The Bobbsey Twins* Reincarnated —Hubert Humphrey & Kamala Harris
[*Bobbsey Twins, fictional character featured in a series of children’s books]
On November 5,1968 President Lyndon Johnson departed the White House leaving his vice-president Hubert Humphrey to run for president as the democratic candidate.
On November 5, 2024, fifty-six years later, President Joe Biden departed the White House leaving his vice-president Kamala Harris to run for president as the democratic candidate.
Why is it important? Because history matters. In the case of Vice President Harris whose fate will be decided by voters next week, it may well be decisive. Both Humphrey and Harris have an eerie similarity when it comes to their ascension to the top spot on their respective tickets, the immediate cause being the downfall of their predecessors due to their catastrophic domestic and foreign policies. The vice-presidents in the best tradition of American politics were left to justify these wrong-headed policies. How they chose to do it is stunning in its similarity and tragic in the message it sends about America’s leaders.
Begin with the implosion of both Johnson and Biden. On March 31, 1968 in a televised speech to the American people, President Johnson announced his intention to vacate the Oval Office. “I shall not seek and I will not accept the nomination of my party for another term as your president…” Not a huge surprise when you consider, as most did not at the time, the mess he was in. Half a million U.S. soldiers fighting and dying in Vietnam, 20,000 already returning in body bags in a war the U.S. never had a chance of winning. Domestically, deadly riots were destroying major parts of inner cities and the economy was in free fall. His approval rating was 36%. Losing the presidency was not the issue, winning the nomination was.
Joe Biden faced a similar set of imponderables but unlike Johnson was dragged kicking and screaming to his announcement. He finally succumbed to the demands of party oligarchs, some of the same ones who had been supporting his wars in the first place. On July 21 (less than four months before the election) he announced “while it has been my intention to seek reelection, I believe it is in the best interest of my party and the country for me to stand down…” Aside from doubts about his mental competency, the U.S. had become involved in two unpopular wars—the one in Ukraine which had already cost the American taxpayer $175 billion. The Israeli attack on Gaza which has led to the deaths of 42,000 civilians most of them women and children has horrified many Americans and made the US government complicit in what the International Court of Justice deems a “plausible” case of genocide by supplying Israel with armaments worth $20 billion. On the domestic front, although the Federal Reserve keeps up the happy talk on the economy, the American people aren’t buying it. To the question — In general, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the way things are going in the United States at this time? It turned out that a resounding three-quarters of Americans were dissatisfied. [Gallup Poll, October 1-12] Is it any wonder that Biden’s approval rating when he was made to retire was 39%?
What a quandary for two hapless candidates. Of all the options available, the most promising of which was to campaign as clean slate candidates, they chose the least promising. Justifying and excusing the inexcusable. Here is Hubert Humphrey in 1968 excusing his failure to challenge his boss as the Vietnam quagmire soaked up more and more American blood and treasure. “The vice president of the United States is one of the president’s advisors. He is not president. And that’s the first thing he needs to learn.” Kamala went him one better and proved herself to be in need of a good therapist. When asked by the “ladies” of the View, “If anything, would you have done something differently than President Biden during the past four years?” She answered without hesitation “there is not a thing that comes to mind.“
While both sets of advisors reached for their blood pressure pills, the race was on to clean up the damage both had done to their election hopes. Stunningly they adopted similar mea culpas. First Humphrey on 9/30/1968 — “The policies of tomorrow need not be limited by the policies of yesterday. We must look to the future.” Then Kamala came to the plate with a real whooper — “My administration will not be a continuation of the Biden administration. I bring to this role my own ideas and my own experience. I represent a new generation of leadership on a number of issues and believe we have to actually take new approaches.“
Feel reassured yet?
Neither totally renounced the hash both Johnson and Biden had made of their presidencies. Realizing he needed to put a little (very little as it turned out) distance between himself and Johnson, Humphrey added this disclaimer — “I would not undertake a unilateral withdrawal. To withdraw would not only jeopardize the independence of South Vietnam and the safety of other Southeast Asian nations. (the ‘domino theory’ was hugely popular among many of Johnson’s foreign policy advisors) it would make meaningless the sacrifices we have already made.” Kamala, on the other hand, was marching to the beat of a drummer that only she could hear. Wait for it folks, it’s coming the theme song of the whole bought and paid for congress and White House purchased by the Israeli lobby—”I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself and in particular, as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.”
It gets worse, much worse. When Anderson Cooper asked: “What do you say to voters who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate, or staying on the couch, not voting at all because of this issue [the genocide in Gaza]?” Her answer (word salad alert: died and been killed?): “I don’t know that anyone who has seen the images who would not have strong feelings about what has happened, much less those who have relatives, who have died and been killed. And I, and I know people and I’ve talked with people, so I appreciate that. But I also do know that for many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries.”
What? Admittedly she’s not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but swap the slaughter of thousands of Palestinians for affordable groceries? As Faustian bargains go, it’s a dilly.
So here we are on the cusp of the election. Like her long-ago twin, she has ignored the lessons of history. Her party platform is long on identity politics, short on the dangers of the world inching closer to nuclear annihilation. Perhaps today Americans do not want a new boss the same as the old boss. Did they ever? Fifty-six years later and nothing has changed — the same old lies and justifications. It didn’t work for Humphrey. Will it work for Harris?
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” [George Santayana, The Life of Reason, 1905]
