The more people mock Joe Biden for him poor performance in presidential debate, but I want to sympathize with him. We live in a society committed to eradicating “isms” wherever they are, so why is ageism still a gladiatorial sport? On the other hand, the leader of the free world probably needs to have fewer catatonic moments than Biden seems to have. That’s where his replacement comes in, a desired need if donald trump must be kept out of the White House. Kamala Harris is banned. So, who?
Enter Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan’s stalwart Democratic governor, alone in a sea of Midwestern Republicans who like to troll her for being a woman and for being, well, sane. More than sensible: experienced, reasonable, brilliant and not senile. She’s a tough person, as you need to be to survive in American politics, especially as a woman (Trump referred to her only as “the woman from Michigan”). Her sensible stay-at-home orders during the first four months of Covid spawned a kidnapping plot against her, death threats, lawsuits, harassment, and more. She was not intimidated.
Whitmer is sensible on most topics, from the environment (interested in supporting renewable energy at the heart of the oil-guzzling U.S. auto industry) to child care to gun control and most importantly for me: abortion. She promised to “fix the damn roads” in her home state, and she did. It focuses on infrastructure and improving it rather than relying on geopolitical and cultural alignments to win fans.
I think of her as a Democrat Nikki Haley with a twist and probably more intelligence, although Haley is a good egg. Sometimes it takes a woman, and a middle-aged woman, to solve a problem. And America has a huge problem: perhaps the biggest it has ever faced. It’s time to bring in the chivalry, the kind with nice cheekbones and gorgeous brown hair.
