Distinguishing Mountains from Molehills

I want to talk a little more about Jasmine Crockett’s candidacy, and how she’ll handle the avalanche of bullshit that will almost certainly come her way. I mentioned her “hot wheels” comment about Gregg Abbot, the Texas Governor who’s in a wheelchair, as well as the nontroversy about her staying in nice hotels (probably just regular decent hotels) and taking limos everywhere. But there will certainly be more. Looking back on another talented black politician:

Yes, the fucking tan suit, ultimate example of a non-issue.

The goal of the right wing media, and now MAGA, is to rock Democrats back on their heels and go on the defensive for something that shouldn’t matter. The way to defuse these kind of non-issue issues is simply to say “so what?” Better still, point out how weird it is to be hung up on the nonsense that they peddle. Going on the defensive, or, worse, backing down, just chums the water for these sharks.

Obama is not the kind of person who would have done it, but the right response as far as I’m concerned would have been to wear a tan suit every day for a month. “I wear the color of suit that I want to wear” would have been a much better move than never wearing a tan suit again, at least in my opinion.

Jasmine Crockett, who’s almost 20 years younger than Obama, came up in a different time and has a different, more hard-edged attitude about this stuff. I’m looking forward to the way she’ll handle it.

I know we’re all tired of hearing how Claudia Sheinbaum handles things, but she’s really good at this. One example is the new tax on soft drinks. Mexico’s number one cause of death is diabetes, and the tax and, by US standards, harsh labeling is part of the effort to reduce diabetes in the population. Lord knows that US politicians got wrapped around the axle of similar efforts. When Claudia was asked what she would say to families complaining about the price of soft drinks after the new tax, she said, “Drink less soda.” A little plain speech goes a long way.