some politics thoughts

[brainwane]

I wrote a bit about the national election on my main blog a few days ago.

It is (to my mind) unlikely that Obama, Clinton, or Carter (or either of the Bushes) will break the intelligence rules by starting to share their President's Daily Brief with Biden. But I think it might be a good idea anyway.

I think Kamala Harris was wearing gold bangles on Saturday night, giving her acceptance speech -- bangles like the ones I've inherited.

This year we saw a few particularly interesting campaign ads, like "Texas: Reloaded" for four Texas Congressional races and "The Ballad of Tennessee Trey" and the joint ad between candidates for the governor's seat in Utah (similar to this ad from people who have served as Minnesota's governor).

Alexandra Erin is posting regularly on Substack right now because she's off Twitter for a few days. I hope she finds some use in this momentary constraint, writing in a different shape for a bit.

I'm always interested in shorthands for historic events as they coalesce. I remember back when we hadn't settled on "September 11" or "9/11" and we said things like "all of this" or "the attacks". After the US Presidential election of November 2016, I heard references like "since/after The Election" and similar:

* 2016 [the year telescoped to the one election]
* the election [using the definite article, even though there were multiple elections, even within the US, in the years between then and late 2020]
* the 2016 election
* Trump got elected [the passive voice, eliding who did the electing]
* 11/9 [a sort of turnabout that always rubbed me the wrong way]
* Trump came to power
* Trump became President
* the country went crazy and elected Trump

Every shorthand subsumes assumptions and a way of looking at the world. Consciously changing the way one speaks is, I suspect, primarily effective as an exercise to discipline the speaker and secondarily to edify the listener.

I wonder how we will talk about this period. What will we call those spontaneous jubilations from Saturday, the celebrations -- with song, dance, champagne, smiling eyes seen above masks, and noise last heard during the daily clap for essential workers? What word or phrase will we use? They were celebrations but not just celebrations. The relief and joy in those gatherings came from the same root as the Women's March and BLM protests and so many others. In a call with some acquaintances the other night, we traded "where were you midday Saturday?" stories -- we remember these moments when the world changes, when we learn that we had changed the world, that we had liberated ourselves.

Comments

[brainwane]

I thought "how do I know this for sure?" once you asked. I remembered having heard for years that former presidents were entitled to continuing intelligence briefings if they wanted them. I double-checked just now and I believe I am mostly right; the specific thing that ex-presidents can get may not specifically be the PDB but it's much more detailed and classified-y than what regular folks like me can see. I pulled up some citations:

Michael Morell, who led the CIA during the Benghazi assault and had previously served as Bush's PDB briefer, described the PDB process at length in his book, "The Great War of Our Time."

Morell wrote that he began compiling intelligence at around 4 a.m. every day — organizing, synthesizing and ordering them to present to the president and his inner circle, which he said almost always included Vice President Dick Cheney, then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and chief of staff Andy Card. Occasionally, Bush’s father, former President George H.W. Bush, would join the briefings, a right generally afforded to former presidents.

Cheney, Kyle. "Benghazi Probe Offers a Road Map for Trump’s Russian Bounty Briefing." Politico, Jul 02, 2020.

President Trump on Tuesday denied a report that he had considered restricting former president Barack Obama's access to intelligence briefings, calling that an extraordinary step that he "never discussed or thought of."

The New Yorker reported Monday that then-national security adviser H.R. McMaster had talked Trump out of the idea, which some White House officials were pushing last year in the wake of Trump's assertion, without evidence, that Obama had ordered wiretapping of Trump Tower during the 2016 election campaign.

Living former presidents have access to intelligence briefings, in part because they often continue to meet with foreign leaders and represent the United States.

Wagner, John. "Trump Denies Report that He Considered Restricting Obama’s Intelligence Briefings." Washington Post, Aug 21, 2018.

[sara]

Hunh. I didn't know that but I'm glad I do now, thanks.

To be honest, I feel like if Obama knows and thinks that Biden needs to know, there will not be a problem.

[jesse_the_k]

Not exactly official but good point.