For roughly a year now, “Rocky Top”—the political guru and one-time adviser to presidential candidates who appears pseudonymously in my new book “American Refugees”—and I have been agreeing over our frequent lunches that the 2024 Democratic Party nominee won’t be President Joe Biden, but Michelle Obama.
We also agreed that she would be a more formidable candidate than the current president not just because of his obviously infirm condition but because of that repellent concept on which the Democrats depend—identity politics—for which she checks two of the most important boxes.
She also has no problem with name recognition.
We originally speculated that the announcement of this change (rescue?) would be delayed as long as possible—to the Democratic Party convention on Aug. 19–22 in Chicago or slightly before when some form of back-room deal would transpire. Note the choice of Chicago—Obama heartland—for the convention.
We reasoned that delay would be advantageous to Mrs. Obama because it would shorten the campaign, allowing less time for her to be scrutinized about her time as first lady when she accomplished so little of consequence.
There would also be less scrutiny of the lavish lifestyle she has been living the past few years, which is more suitable for the pages of Vogue than serious negotiations with global leaders during war or dealing with the malign consequences of an open border.
But Rocky’s thinking on the delayed timing of this announcement has changed, as has mine. (There is something of a mind meld between us.)
On Jan. 20, I received the following text message from him:
“Feb. 24 could well be an important watershed moment for the Dems. If [President Donald] Trump, as expected, wins in South Carolina on the 24th, it will effectively end the GOP nomination race. The Dems and the MSM will freak out over the stark reality of an unopposed, unleashed Trump nomination and begin to openly say Biden must drop out.
