The voting is over, the ballots are being counted and recounted, and it’s time for a breather – which should last for about 30 seconds as politicians, fundraisers, consultants, and ground troops gear up for the next election cycle.
Everyone is sick and tired of all those obnoxious attack ads on our TV screens (except for the local stations, for whom it has been a bonanza). Even atheists are offering prayers of thanks that this long and painful campaign is over. In the meantime, the political PR shops are already analyzing the impact of this cycle’s obnoxious advertising and thinking about how to make them even more irritating next time around.
Clear out your in-box and get your credit card to make way for another great deluge of appeals from your next best friend. They can’t do it without your money because it’s sure to be even more expensive.
The next campaign begins today.
The consultants, political pros, donors, staffers, pundits, hangers-on, and assorted other Wednesday-morning quarterbacks are searching for the next big star.
There’s no shortage of wannabes ready to step into the spotlight. A senator once told me that “every one of us gets up in the morning, looks in the mirror and sees the person who should be president.”
Add to that list governors whose states are too small for their ambitions, half the House of Representatives, a handful of billionaires, assorted well-coiffed media personalities, and several yet-unknowns.
Incidentally, only three sitting senators and one House member were ever directly elected to the presidency. They were Senators Warren G. Harding of Ohio, John F. Kennedy of Massachusetts, Barack Obama of Illinois, and Rep. James A. Garfield of Ohio in 1880. Several other lawmakers had other posts before getting to the White House.
Fifteen vice presidents went on to the top job, while another 13 tried and failed. Only one person never served in public office or the military before becoming president.
Opinions will be out about what went wrong
Everyone will have an opinion about exactly what went wrong in this week’s elections. The pros, pols, and pundits will offer solutions to rescue the republic and lead the free world in the next one.
And they’ll let everyone know: It was the candidate. No, it was the running mate. The campaign manager. The speech writer. The voter. The media. The field operation. The weather. The “other.” The candidate was too heavily prepped and programmed. No, they weren’t prepped enough. They didn’t listen to my good advice.
We’ve only got 1,464 days until the next presidential election, and 732 days till picking a new Congress. It’s time to line up the big donors. Hire the right consultants before someone else does. Get those fundraising emails out.
It’s déjà vu all over again.
The writer is a Washington-based journalist, consultant, lobbyist, and a former legislative director at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.