Post AkROF475dZGm1GqXoW by kfogel@kfogel.org
 (DIR) More posts by kfogel@kfogel.org
 (DIR) Post #AkROF475dZGm1GqXoW by kfogel@kfogel.org
       2024-07-29T21:47:54.739734Z
       
       1 likes, 0 repeats
       
       This is my JD Vance explainer.  (I've never met him -- this is all based on hearing him speak and on reading about him -- so if you know him better and want to correct or add to this, please do.)JD Vance started out with a feeling of class-based inferiority and powerlessness.  (I sympathize; a country with its priorities straight wouldn't have a precariat and wouldn't put children in the position Vance was in.)  Then, through a combination of talent, luck, and military service, he made it to prestigious institutions and found himself in positions where influential people could help him.One of the first and most important things he learned was how to manage upward.  He learned how to impress influential people (e.g., Peter Thiel) as a bright, earnest, and ambitious young person -- the sort of person whom they'd want to place their bets on, whom they'd want to support.The problem with learning that lesson too well, though, is that it's of only limited use in public affairs.  Managing upward takes place in private: you have conversations in which you speak freely, take some measured risks, and even make mistakes, and instead of it being caught on video for all time, it remains private -- indeed, if managed right, those conversations become a tool for building intimacy with your patron.None of that works in a campaign for public office, though, and you can see the deficiency of Vance's training and habits in his public appearances.  He's trying to win over the crowd the same way he'd win over a Silicon Valley billionaire at a private dinner at La Bodeguita del Medio in Palo Alto.  But it doesn't work, for two reasons:  One, it's a crowd, not an individual person or a small group, so his carefully-tuned antennae  for reading the room and getting a sense of who he's dealing with are miscalibrated.  And two, everything he says is recorded and available for use by the opposition.Great politicians continue to learn.  (I don't know whether Kamala Harris is a great politican yet, but she has certainly continued to learn.)  What's most surprising about Vance is that he doesn't seem to be learning; he seems to be leaning harder into the person he became as a young adult, instead of discarding old lessons and replacing them with new ones where necessary.I hope he doesn't read this, though.  I don't want to give him any tips :-).