Taylor Swift
President Biden is 81. Apparently the 18 to 34 year olds think he is too old to run for President and might vote for a progressive third candidate who has no chance for winning even one state or out of high mindedness opt out completely. They may protest and be incensed on line but they may not bother to vote. I was reading an article on what he could do to ensure the youth vote.
One thing he could do is to point out that Donald Trump at 77 is almost the same age. If Biden sometimes stumbles when giving a speech, so does Trump, who much of the time sounds incoherent.
But the main thing the interview by Jim Messina, Obama‘s reelection campaign manager, suggests in a Vanity Fair interview is simply pointing out what each of them stands for and has promoted as President, regardless of their age, which really doesn‘t matter. Biden has been stopped by the Supreme Court from cancelling student loans, supports funding the Ukraine war, supports the sale of electric cars and the prevention of global warming, brought the economy to full employment and low inflation, protected and is protecting us from Covid, is doing what he can to oppose Trump‘s packing of the Supreme Court with anti abortion justices all things that young people care about. Trump on the other hand promises dictator methods, opposes abortion, denies global warming, supports Putin and lies constantly all things that should remind young voters that the things they care about are threatened unless they vote against him. A vote for a third party candidate or refusing to vote at all because Biden is not progressive enough is a vote for Donald Trump, whom they can‘t stand. This is the message that will win for Biden, Messina says.
But he suggests two more things to help Biden deliver his message to young people. One is to foster a constant discussion on Tik Tok, which Messina thinks is terrific and secondly is to have messengers that young people will listen to. First on his list are Michelle Obama and Taylor Swift, person of the year on the Time cover.
And at this point my age and the age of Joe Biden seems to be in comic dissonance with this advice. I am six years older than Joe Biden and I think that I could make the same presidential decisions that he is forced to make with the help of great advisors. But I take a nap every afternoon for an hour, sometimes two naps a day, and I assume that Joe Biden does too. Every afternoon I assume he closes the Oval Office door and takes a snooze. Why not? He is probably a better president for it. Just because young people don’t nap I don‘t think disqualifies him.
But I am guessing that he doesn‘t spend any time each day on Tik Tok. I read about influencers being on Tik Tok and about kids constantly being on their phones watching Tik Tok or playing video games. Even when they gather together as a group they are all on their phones, even texting each other as they sit side by side. This could be a way to reach young people but I don’t Tictok and I am certain that it won‘t be Joe Biden Tiktocking with them.
I‘ve listened to Taylor Swift once. My granddaughter was playing her singing when we were in Santorini and asked me to listen. I did. It sounded more like rap than music, a lot of words. I think it is the words about the tensions of being a young woman in love or not in love that Caroline responds to. I don‘t fault her, I was young once and I know how it feels. But Taylor Swift doesn‘t speak for me in my old age and I am sure that Biden doesn‘t know any more about her than I do in spite of her being person of the year. And what her frenetic, glittering, tight costumed dancing has to do with her words is a complete mystery and odd distraction to me. I may think that I could handle the decisions of the Presidency but I don‘t have a clue how to deal with Taylor Swift.
That doesn mean that Tik Tok and Taylor Swift couldn‘t help Biden‘s message to reach young people. But it won‘t be Biden reaching them, he will be in the Oval Office taking a well deserved snooze.
BILLYBABA’S WANDERING 