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Here’s a terrible idea @ewarren shares with most Presidential candidates, of both parties. I don’t mean the fossil fuel lease moratorium or the fracking ban, though I think the latter premature. I mean Warren’s declaration as to what she’ll do in her first day as President.
This is a campaign trope. I can’t think of a recent Presidential candidate who hasn’t used it. And it’s ridiculous.
The day any newly elected President takes office — if said newly elected President has any sense at all — will begin with a thorough review of the inaugural address & the timeline of where the President-elect needs to be when throughout the day.
Then comes the Inauguration itself, the address, and the trip from Capitol Hill to the White House, taking the President-elect to about mid-afternoon. This leaves a few hours to prepare for the evening’s inaugural balls — a tedious custom in my view, but traditional.
Some kind of formal luncheon, review of nominations to be submitted to the Senate, & calls to foreign leaders need to fit into this schedule. And the new President will need to learn how to find his/her way between the Oval Office and the East Wing without getting lost.
This is the bare bones, before reckoning with the unexpected— say, I don’t know, an outgoing President who has barricaded himself in the Residence with his cell phone, a few loyal groupies, and a television tuned to Fox News.
The point is, nothing worthwhile in terms of policy either must or ought to be attempted on a new President’s first day, when said President will be preoccupied & staffed in motion by people new to their jobs. That’s how mistakes get made.
The Presidency, and government in general, is serious business. The public welfare is at stake. The single biggest thing distinguishing @ewarren or any other plausible Democratic candidate from the frivolous, self-regarding incumbent will be she/he accepts this & Trump does not.
Public disillusion with politicians starts with the silly promises they feel they need to make to show they are different. Trust me: no Democrat nominated next year will need to worry about being perceived as different from what is in the White House now.
Big talk about things one will do “on Day One” isn’t really that helpful to a campaign, and could burden a new President who’ll have enough to worry about as it is. It’s a trope that has earned permanent retirement. [end]
