By Ann Rostow–
Let’s Go, Brat!
I think all of us Democrats can agree that Biden’s decision was correct and courageous. It has transformed this election from a likely defeat by a horrific coalition of self-centered xenophobes to the very possible ascent of the first woman to be elected President of the United States. But while Biden’s move was the necessary first step, it was the Democratic Party that took only 24 hours to turn that step into an extraordinary shift in political momentum.
This was the same Democratic Party that backed Biden’s primary campaign seemingly overnight in 2020 when it looked as if Bernie Sanders might win the nomination and lose to Trump. Despite the conventional wisdom that our party is a chaotic mess, we are the ones who are profoundly united, sharing a foundation underneath our various divisions; a commitment to basic American principles of freedom and democratic governance.
It was on that foundation that Democrats took action the instant Biden stepped aside. And it wasn’t just politicians and leaders. Harris raised over $80 million in 24 hours from small donors (including fifty bucks from Mel and me!). But, more than that, who could have predicted that virtually every potential Democratic candidate would make way for Harris and endorse her with enthusiasm and without hesitation? Who would have predicted that a majority of delegates would pledge their support to Harris within a single day?
Who could have predicted this kind of solidarity? No one. On the contrary, most people would have assumed that it would take a week or two for things to shake out and for Harris (or someone) to build a consensus. That week or two, in turn, could have meant that the Democratic ticket missed the deadline for ballot printing in Ohio and other states where some kind of shenanigans that I haven’t really followed mean that the nominees have to be selected by August 7.
And there was every possibility, it seemed, that if Biden dropped out, a nominee would have to be selected at the convention in some kind of delegate free-for-all, entertaining for political spectators perhaps, but not likely to further the goal of electoral success.
Instead, we are in a shockingly good position. (Knocked on desk.)
First, as mentioned, we have wasted no time whatsoever in transferring the Biden infrastructure, campaign staff, and money to Harris. She is off and running at top speed.
Second, we have taken the entire media spotlight off Trump, his trials, his vice presidential pick, his convention, and his ear. I mean really. It’s been all Trump, all day, culminating in an assassination attempt that thankfully missed by inches. (I hate him too, but I’m with John Donne: “Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind.”) But think about it now. We’ll have the headlines focused on every aspect of the nascent Harris campaign, then on her vice presidential pick, and then on the convention. After that, it’s what, ten weeks to the election?
Third, through simple luck, our timing has caught the Trump campaign oddly off guard. They picked a MAGA bro for vice president as if the general election was a fait accompli. It wasn’t, and Vance’s Trump flip flop, extreme positions, and unpracticed campaigning skills may come back to bite the Republicans. (Meanwhile, I’m hoping Harris picks Mark Kelly, the former astronaut who looks like he could take on a few Proud Boys singlehandedly. Please forgive me for basing my selection, Trump-like, on central casting.)
They also seem at a loss for words, accusing the Democrats of violating an unspecified “law” of some sort without any explanation. They are also trying to insist that Biden hand over the presidency based on the notion that if he’s not fit enough to serve four more years, he’s not fit enough to serve one more day. And Trump reportedly wants his campaign to be repaid for money he’s had to waste running against Biden, because the Democrats unfairly switched candidates, I read that somewhere, so take it as you will. At any rate, they’re a mess, although I’m sure they’ll reassemble themselves.
Fourth, Harris is not the same woman who ran for president in 2020. This is a good thing, because back then I thought she was a little affected. Do you know what I mean? It was as if she was playing the role of a candidate. She was heavily stage-managed, and the rumor was she was a wishy-washy boss who could not intervene in staff disputes. I have never been worried about whether or not she’d be a good president, but based on what I thought back then, I have worried in the past that she might not be a good candidate.
But now she is not just a practiced campaigner; she is a practiced public servant. She has been Vice President for nearly four years. She is confident. She is a good speaker. She looks like a winner.
And finally, think about the issues she brings to the forefront of the campaign, starting with women’s health. Sure, Joe Biden was pro-choice. But he was also a devout Catholic and I’m not sure he really understood the connections between the “right to choose” and the myriad other aspects of related medical care; cancers, fertility, pregnancies gone wrong, birth control, endometriosis, what have you, which women face. Harris gets it and she speaks to it all the time.
Then there’s Israel’s crazy killing spree, an issue that has discouraged some GenZ voters (and others) from backing the Democratic ticket. Biden’s support for Israel may be in line with our country’s long-standing support for our key Democratic ally in the Middle East, but his support has been unmitigated. Harris’ is not.
And much has been made of Harris’ background as a prosecutor, a tempting contrast with a convicted felon, but not one that really attracts me. Trump was convicted of a fairly arcane New York state law prohibiting the falsification of business records. So, the “felon” label may be accurate, but it’s hardly disqualifying to the electorate. Far worse was the civil charge of sex abuse, but there again, do we really want to pick a fight with Trump over his treatment of women? We’ve been there and done that over and over again with little impact. Meanwhile, the man is an incoherent lunatic and getting worse. We only have three months to make our case. Let’s focus on that.
