Fantasy sports are wildly popular. Comparisons, contrasts and competition among teams and players are not possible in real life like they are in a game like DraftKings or FanDuel. While not a fan of fantasy sports, I tip my hat to sports fantasy fans to ponder the matchup of political teams.
In a fantasy test of major party political dream teams, my money is on a Biden-Obama ticket because it thumps Trump in November, hands down and going away. At first glance, you might think the roles reversed from the ticket that won in 2008 and again in 2012. The Obama in the 2020 equation is none other than Michelle.
Pressure from all quarters is bearing down on Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee, to pick as his running mate a woman of color. Michelle Obama clearly qualifies on both criteria. By coming out of retirement to place herself in second position to the Office of President, Mighty Michelle would guarantee the outcome in November could be cinched and clinched now. Running up the score against Trump-Pence between now and November would be sweet and inevitable.
MO is wildly popular and a beloved former First Lady who has before her the kind of forked-path moment in history that, like George Washington agreeing to lead in battle against Britain and its Mad King then guiding a new republic under a new form of governance that has a president as its top executive, a nation needs at this dire moment. The opportunity for Democrats to “Make America Great Again” becomes a massive cleanup job. Were the Mighty O to come out of retirement to help Biden dash the hopes of Dumb and Dangerous to claim a second term, the gracious, elegant but earthy author of "Becoming," her memoire published in 2018 that details her journey from growing up in Chicago to the White House and beyond, could start writing her sequel, "'Becoming' Becomes Vice President."
A world-famous feminine icon who has enthusiastic followers from all segments of the electorate, MO engenders immense respect around the world. Mighty Michelle may be more popular than Barack Hussein Obama, her husband, father of her two daughters and now twice-elected President. Mrs. Obama can do what no other woman of color can do for Biden and Democrats this year, because no other woman of color has played the role Michelle played as First Lady.
Among Biden's top challenges is to turnout African-American women, along with other key constituencies including millennials, educated suburban white women, Hispanics and sensible independents, in record numbers. These constituencies understand after three years of D&D, how nuts the nation was four years ago when by fewer than 78,000 total votes in three key states, a national leader with no training or affection for or competence in running government, at any level, was installed. MO's placement on the national ticket would deliver on the Herculean task Biden must overcome this year.
Mrs. Obama spent eight years playing in The White House League, where she showed why her skills and talents, political savvy and campaign energies make her a triple threat. Three lady Democrats took the plunge this year to run for president, two of them were white, Sen. Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, while the third one, Sen. Kamala Harris of California, was a woman of color. The latest count on female candidates touted for Biden's VP stands at 13. Prominent in this baker's dozen is Stacey Abrams in Georgia, who lost her last electoral race and didn't enter the primary season this year. Despite this history, Abrams is nonetheless generating buzz as Biden’s pick. Another high-profile candidate is Florida Congresswoman Val Demings, a former Orlando chief of police who showed her steely side as one of the House Impeachment Managers.
Michelle Obama, like husband Barack, has largely stayed out of sight and quiet until recently, when the former president suited up for an off-the-bench event to remotely speak to 2020 graduates. In his remarks, Mr. Obama deftly and accurately criticized the "chaotic disaster" that Dumb and Dangerous has presided over. The Waterloo for Dumb and Dangerous arrived in the form of an unseen and vicious virus that has in a few short months killed more than 100,000 souls who might still be alive today had this White House taken the threat seriously instead of blowing off as bad PR for a reelection campaign
Reports arrive daily of Trump's failings among the electorate and how continued descent imperils his chances in November of voters saying “You’re fired!” The Hail Mary hope for Team Trump is to tarnish and trash the eight-years Obama-Biden spent digging the nation out of an economic ditch President George W. Bush and Republicans in control of Congress for most of his two terms drove the country into. The "Great Recession," as this economic calamity is called, left America facing an economic crisis that nearly turned into a second Great Depression, had it not been for the fiscal initiatives Obama-Biden initiative that the GOP opposed at every turn.
In this political fantasy, dream-team camp, Michelle would instantly bring the kind of magic a young Michael Jordan brought to the Chicago Bulls, as ESPN's "Last Dance" informs us. After D&D's tremendous failings to date, look for more, maybe greater, blunders, that if allowed to fester and spread over a second term--or even third term--would make the Founders weep in their graves.
Michelle agreeing to join Joe Biden would be a second coming that would rival the return of Jesus. It would be the historical equivalent of George Washington leading America in victory against Britain and its Mad King, then presiding for eight years as the first president. Maybe Michelle's keen understanding of history is such that she sees the grand historical importance of the moment and understands the challenge. And seriously, what poetic justice it would be if she and Joe B. could cement a reversal of fortune from 2016? Our drifting downward nation would once again have a smart, effective, eloquent, determined second-in-command who would be a hit with all groups regardless of age or ethnicity or religious persuasion. She would be in position to do another unimaginable feat, become the second African-American president and the first African-American woman to hold the office. Michelle could, with sweet justice reserved only for Greek Gods, right the wrongs Dumb and Dangerous tries to foist on the nation with each passing hour.
With respect to President Obama's many achievements, highest among them being the Affordable Care Act that Dumb and Dangerous calls a disaster and hopes to overturn in its entirety in the courts, Michelle could drown it in the bathtub like Grover Norquist says is appropriate for federal taxation.
A Biden-Obama ticket would guarantee Democrats reap other electoral rewards, too, starting with retaking control of the all-important Senate in spectacular fashion, while holding and likely adding to the majority Democrats hold in the House of Representatives.
And maybe, just maybe, the political fantasy team no one is talking about or wants to talk about, that so many scoff at as impossible even though it would stun everyone and win the day, would be the invincible ticket Democrats could use to vanquish Team Trump and his allied hooligans this year and into the future. Were Mrs. Obama to occupy the Office of Vice President, she would embody in real life the fantasy presidents of TV shows that cast an African American woman as president. She could heal a divided and bloody nation that's nearly as divided as it was in 1860.
In short, Michelle Obama has everything any fantasy coach would want to drive their fantasy team to victory. She's young, a mother of two daughters, a smart lawyer by training, plus, she’s fun and dances and grows vegetable, and has a backbone that doesn't tolerate idiots or fools. What's not to like? For added measure, historians would be orgasmic if President Biden decided to relinquish his duties so Michelle Obama could again move into 1600 Pennsylvania, this time as POTUS. An African-American couple who served as POTUS is unthinkable to most until the idea is fully plumbed.
Joe Biden should dial M for Michelle if Democrats want to seal Trump's fate as a big-time loser in November. The simultaneous side effect is saving the nation from the dystopian future ahead if Dumb and Dangerous fakes his way to a second or maybe a third term. Democrats should heed what Dumb and Dangerous says wrongly about so many important matters, "What have you got to lose?"
The big question is not what Democrats have to lose but what can they have to gain with a ticket that has the best balance ever. An aging white man who has matured and evolved over time who is now balanced by a dynamic, intelligent, caring woman of color.
The answer isn't blowing in the wind anymore, it's right here, right now.
