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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 14, 2024

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Betting markets are keen on Michelle to jump in there, but that seems especially insane to me.

It feels insane, but on the other hand I'm not sure.

It's not like there are many people who would refuse to vote for her but intend to vote for Biden, right? If you resent underqualified black women being shoved into positions of responsibility as publicity stunts, you're already voting for Trump.

(and it's not like a former first lady is a priori less qualified than a reality TV show host, 'qualified' has sort of stopped being a thing in politics anyway)

And she could certainly energize some groups of voters of the left who are pretty apathetic or hostile towards Biden, and might drive up turnout.

It's definitely a more all-in strategy, betting on going full polarization and driving turnout on the extremes, rather than the Biden strategy which is desperately clinging to the center and hoping to gather enough of the remaining scraps of the-world-as-it-was-20-years-ago to limp over the finish line.

But yeah, probably nuts, but more interesting than it might sound at first.

If you resent underqualified black women being shoved into positions of responsibility as publicity stunts, you're already voting for Trump.

Or you told yourself it was okay cause the VP doesn't have a lot of power anyway.

(and it's not like a former first lady is a priori less qualified than a reality TV show host, 'qualified' has sort of stopped being a thing in politics anyway)

Different brands. In response to Trump the Democrats have doubled down harder on qualifications and being the adults, allegedly.

And she could certainly energize some groups of voters of the left who are pretty apathetic or hostile towards Biden, and might drive up turnout.

This is assuming these apathetic, fringe types strongly favor of Obama or his wife? There's been a lot of disillusionment with the guy. You could say him not turning out to be a transformative president is the formative experience of many on the "Left". A lot of this is blamed on the GOP and McConnell denying his heavenly mandate but not all of it.

Before he and his wife dove into sellout territory making Meghan Markle-esque bland podcasts or working behind the scenes to ensure a smoother primary win for Biden against Bernie.

working behind the scenes to ensure a smoother primary win for Biden against Bernie

Why on Earth wouldn't he help out the guy who'd been his VP for 8 years?

Nobody said it was irrational for him to do.

I don’t disagree with your overall point, but.

If you resent underqualified black women being shoved into positions of responsibility as publicity stunts, you're already voting for Trump.

I do resent affirmative action and I am very much not a Trump voter. Pretty sure I’m not alone even if our numbers are small.

Yeah. This bloc feels a lot bigger than 'fervent Democrat/Obama supporter who'd be lulled to the polls by a WOC with a big surname', especially since Clinton had relevant experience and Obama decidedly does not.

Everyone wants a third Obama term. The Hapsburgs were onto something. Get around term limits with this one weird trick.

By all accounts Biden is Obama's 3rd term.

It wouldn’t be smart for her to jump in now. But I think cons are kidding if they don’t agree she comes across much nicer than Hillary.