Sunday, January 14, 2018

Mike and Karen: The Real Presidential Couple

Image result for mike pence in afghanistan
Mike Pence in Afghanistan. 12/21/17 (CNN.com)

While Donald Trump spends most weekends on the golf course at his resort in Mar-A-Lago there is an administration that still has to their work.  If he isn't golfing he spends his time lounging around the White House, occasionally signing a deregulation bill in the process.  Fox & Friends, executive time, and burgers in bed all constitute a day-in-the-life for the 45th President of the United States.  But what about Mike Pence?  If Trump is seen as one of the laziest Presidents on record then what does that do for his Vice President?  Trump may be the President, but Pence is really the lead guy between the two.

When Barack Obama was in office for eight years he was criticized for the times he spent on the golf course.  Trump seized on that during the 2016 campaign telling everyone he "won't have time to golf as he will be working in the Oval Office".  So far, that statement has been widely rebuked because of all the time Trump has spent playing golf or going out of town to a Trump property on weekends.

Now, Presidents do spend a lot of time outside of the Oval Office.  Obama traveled the world, met with foreign leaders, made TV appearances, and took the occasional vacation.   Sometimes Joe Biden, his VP, went with him, but other times he was either going to another location to promote administrative policies or staying in Washington, DC to man the fort per se.

It is widely known that the current administration has a problem with leaks (just look at the current "shithole" situation).  John Kelly, current Chief of Staff, has practically given up on containing both Trump and any information being leaked out by White House staff.  With such a reluctant President it is no wonder that chaos reigns supreme at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.  Would a Pence White House be any different?  Let's look at how the Vice President has conducted himself since sworn into office.

Pence is the de facto Head of State
The President of the United States is the actual Head of State, but since Trump travels very seldom to places that do not have his name this title should really go to Pence.  Trump made visits to 14 countries in 2017.  In comparison, Barack Obama visited 22 different countries during his first year in office back in 2009.  Vice President Pence made at least eight such trips abroad to Latin America, Central America, and Asia.  Pence even made a surprise visit to Afghanistan to meet the troops this past December.  Trump on the other hand, did not travel abroad to visit the troops fighting in combat zones which apparently has broken a tradition for first-year Presidents.  Besides international trips, Pence has often been the person to make local appearances on behalf of Trump to keep his shrinking base happy and will make official state gestures such as wreath laying when there is a need to do so:
So why does Pence do so much of the heavy lifting for Trump?  The answer for that lies with a story involving 2016 Presidential candidate John Kasich.  Back in August 2016 news broke that Donald Trump Jr. floated the idea of being Trump's Vice President to Kasich.

Normally a candidate for President will select a VP purely by who can you get that will gain the most votes for you.  John F. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat wasn't going to get a lot of votes from Southern Democrats unless he had a Southern Democrat as his VP hence his selection of Lyndon B. Johnson.  Hillary Clinton went with the same strategy, but ended up short in the end.

What makes this a different scenario was what was at stake:  If Trump won the election then Kasich would be in charge of all domestic and foreign policy.  It would be no surprise if Mike Pence was tabled a similar offer and took it.  Pence does a lot of the work that Trump should be doing.  All the travel, the appearances, the ceremonies: that's Pence.  Now whether Pence has been in charge of policy as hard to tell.  Nothing of real significance in terms of policy has been pushed by the Trump administration that would be unique to them.  Sure, they have been on the deregulation train for awhile, but nothing that Trump/Pence can proudly stamp their names on.

The Second Lady in the First Place Position
Karen Pence has stayed largely in the shadows of the current political circus.  While everyone has their sights on husband Mike and the Trump Family Karen has been etching out her own legacy as the Second Lady and she fares a lot better than First Lady Melania.

Two days ago it was reported that the First Lady is finally hiring someone to put forth her platform.  Melania's current platform is her much-maligned idea to combat cyberbullying.  It will fall flat every time her husband uses Twitter (Too many examples to use which is why you can look at his Twitter profile account at your leisure).  Second Lady Pence is already way ahead of her with her Art Therapy initiative.

According to WhiteHouse.gov Art Therapy is aimed at helping military veterans treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), and other psychological health conditions.  Art Therapy is available in 11 military medical facilities around the country and can be anything from painting to glass blowing.  Seeing that Mike and Karen have done more to promote the welfare of ailing veterans than that of Trump shows that the policy of fixing the VA had to have come from both Mike and Karen Pence.

As much as we want to see this administration fail, I for one believe that this is a great platform and Melania should change hers to something similar to Art Therapy if she wants people to take her seriously as First Lady.

The Pence family seems already prepared to run the United States in the event that Trump can no longer continue (most likely because of the 25th Amendment or Impeachment).  Mike certainly outworks Trump on a daily basis and Karen has done more in her capacity than Melania.  If one was to gauge how the Trump administration is doing you really need to bypass Trump and pay attention to Pence. 
Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)