One of the hardest things I had to learn as a manager was that in order to succeed, I had to hire people who were smarter than I was and better at what they do than I could be. Once I learned that, I became more than a just manager. I became a leader.
Executives in successful companies do this all the time. They hire the best and brightest knowing that successful employees build successful companies. Well, they used to. These days they’re just as likely to hire someone because of some social justice bullshit instead of hiring the best person for the job.
But that’s not the way it works in politics. Not the social justice bullshit thing, that happens all the time. Politicians routinely hire yes-men (I refuse to say “yes-persons”) and sycophants. They surround themselves with people who they perceive will give them some sort of an advantage, but not someone who they perceive to be a threat. Government positions are never filled with the best and brightest.
For example, when a presidential candidate is searching for a running mate, he, yes, I’m going to say “he” here because it makes the most sense historically, he chooses a running mate who has only two qualifications. 1) s/he will likely sway some voters and 2) by comparison, the Vice President candidate won’t outshine the presidential candidate. Either before the election or after should they win.
Which is how we ended up with Dan Quayle, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as Vice President. All three are dumb as a stump, which meets criteria #2. I have no idea which voters Dan Quayle was supposed to bring to the table, but Joe Biden met the first criteria because he was white. Can you imagine Barak Obama getting elected if he’d had a black running mate? Never would have happened.
Obama didn’t choose Joe Biden because of the content of his character. Joe was selected because of the color of his skin. And so was Kamala Harris. Joe was selected because he was so white he offset Obama’s blackness. Kamala was just black-ish enough to tick the “person of color” box, which we all know is really important. And, she was chosen because she was just a little bit more less-qualified than Joe.
Which meant that even though Joe was already losing his mind before the election, it was believed that any comparison of Joe vs. Kamala would end up with Joe being at least slightly better than she. I almost meant to say that Joe would “come out on top of Kamala” but that’s too spot-on to how Kamala managed to get where she is. And I mean spot-on in a Monica Lewinski sort of way.
But I digress.
Every time a less-than-mentally-competent Vice President is selected, we lower our expectations of what a president should be. We have to. Because that less-than-mentally-competent Vice President just might be president someday. So, we’re forced to imagine Dan Quayle or Joe Biden or Kamala Harris as president. And just by imagining the possibility, our expectations become a little bit lower.
Don’t get me wrong, some Vice Presidents would probably make a good president. It was easy for me to imagine Mike Pence being President. Until, you know, that little thing where he turned into a traitor.
I know I complain about Joe Biden. Who wouldn’t? All he had to do was nothing and everything would have been fine. And I completely agree that he’s not fit (I was going to say no longer fit but he never was fit) to be president. He’s never been the brightest light in the hall and he’s rapidly becoming dimmer. He should be removed from office. At least that’s what I used to think.
As poor of a President that Joe Biden is, we should all be hoping and praying that he stays healthy enough to finish out his term.
I know that sounds crazy but hear me out. By the time we get near the end of 2023, we’re going to look back fondly at Joe Biden’s time in office and wish he was still pretending to be calling the shots.
I’m serious. How does that saying go? I think it’s, “Better the idiot you know than the idiot you don’t.” I know it’s something like that.
I know I’ve got this one right, “Be careful what you wish for, lest it come true.”
Because, when it’s no longer possible for anyone to pretend that Joe hasn’t gone completely senile, we’re going end up with Kamala Harris as president. Cacklin’ Kamala. The one person guaranteed to be less qualified for the presidency than Joe Biden.
I want you to think back over the past couple of years at every stupid thing that Kamala has said. I almost said “every stupid thing she’s said and done” but she hasn’t done anything. Traditionally, Vice Presidents don’t do much. After all, their main job is to not outshine their boss. But even by Vice Presidential standards, Kamala has accomplished very little.
Except that one time she was, with great fanfare, put in charge of solving the illegal immigration problem. Which, for some reason, she found hilarious. But not only did she not solve the problem, she didn’t even try to solve the problem.
And she’s first in the line of succession.
As much as I hate to believe it, the day is coming when we’ll go from bad to worse. It’s not too far away. I predict that sometime in late January, Biden is going to resign as President of the United States.
That’s when the real shit show starts.
If you think things are bad now, just you wait until Kamala’s in charge. Remember, as Vice President, her main job is to make Joe Biden look great by comparison. Joe Biden. Someone who can’t even speak his thoughts when his thoughts are right there in front of him on a teleprompter. And Kamala was selected to be his running mate because she’s at least slightly worse than that.
We’ve already seen this in action. Her nervous laugh/cackle whenever she’s put in a tough situation. Lately she’s begun spouting word salads that leave even her biggest supporters scratching their heads. Think of how that’s going to play out on the world stage. Can you imagine Kamala in a negotiation with Russia or China? I can, and it scares the hell out of me.
When Kamala becomes President, she’s not going to magically become more qualified than she is now. She’s still going to be less qualified for the job than Joe. And Joe has set the bar pretty low.
So, our expectations of what a President should be, will be further lowered as will our expectations of what a Vice President should be.
Because Kamala, who is a complete idiot, will have to find someone who is even more of an idiot than she is to be her Vice President. Someone who is so unqualified for the position that Kamala looks good by comparison. And the real scary thing is that someday, that person might become president.
