Saturday 6 July 2019

Democrats' biggest obstacle to 2020 success

Donald Trump knows that provided the economy continues to shine for him, he has one other big advantage going for him to be reelected in 2020. The majority of US presidents since the Second World War have served two terms. Being the incumbent president is a huge plus unless of course the first four years were so disastrous that everyone wants anyone else but him for the next four years. Or, if the challenger is an exceptional candidate for the White House. There have been a few of those over the years. So Trump's campaign team should be looking at history to see which presidents failed to make it for a second term in office. The relevant ones in the modern era are the following: Gerald Ford served one shortened term from 1974-1977. But his case was different. He only became president after Richard Nixon was forced to resign following the Watergate scandal. As Nxon's vice-president he automatically took over and finished off Nixon's second term of office. He was never elected as president and always seemed a reluctant commander-in-chief. He did stand for election but lost out to Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer whose soft voice and honest manner won over the voters. But then Jimmy Carter only managed one term himself. He tried and dreadfully failed to solve the US hostage crisis in Iran. He sent special forces off to rescue the 52 Americans beng held at the embassy in Tehran but the helicopters crashed in a sandstorm in the desert and the mission had to be aborted. It proved fatal for Carter's reelection campaign. His opponent also had a lot going for him. Ronald Reagan, former Hollywood B movie actor and ex-governor of California, had too much chutzpah and overwhelmed Carter. The 52 US hostages in Tehran were released the same day Carter left office! The final president who failed to serve for two terms was George HW Bush. He served from 1989 to 1993 but when he tried for reelection the economy was deteriorating and his opponent, Bill Clinton, had good looks, a charismatic personality and played the saxophone. For Trump, the economy still looks favourable. But the strongest card he has at the moment is that no one from the stable of Democratic candidates has yet stepped forward to be the obvious nominee to take on the incumbent president. Joe Biden is leading the field but is weakening by the day. Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris are looking great but there will need to be a superstar to beat Trump. I'm still putting my money on Kamala Harris. But Trump, being the incumbent, so far looks unlikely to follow the path of Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and George HW Bush.

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