[ExI] US Democrat Playbook

[Kelly Anderson]

I know that this isn't really the right place for politics, but you
are the smartest people I know, and I'm wondering if I'm hallucinating
about something that I think I'm noticing. And maybe this isn't
entirely a political question anyway, it's more of a human
psychological question and whether the Democratic party is advancing
through a psychological "trick".

When Barack Obama ran for president in 2008, he promoted "hopes and
dreams" but seemed exceptionally unspecific about what he intended to
do, other than some vague plans about universal health care. He had
almost zero record as a senator. He allowed himself to be an empty
vessel into which people psychologically *projected* their own hopes
and dreams and he was extremely successful with this approach. It
turned out that his real vision resonated with enough people that he
even got reelected after he had created something of a record. Good
for him. It doesn't seem too bold to say that his first four years
were more accomplished than his last four.

In 2016, Trump won. Bad orange populist beat the drum, and people who
never voted did for once. This doesn't go to my point, which is about
the Democrats. On the democratic side, you had Hillary Clinton with
YEARS of on the record experience, and a long voting record. People
knew EXACTLY what they would be getting and apparently rejected her.

In 2020, back to the Obama model, under the cover of covid, Biden ran
the proverbial "campaign from his basement". He didn't make many
specific promises (how could he) and again served as an empty vessel
for people to pour their hopes and dreams into. Along with a fair
amount of vote at home changes, he won. He also disavowed much of his
earlier voting record in the process, to become less predictable.

Now, in 2024, It seems perfectly safe at this point to predict that
Biden (who is no longer an empty vessel, has caused a fair bit of
inflation, and is widely thought to be possibly empty headed in a
quite literal way) will be replaced before the election. I predict
that another relatively unknown person may be put up, too late for the
public to research, so that once again people can project their own
hopes and dreams into another "empty vessel". I predict that if they
do that, an unknown is better than Trump, and will likely win.

The question for this group of learned scholars is whether you think
this "empty vessel" promoting projection theory has ANY basis in fact.
Is it an accident, or am I simply hallucinating my way through recent
history?

Again, sorry if this is too political, it's REALLY not meant to be,
and I really don't want to discuss any particulars... I'm just
interested in the human psychology of it all.

-Kelly