Michelle Obama 80%...Ron DeSantis 14%
Glory Days Indeed
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Kennedy is without a doubt a flawed messenger -- but his message fits the times we are in now really well for tens of millions of voters.
Two of the smartest political observers we are lucky enough to have use their Substacks in essential reading pieces to explore and explain the appeal of Bobby Kennedy (they both also muse about Tucker ’24).
Here is the brilliant Mr. John Ellis whose newsletter you should subscribe to, on RFK:
The fact that he won’t be the 2024 Democratic presidential nominee does not mean he won’t have a significant impact on the 2024 presidential campaign. Ask Lyndon Johnson if Sen. Gene McCarthy had any chance of being the Democratic presidential nominee in 1968. Ask George H.W. Bush if Pat Buchanan had any chance of being the Republican presidential nominee in 1992. Neither McCarthy nor Buchanan had a realistic chance of being their respective parties’ nominees. Both men had a measurable impact on the outcome of the general elections in 1968 and 1992.
McCarthy and Buchanan were “messengers.” The “establishment” reaction to their candidacies was “shoot the messenger.” But they persisted, and subsisted, because they gave voice to discontent. That’s what some candidates become, sometimes. They become vehicles of discontent.
As a vehicle of discontent, you could do worse than Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The name still resonates. He has a tagline that only he can use: “I think we can do better.” And he has a persuasive Kennedy-esque message — “it’s time for a new generation of leadership”— even if that message doesn’t apply to him specifically. There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that America is desperate for a new generation of leadership.
Kennedy has other things going for him aside from his family’s political “brand.” He only has to focus on one state: New Hampshire. And he need only deliver one message. That message is: “you deserve a choice.”