Brazen, Bland or Bold

Presidential Optics for Election 2020

I have heard many people bemoan that the only choices we have for President in November are either President Trump or former V.P. Joe Biden.

As I have drilled down into the reticence towards each, more than a few people have pointed out that we seem to have to choose between Trump, who is too brazen and wild and Biden who is too bland and tepid.

Much of Trump’s base appears to be angry, and not without reason for many of their legitimate frustrations towards how government has conducted itself for many years. Angry people appear to find in Trump’s brazenness, both a champion and outlet for their anger.

Most people will say that Biden is nice, decent and civil, but it is not those that bother people who would like to support him. What turns many off is that he appears to come off as bland. Blandness is uninspiring.

BTW my unsolicited psychoanalytic two cents about a possible cause for that blandness is that one of the top unconscious motivators beneath Biden’s behavior is a wish to never come off as a jerk or an a-hole. When his passion about something is picking up momentum and just when he is about to go in to do a “slam dunk” that is his for the taking, he stops and reverses course back at the last minute because he doesn’t want to come off as either of those offensive categories. As a result, he neutralizes his “healthy” aggression just at the moment when he could use it “debland” himself.

What I believe the American public is hungry for is boldness. Boldness is daring to push through a possibly unpopular agenda even as it is certain to create controversy, but you nevertheless push it through, because every bit of your fiber believes it is the right thing to do and also is something that doesn’t appear to be self-serving.

There are some presidents or leaders who don’t start off bold, but the times they live in, can cause them to rise to the occasion and develop it.

Churchill did that as he confronted the “Gathering Storm” of Hitler.

JFK did that after his disastrous defeat with the Bay of Pigs to boldly and deftly handle the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Johnson showed boldness as he pushed through so much legislation to help create a more fair society after JFK was assassinated.

You may disagree with this, but Gerald Ford, demonstrated boldness by pardoning Richard Nixon, because he was right that it would have kept the country embroiled in something it needed to put behind it and Ford did what he did, knowing it would cost him any chance to be subsequently elected.

Obama did it by pushing through the Affordable Care Act.

It’s probably too late for Trump to transition from brazen to bold, especially since he possesses little desire or inclination to do so, and doesn’t see the wisdom of doing so. To him, being statesman like is for wusses and losers.

Could Biden transition from bland to bold? It’s unclear and it seems he is hoping to bring “boldness” to the ticket by picking a V.P. that embodies it.

To a certain extent, Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, both appeared more bold than bland, but their visions for America seem just a bit too revolutionary to swallow.

Boldness is standing for something that is non-negotiable, standing up for that something and standing up against anything and anyone that violates whatever that non-negotiable thing is. For America that might possibly be a country where the majority of Americans have a reasonable chance to feel confident and safe and realistically hopeful about their future.