As Joe Biden announced his presidential re-election campaign this morning, his biggest announced opponent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. responded by inviting Biden to debate.
Two days ago the DNC announced it will not allow 2024 primary debates, which RFK called “unfortunate” in an interview with Breitbart.
“When you have so many Americans who are concerned about election integrity, we should be doing everything we can in our party to show that, you know, this is not rigged, a rigged system…they’re doing kind of the opposite…There’s too many Americans who already think that the whole system is rigged against them. And this is confirmation of that. And I think that’s troubling,” he added.
It’s not unfortunate, or troubling, it’s entirely predictable. Nothing will be as rigged as the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primary, surpassing even Hillary Clinton’s rigging of her 2016 primary. Lack of debates erases the only value to RFK running in the Democratic primary; raising his voice on two calamitous and ongoing deadly catastrophes Democrats want to hear nothing about - the covid vaccine and Ukraine. So why censor yourself like that?
The last truly competitive independent campaign for president was Ross Perot in 1992, which was entirely self-funded (something the internet spares Kennedy from). Perot initially was not interested in running and was largely drafted by a grassroots effort to put him on the ballot in all 50 states. Despite his obvious reluctance to run, immediately upon his announcement Perot led both Bill Clinton and incumbent George H. W. Bush, and continued to do so for most of spring and summer 1992. In July, Perot’s very cold feet imploded his campaign with a strange tale of “Republican operatives” disrupting his daughter’s wedding, and Perot dropped out, only to re-announce and become a staple of Saturday Night Live’s last golden era. Perot limped to 18% nationally, with pockets of much stronger support in the Midwest. For example, Perot actually won one county in Ohio, Trumbull, which at the time was represented in Congress by Jim Traficant.
Why can’t Perot’s 18% nationally be the RFK Jr. baseline, and build from there? RFK faces a much easier way forward as an independent than Perot did in 1992 in countless ways, most important being nothing has changed since 1992 that Perot’s candidacy sought to address. It’s all still there - the giant sucking sounds, the rot, except worse by 32 years. The tools are better. He’s a Kennedy. And both the opposing parties (and their candidates) are far weaker. In fact, I would bet RFK Jr. gets on all 50 ballots before either Biden or Trump do. I could go on and on.
If he doesn’t run as an independent, RFK Jr. will only reinforce this rigged system by acquiescing to its rules designed to screw him over. The enormous amount of money RFK Jr. will no doubt raise will almost all go to television oligarchs already opposed to him, rather than to a grassroots machine. And the game will just be rigged more, by RFK Jr.’s own hand. Don’t do it Bobby. Be a Kennedy, have some guts, run as an independent.
I agree with you 100%! Make that !00+%!
I was our county coordinator in '92 and easily surpassed our needed goal to put him on the state ballot. I remember heading to the Tetons for a vacation that summer and seeing a huge crowd having a rally with signs and banners hanging over a bridge as we drove along I-70 heading west. What a sight! It was a fantastic campaign. Just very ugly and unfortunate about the threats to his family. Yes, the Kennedy campaign will be a waste unless he goes independent. Felt the same way about Sanders. Democrats just suck.
I've been for a way out of the Dem madness since volunteering for the Dean campaign 20 years ago and seeing the lengths the party would go to back then to undermine any candidate critical of the Dem establishment (as Dean was at that time). I definitely agree that RFKjr not only needs to run as independent, but that he may be uniquely positioned to do so. Speaking strategically, would it make sense for a challenger to continue to press for debates and highlight the party's resistance as a showcase of why an outside campaigner is necessary and make the move when it's clear to the public that the party is not as committed to democratic processes as it claims when it comes to other party?