It is an oddly slow news day (Holiday season? Something else?), so we can all devote proper attention to this:
For Americans who want to understand what our lads are up against on the pitch, please watch this reel of Johan Cruyff, the legendary Dutch footballer whose ethos of ball control, balletic distribution, and killer instinct infuses the side that Team USA will face off with this morning:
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IN OTHER SPORTS NEWS
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As the Democratic National Committee moved closer Friday to adopting President Biden’s 2024 nominating calendar, two things stood out.
First, pretty much everyone I know who knows Joe Biden (and talks to him) says he is going to run for reelection. That contrasts with pretty much everyone I know who doesn’t know Joe Biden, who thinks the chances he runs are zero, or close to zero.
See, for instance, this from the New York Times:
“Given the president’s strong interest in the design of the 2024 primaries, and the dates for them, I think it’s clear that he’s running,” said James Roosevelt Jr., a co-chairman of the Rules and Bylaws Committee, who said he had spoken with Mr. Biden this week about the early-state order.
Second, the Iowa politico-media superstructure is reacting very differently than its New Hampshire counterpart.
Iowa was fully banished from first-in-the-nation status by the president, while New Hampshire was moved from going eight days after the Hawkeye State caucuses to going three days after the South Carolina primary.
You would think Iowa would be freaking out a lot more than New Hampshire is.
And yet…..
The Des Moines Register doesn’t even lead its website with the news, and the paper’s story is measured, calm, and matter-of-fact; it even includes one Iowa voice saying, in effect, “oh, well.” The New Hampshire media, on the other hand, is acting as if this is the biggest news since Buckner’s error, or The Pass (or since Barry Manilow played the Verizon Wireless Arena).
Maybe it’s because Iowans are nicer (!), or because it is harder to defend the caucus process (especially after 2020), or maybe it is because New Hampshire’s federal delegation is Blue and Iowa’s is Red, or maybe it is because Sununus give no quarter, or maybe it is the legacy of Bill Gardner.
Whatever it is, the Granite State media and its pols are both hopping mad and promising that this grave injustice will not stand.
WMUR:
New Hampshire Secretary of State David Scanlan said he's not concerned about losing first-in-the-nation status.
"We've been through this before in the past with other states challenging our first-in-the-nation status," Scanlan said. "And we know we've always been able to maintain our position and this time around will be no different."
Scanlan said he's confident thanks to a state law that requires New Hampshire to hold its primary a week before any similar election.
"New Hampshire will hold the first-in-the-nation primary, no matter what sanctions may be out there," he said.
WMUR:
"This looks like a plan that was put together by some D.C. powerbrokers that bring back the smoke-filled rooms and takes it away from the actual voters," said Ray Buckley, chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "So, that's why we're going to stand by our law….”
Political observers said the likely result of the calendar changes is that New Hampshire will hold an unsanctioned, delegate-less Democratic primary in January 2024, ahead of the other states.
Here, for your careful consideration, Mr. President, is a real email I received this morning from a Wide World of News reader:
Hello again, Mark,
There is no reason for you to remember me, but I am a retired and barely employed, man-on-the-street New Hampshire Democrat, still struggling to pay college tuition for the two children I was given late in life, and thus only able to contribute to your blog at irregular intervals. You have been kind enough on both occasions to write to thank me personally, and for that, I actually can't help thinking of you as a famous friend I have made along the way!
But, I digress. I just have to tell somebody how I feel about Joe Biden's role in torpedoing the New Hampshire Primary.
I rang doorbells for Joe Biden, I wrote letters to the editors for him, I made small financial contributions to him, and of course, I voted for him in the 2020 primary and general election, and until yesterday, I planned to vote for him again (though now with a little less enthusiasm) if given the opportunity in 2024.
But I feel strongly that his intervention in the decision to move the New Hampshire primary into second position behind South Carolina, on the same day as Nevada, is merely a reward for SC for resuscitating his 2020 primary campaign and an act of cynical payback to New Hampshire for not handing him a victory when he just didn't make the case.
Yes, South Carolina is undeniably more diverse, but it is crystal clear that it did not have to be first to pick the next president in 2020, and that the 2020 primary sequence actually worked pretty well. This maneuvering has little to do with electoral fairness, and everything to do with cronyism and money.
If Joe Biden runs again in 2024 and has a primary challenger, he may as well just skip New Hampshire. He probably won't need the NH delegates to win the nomination, but the general election will be tight, and I for one very committed Democrat feel so betrayed, that I will sit 2024 out even at the risk of handing the Oval Office to Mike Pence, or someone only marginally less worse. I doubt that I am alone.
I would have crawled to the polls on my hands and knees to keep the Presidency and (the Supreme Court) out of Republican hands except for this stunt. But I agree with David Gergen, who recently admitted on CNN that, as he has aged, he realizes that he has "lost a step" and that he has seen the same signs in Joe Biden's demeanor. At age 77, I know exactly what David Gergen is talking about, though I would have voted for Joe Biden anyway, but now, not again.
My Best,
Michael Donovan
PS: I acknowledge that Joe Biden has been a pretty effective President.
--
J. Michael Donovan
503 Ocean Boulevard
Hampton Beach, NH 03842
Well, now we know why the DNC pushed this announcement back passed the midterms. Maggie Hassan would have lost her reelection if this act of Southern Aggression had been declared before Election Day.
I’m telling you, folks, I will bet you dinner for two at the Hanover Street Chophouse that this thing ain’t over ‘til it’s over. And it ain’t over.
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ESSENTIAL READING
* America’s modern-day Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville is, of course, Mike Barnicle, and he takes the New York Times, and the world, through his eyes into Thursday’s Biden-Macron state dinner that went well past midnight, an extraordinary event by any standard and certainly in the short history of the Biden Administration.
The semiotics, sidebars, and salience on both the international and domestic fronts were front and center, all captured by the Owl Eyes of New England.
Here’s just a sample:
“I actually saw Steve Scalise smile,” said Mr. Barnicle of the Republican Louisiana congressman. Then he delivered a camera-ready analysis: “Last night, at least for a moment in time, they achieved something that the world would love to see in Ukraine: a cease-fire.”
There are other sage voices quoted as well, allowing those few of you who were not included on the guest list to feel like you were there.