Friday Insights-August 2, 2024
A good week for America, mostly
Hello, I’m John Dean. Today, I am launching Friday Insights, weekly comments on news, and other events of the past week. At the end of today’s comments, I will tell you a bit about myself. For now, please know that I am not John W. Dean, III, best known for his role in Watergate.
Friday Insights will focus on politics, but will also include comments on public policy, culture, science, and even sports. My principal guide will be to say something interesting and, well, insightful.
This week was a good one for America, with Thursday to thank. Four Americans were released from Russia in a prisoner exchange. The news was a surprise. Just days earlier, Evan Gershkovich was sentenced to 16 years in a Russian penal colony. Few of us expected he’d be released anytime soon. His release, and those of the other three Americans—U.S. Marine Paul Whelen, journalist Alsu Kurmasheva, and British-Russian dissident writer Vladimir Kara-Murza—is something to celebrate.
America is also doing well in the Olympics. I did not expect Simone Biles to win the all-around gold gymnastics medal. She had a disappointing Tokyo Olympics and is now 27. Biles defied expectations. Just like Kamala Harris seems to be doing.
It is good news for America that Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is off to such a good start. Can we say that President Biden made the right decision not to run for reelection? Anyone who had a discussion with anyone under 40 knew that Biden had an age problem, but Harris’ success at consolidating the Democratic party is remarkable and historic.
Next week will see Harris make her first big decision, selecting a running mate. My prediction is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Harris should have chosen Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg. Let me explain why. Pundits, after explaining that they are not personally homophobic, will tell you that America is not ready for a gay vice president. Especially a gay VP running with a person of color who is female. I think the pundits are wrong. Harris has already excited younger voters, who are signing up for her campaign in droves. Buttigieg would have supercharged them.
I’m sorry we won’t get to see Mayor Pete debate JD Vance (or whatever his name might be in a month or two). Buttigieg has the full toolkit—smart, an excellent work ethic, and experience. When Biden leaves office, that won’t be the end of Buttigieg. Even if Harris wins and doesn’t offer Buttigieg a seat (a better seat than Transportation) in her cabinet, we haven’t heard the last from him.
One other insight today—a hurricane is again threatening Florida. Let’s hope early projections are wrong and Florida is not hit with another big, destructive storm. But let’s also remember that the extreme heat we have been suffering from all summer, heat that is evidence of climate change, is why hurricanes are getting worse. Harris hasn’t talked much about climate change, yet. Hopefully, that will change.
Okay, a little about myself. Why should anyone care what my “insights” are about anything?
I am a native Washingtonian, and like John W. Dean, III, I attended Georgetown Law. However, I have Dean beat, as I was also born on campus and went to undergraduate school there.
After college but before law school, I studied political philosophy at the University of Toronto. My professors included Allan Bloom, author of Closing of the American Mind, Walter Berns, and other conservative thinkers. It was a great experience, but it convinced me that rather than reading about political philosophy, my real interest was public policy. So, I returned to Washington, got a job on Capitol Hill, and went to Georgetown Law at night.
I worked on the Hill for several years, mostly for congressional committees. When I left the Hill to enter private practice, I was counsel on the House Committee on Education and Labor, now known as the House Committee on Education and the Workforce. I had a law firm specializing in public policy (lobbying, but a bit more than lobbying). After a few years, we split the firm in two and created a public affairs firm that focused on education policy.
At my public affairs firm, I wrote a newsletter titled, Issues & Insights for our clients. I always liked the name . . .
I left my firm about the time Donald Trump was elected president. I had no interest in working for him, and I thought he was a con man. I still do.
For the past three years, I have been a columnist for Spy Community Media’s newspapers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. I write a weekly column there, usually focused on national political news. My offerings are routinely bashed by Trumpers. . .
I hope you will subscribe to Insights & Issues. I will write Friday Insights once a week and post other pieces as occasions arise.