Tuesday, October 8, 2024

Hoary steretypes

Three clips around the same issue.  Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina and Tennessee all hit pretty hard and all still recovering from the damage from Hurricane Helene.  

There is a measured reality in terms of billions of dollars of damage done and in terms of hundreds of dead in each state.  Florida, which should theoretically have been hardest hit, seems to have been best prepared and recovered the fastest.  North Carolina seems to have suffered the most and seems still barely past the beginning of recovery, with hundred and thousands still cut off, without supplies, without electricity, without communication.

With those sorts of differentials in terms of impact and recovery, of course we will get around to a blame game.  What could have been avoided?  What could have been done better.

Because we are also in the middle of a national election cycle, there is all sorts of political spinning going on as well.  Signaling being done more or less well, depending on the candidate.

I have been intrigue by one particular triangulation - that between Governor DeSantis of Florida (Republican), Vice President Kamala Harris (Democrat) running for President, and President Joe Biden (Democrat).  

The first clip seems to be Harris trying to score political points by complaining to the press that Governor DeSantis won't take her calls.
Sure, trying to score political points through the press inherently constitutes playing political games, but . . . they are politicians.  They lie and are inconsistent.

Her political charge is that the Governor of Florida is not taking her calls and not making himself available to the Vice President.

Here is DeSantis in a press conference being asked about Harris's charge.  He affirms that he is in routine contact with the head of FEMA and that he has spoken with the President.  The President offered his direct number for follow-up.  DeSantis affirms Florida has received all the assistance requested and if they need more, he will continue to work with FEMA and/or the President to make his case.
Finally there is this clip in which President Biden is asked about the contretemps.
There are so many ways to dissect this.

One way is to see Harris as having shot herself in the foot.  She has positioned herself as the mean girl trying to use words to score points off an opponent and accidentally having highlighted that she is actually irrelevant.  If DeSantis and Biden and FEMA are in routine communication with one another, then Harris has highlighted her irrelevance.  

One narrative is that this is President Biden spitefully throwing Harris under the bus for displacing him.  Conceivable but seems less than likely.  Subversion through cognitive challenge, perhaps.  

What I was struck by is how this seems to play to old, old stereotypes.  Forget D versus R, old versus young, etc.

What I see in this shadow play is:

DeSantis - We have problems and I am working with the whole team to solve them.

Biden -  We have problems and I am working with the whole team to solve them.

Harris - I see an opportunity I can exploit to make others look bad and they are being mean to me and/or not showing me the respect I think I deserve.

Stepping back from it, this sure feels like gender stereotype communication styles.  It just doesn't help Harris.  It further feels like she simply isn't ready for prime time.  She doesn't know how to play on the national stage.

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)