And while we’re at it, let’s also focus on age. It’s so obvious that it goes without mentioning, but Trump is 78! Let’s pour it on! They can’t complain after what they did to Biden, can they?
Three months sounds like a very short campaign. But it’s not. I think we’re the only country that spends two years electing a president, while others change leadership with only weeks on the hustings. Plus, even with all the fuss and bother of primaries and debates, the electioneering doesn’t really start until Labor Day, or so they say. We haven’t even had the Democratic convention, so we have plenty of time. Indeed, it may be to our advantage that we can retain a feeling of novelty that the other side surely lacks.
I don’t know how long it will last, but I’m feeling pretty good right now for the first time in a long time. We can do this!
Another High Court Showdown?
The biggest GLBT news this week is the (not unexpected) decision by the Department of Education to ask the Supreme Court to step into the battle over the scope of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
I think it’s a bad sign that I’ve reached the point where I remember the year (1972) of the Education Amendments that spawned Title IX without looking it up. This means that we’ve been inundated with Title IX news, and not in a good way.
Here’s the situation, once again: The Biden administration has determined that Title IX, which bans sex discrimination in public education, includes a ban on sexual orientation and gender discrimination. Why did they make that determination? Because the Supreme Court said as much in 2020, when they ruled that a ban on sex discrimination in the workplace (under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) included GLBT bias as well. If sex discrimination includes GLBT bias in the workplace, one would assume it also includes GLBT bias in education, right?
Um, no! Trumpy judges have universally ignored the 2020 High Court decision, ruling that education is somehow different than the workplace. I’m sorry to repeat myself week after week in summarizing this illogical legal position, but the news keeps coming. We’ve seen a couple of federal appellate courts (the Sixth and Fifth circuits) refuse to allow Biden’s Title IX policy to take effect while conservatives challenge it in court.
Now, Biden and company will force the Supreme Court, led in this case by Gorsuch who wrote the 6–3 opinion in Bostock four years ago, to take a stand. Meanwhile, several other red states have challenged the Biden interpretation. But since litigation in these places would obviously be subsumed by a High Court case, we can be excused for ignoring these lawsuits. Let’s do that.
God Have Mercy on Such as We
Do you know how Trump likes to point out that his uncle was some kind of big deal scientist at MIT? It’s something like that, and Trump likes to imply that this familial connection makes him, Trump, automatically brilliant.
Well, in yet another instance of imitating Trump in this column, I’d like to brag that my uncle, Eugene Rostow, was Dean of the Yale Law School from 1955 to 1965. In Trump style, I’d say this gives me exceptional legal credentials, but it also brings up a subject that has mystified me.
What’s with all these rightwing dingbats who graduated from Yale Law?
My grandfather, an immigrant from Russia, moved his wife and three sons to New Haven in order to give them a chance to win an annual scholarship to Yale that was reserved for local boys. My uncle and my father did so, and our family tradition was born. My uncle went to law school at Yale as well, and my father got his PhD. Subsequently, my super smart cousins went to Yale and Yale Law, as did my cousin’s son. We love Yale!
(I went as an undergraduate but survived by the skin of my teeth and did not come within spitting distance of Yale Law School. I spent my undergraduate years coming out of the closet, wearing old ripped t-shirts and jeans and skipping class. I remember seeing my sophisticated Aunt and Uncle approaching near the library and hiding behind a bush.)
At any rate, the head of the Proud Buys went to Yale Law, as did JD Vance, and that nasty senator from Missouri, Josh Hawley. I learned from an essay by Harvard law professor (but Yale Law grad) Noah Feldman, that Clarence Thomas, Sam Alito, and Brett Kavanaugh also went to Yale Law.
Of course, so did both Clintons, Justice Sotomayor, and many other moderates and liberals. But what’s with all the conservative jurists and rightwing loony tunes? Isn’t Yale Law a place of thoughtfulness and intellectual rigor?
Yes, as Feldman points out, and that’s the problem. Let’s say ten percent of the graduating class of Yale Law School is conservative. Those graduates are going to have their pick of conservative placements. The other 90 percent will compete for the “regular” jobs, including the Supreme Court and federal appellate clerkships. The conservatives, in turn, will rise faster, develop more connections, and perhaps go further than their liberal peers.
Moreover, Feldman writes, there’s a feeling of alienation to be a conservative on a liberal Ivy League campus in an elite law school, whether it’s Yale or Harvard or somewhere else. Some graduates carry an outsider’s resentment with them into the next stage of their careers, a phenomenon that could be mitigated by the schools themselves if they made more of an effort to transcend their inherent snobbery. I’m still not sure why Yale seems worse than the others, but perhaps I just notice it more. And now we have to put up with Vance.
Sing with me: “We are poor little lambs, who have lost our way. Bah, Bah, Bah.”
arostow@aol.com
GLBT Fortnight in Review
Published on July 25, 2024
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