If you lived it, this was a somewhat similar morning to this on 23 years ago. The sky was clear like it is today. Temperature is cool but comfortable. For those who went to work in Manhattan or over at the Pentagon or in that field in Pennsylvania- we have been to all three locations, one of them that morning, it was a bracing and refreshing day of the new season. Until it wasn’t.

About this time on a bright morning in 2001, nearly 3,000 innocent people were brutally murdered. Two of them were shipmates from other places. Things changed.

That was a topic of discussion as the shadows lengthened yesterday with talk about what would happen in the Big Debate, the one that will represent the only face-to-face meeting between the two Presidential candidates who will preside on the Fate of the World for the next few years. Or at least manage the transition to what is coming next if not determine it. There are, on this day of significance, no bombshells to report.

We tried to stay up for it, but were only rewarded with a bluish haze from the flat-screen when we roused enough to shut the thing down sometime after the anniversary arrived. We lurched into the somber morning to see what others had thought who were younger and had the energy to watch,

Apparently the Debate thing in Philadelphia was contentious and featured both candidates speaking over one another and lobbing personal attacks. No new policy specifics were raised, through existing visions were restated on the hot buttons they tell us we have: the Economy, Abortion, and Foreign Policy.

The word from pundit land this morning indicated moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis, 50 and 46 in age, made the discussion a “three-on-one fight” assisted by helpful “fact checking. The former President was described as a bit feisty but not as vociferous as he has been. They said he looked defensive against a younger but familiar candidate.

The real winner in this, Gov. Newsom of CA, said Harris “exceeded all expectations.” His expectations may be the matter he is discussing, since it appears that Trump may very well be headed for an electoral college win in just 54 days.

Splash had been tasked with a policy review of the statement issued by the Harris campaign over the weekend to see if there would be new grist for the mill last night. He made an actual effort, since the statement included bold bullets about the major issues with links to more extended discussions of the individual policy issues. He was pleased to discover the links were direct cut-and-paste lifts from the old Biden campaign documents, so little work was required to be fully prepared.

Continuity was a key theme, whether you liked it or not. “Remember this—she is Biden,” Trump said toward the end, while Harris responded insightfully, “Clearly, I am not Joe Biden” and that the administration’s record on energy, the economy, and other stuff was great.

Trump asserted the world was on the verge of World War III and asked where the President might be, to which Harris responded: “You’re not running against Joe Biden. You’re running against me.”

So that was the policy focus, along with an important discussion about reproductive rights centered on when, not “if,” it is appropriate to terminate babies. As you know, the spectrum of thought on that matter is stark and not one on which we would pivot our plan for our collective futures since it is about ending someone else’s.

The way it was presented last night was the usual inversion “life issues” which are largely about the opposite, Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade, a patchwork of different abortion laws have been permitted in the States. VP Harris backs a right to abortion as a constitutional issue of personal freedom, saying Trump would enact “a national abortion ban” if it passed Congress. Trump defended the constitutional right of the states and said he would neither sign nor veto a national ban on abortion.

He said passage of such legislation is highly unlikely, since it would require 60 Senators to pass move legislation over a likely filibuster in the narrowly divided Senate, and with 21 Seats up for grabs there, such unity is not an immediate prospect. The Moderators did not ask Harris her position on the hot button part, which was the 3rd trimester question.

The Economy is where everyone has an oar in the water. There was a vigorous discussion about groceries, and how two hundred bucks no longer made much progress in filling up two re-cycleable fabric bags from Giant. The choices seemed fairly clear last night. Harris is running to fix the problems she helped create. Trump claims he is running against them.

To do so, they have differing approaches. Trump said he wants a 10% raise in tariffs on all imported goods. He claims it will stimulate domestic production and generate billions of dollars in revenues. Harris says she wants to lower costs for families and small businesses. To do so, she will expand the child tax credit to $6,000 so “young families can afford to buy a crib, buy a car seat, buy clothes for their children” and proposed a $50,000 tax deduction for small business start-ups.

Seriously. There were few key policy advances from either candidate.

Economy, foreign affairs, energy, abortion, immigration, climate change, and health care were restated from established positions. Splash looked up the Harris campaign summation issued late in the weekend. The bullet headers on the individual policy areas were cut-and-paste lifts from the Biden campaign and Trump had nothing new to propose.

The big Green Thing? The War on Weather and Boiling Oceans? Both candidates avoided the expensive but elusive issue. Harris assailed Trump for calling it a hoax and blamed high home insurance premiums in Florida on hurricanes which have been less damaging than predicted this season. So, despite wanting us to completely change transportation and make the electrical grid less reliable at vast expense, there wasn’t much of a chat on the matter.

The Health Care thing was sort of a dance-off. Moderator Davis pressed Trump on his promises to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, to which he said: “We’re going to do it. We’re going to replace it,” and he has the “concepts of a plan that will change it to something better and less expensive.” He did not have time for details.

So, in case you missed it, ABC is skeptical of Trump, and enthusiastic about the Harris promise to fix the problems created by the administration of which she has been Executive Officer for a full term. She takes credit for the “positive record” while Trump blames her for high inflation, expensive energy policies and disastrous border policies.

If the apparent armed occupation of American neighborhoods by criminal Venezuelan gangs and inundation of little Ohio towns by government-sponsored illegal immigrants came up, we missed it in the morning messaging.

As for the Debate, there appeared to be no disasters for Harris and no clear triumphs for Trump. So, what will the next crisis be? We assume there will be some messaging about that stuff later. Next up is likely to be the big decision on whether to shut down the government in a little less than three weeks.

It doesn’t seem to be working, but they didn’t get around to talking about it last night.

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com