll skip much of the coffee and corn dog circuit in

Iowa and New Hampshire and go places where Trump has caused real pain. We see benefit to the country and the Demcratic Party if you effectively carry out that plan. You should keep the nation's attention focused on the need for common sense gun safety measures. In the process, your message can emphasize the healing we need.

Perhaps you can make enough of an impression that someone picks you as the vice presidential nominee. Let's cross the ethnic and gender hurdles later.  Yes, in the current climate, you might work better with one of the female candidates at the top of the ticket, but let's not let pursuit of the perfect become the enemy of the good.

You could help put Texas in play in next year's electoral college calculations. Your 2018 near-miss senate race helped a number of Democrats win state legislative seats and other local races. Given your relationship with the Latino community in Texas and your passion for unifying America, on the ticket or off, you could make a real difference in 2020.

Bernie Sanders

Giving you advice probably represents a supreme exercise in futility. You are who you are and we doubt you'll listen to us or anyone else. The dispiriting thing about your 2020 campaign rests in its similarity to your 2016 campaign.

Your talking points and tag lines are so familiar we can repeat them almost as well as you can. You know, "millionaires and billionaires...", "health care is a right...,"  "the top one percent has..."  Nearly everythingyou say is true, but it needs jazzing up, repackaging and supplementing with other things, like outreach to minority communities where your support remains woefully weak, especially for so progressive a candidate. 

A few of our friends told us recently about interviews you did in which you loosened up and revealed more than ever before of your personality and motivations. Quite frankly, we think you should do more such interviews. Perhaps then, if you get the nomination, many who basically agree with you, but really don't like you, might decide they should do more than vote for you.

And that's it, our advice for the candidates now in the best position for getting nominated. Anybody got anything they 'd add?