This Just In—We have some big political talent coming onto the national stage. It’s no wonder the GOP is thrashing about.
In 2004, I watched the convention speech of a young Barack Obama, who was, at the time, aspiring to be elected to the United States Senate. About five minutes into his keynote speech for nominee John Kerry, I told my son – there’s your first Black president.
I didn’t realize he would be the next president, but I knew immediately that he had the skills and the brains to go all the way. As we all know, he did ascend to the presidency, but I’ve always felt that some of the why of that story was underappreciated.
Barack Obama, presidential candidate, never ran out of money.
He ran a campaign that reflected his considerable skill as an organizer. He was extremely effective as a communicator at every level— from working a room to the cadence of speaking to enormous crowds. That is very rare. He is an exceptional political talent, who we are fortunate to still have with us.
This week, we have seen the early-mid stages of a similar rise, I believe. I watched as the Secretary of State in the great state of Michigan, Jocelyn Benson, was interviewed following her dominant win for the democratic nomination for Governor.
Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson participates in an election forum in Ann Arbor, Mich., Sept. 19, 2024. (AP Photo / Carlos Osorio, File)
Benson will face Trump-endorsed John James in November. She already holds a significant lead in the polls, but that’s not the source of my feeling bullish on her political future.
In 2020, Benson was a newly-minted Secretary of State in Michigan and after the election, she found her home surrounded by MAGA demonstrators (a polite term for the Klan) chanting about “stop the steal” and creating a threatening environment outside her young child’s window at bedtime.
She was not intimidated by Trump then and isn’t now. She is responsible for certifying the mid-term elections. Asked about the DOJ “observers” that were sent to her state this week for no stated reason, she said that’s fine. We don’t mind scrutiny. We welcome it. Michigan’s elections are well-run and secure, she said.
Here’s the astonishing part … (and maybe I’m too easily impressed). She explained with great ease why she loves being Secretary of State, starting with how the Michigan Department of Motor Vehicles falls under her authority.
She said that during her tenure, Michigan has redesigned how DMV delivers its services to the public. They’ve made it efficient and effective. For example, you can renew your driver’s license at a kiosk in the grocery store, she said.
She went on to explain that there are many areas of state government services that can be improved with this customer-centric model. Benson effortlessly ticked off multiple examples of how she plans to use her authority as governor to protect citizens’ voting rights and make government more accessible and responsive to the citizens’ needs. Government is best when it can get out of the way, she said.
She may not have intended to, but she explained, in an interview of about seven minutes, democrats’ view government at every level — as an instrument of good, meant to help people and protect the vulnerable. It was as simple as it was masterful. That is Obama level political talent.
Benson, 48, is a Wellesley graduate with a Masters from Oxford and a Harvard educated attorney. That’s impressive, but she completed the Boston Marathon in 2016 while eight months pregnant. “Impressive” doesn’t seem a big enough word for that.
My money is on her to be our first female president, if she chooses to pursue national office. She’ll be term-limited as Governor of Michigan and she correctly sees governors and secretaries of state as the guardrails protecting our democracy under its current threat.
The future is bright and it’s female.
Jean Bolduc is a freelance writer and is the author of “African Americans of Durham & Orange Counties: An Oral History” (History Press, 2016) and has served on Orange County’s Human Relations Commission, The Alliance of AIDS Services-Carolina, the Orange County Housing Authority Board of Commissioners, and the Orange County Schools’ Equity Task Force. She was a featured columnist and reporter for the Chapel Hill Herald and the News & Observer.
Readers can reach Jean via email – [email protected] and via Twitter @JeanBolduc
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