Michelle Obama, Green Party Candidate for President
(a speculative never-gonna-happen in 3 thoughts)
Is this a long shot? Certainly. There are myriad reasons why Michelle Obama will never run for public office, but let's pretend that a Green Party candidacy in 2020 proves attractive enough to entice the First Lady to enter the fray. Her running mate? Obviously, the first person the public would look towards would probably be the guy who's currently in office. There is plenty of evidence that this is not possible, so I will simply submit the following three thoughts on the possibility of “President” Michelle Obama for your perusal:
1) Michelle Obama, the BRAND.
FLOTUS could establish the Green Party as the favorite, not just a legitimate 3rd party option in the National elections. Every 3 years, we have become accustomed to meeting an amazing person that we haven't heard of before and prodded to switch parties and vote green for said person. This election, we became familiar with Dr. Jill Stein, who said all the right things (for the far left) but unfortunately did not have a “brand” established in the public arena. The green party should know by now- we are not voting for someone with whom we do not feel familiar. Establishing the brand of a candidate while attempting to elect them has long been a failing strategy for third party candidates, particularly for the most public office in the world. Third party candidates who have made an impact in previous elections, namely Ralph Nader and H. Ross Perot, did so with well established track records. Michelle Obama as FLOTUS is both popular inside and outside the beltway- she has not 'overextended' herself in political skirmishes (such as Hillary Clinton's healthcare battle or the “Super Predators” comment during Bill Clinton's first term). Mrs. Obama instead focused her stint in the White House on social issues where she was able to make an impact (in particular the “Let's Move” health campaign). Thus, the Green Party could build their party around an insider with outsider status (sort of) whose public stances in general have been in line with the party's four pillars, and whose popularity is at this point is only rivaled by her husband and Beyonce.
2) The Move from 3rd Party to Major Political Force
Donald Trump and The Alt (Racist) Right destabilized the Republican establishment, and Bernie Sander's campaign created a power struggle within the Democratic party to define its direction. Hillary Clinton's faction ultimately won this struggle but they had to make concessions along the way.
If HRC had been elected, any failure to bring about change, be it through Republican obstructionism or Democrat self-destruction would have meant that HRC will be hard pressed to win a second term, yet because of her powerful campaign machine, any other candidate would be hard pressed to wrest the democratic nomination from her. However, we are now dealing with a Trump/Pence presidency that is armed with a Republican controlled house, senate and the option to nominate a new supreme court justice. So we can expect to see an attack on women's reproductive rights, as well as attacks on any and every social measure that Obama enacted, in particular Obamacare. After four years of slash and burn, America will be primed for a radical change.
Enter the Green Party and Mrs. Obama. Imagine Michelle Obama calling a press conference in the spring of 2019 to announce that she is registering as a member of the Green Party, and spearheading a national voter registration drive that draws voters to the Green Party in droves. Utilizing the same fundraising structure that had the Democrats “Feeling the Bern” this year, an Obama candidacy could catapult the Green Party into power in municipal and state elections, and ostensibly create a legitimate third party presence in the House of Representatives. A congress suddenly with a third party that holds 25-30 seats could be the type of environment that begins to shift the focus away from the powerful lobbies that currently create and push legislation through on Capitol Hill.
3) Green as the New Black
Democrats have enjoyed near monolithic support from African-Americans since the 1964 passage of the Civil Rights Act. It is clear with this election and the current political climate that the benefits of blindly supporting whomever the Democrats trot out are of little consequence to the everyday lives of African-Americans. An Obama Green Party run would shift African-American votes, at least at the national executive level, from Democrat to Green in a blink. Congress members who have traditionally enjoyed African-American support would now be pressed to align their platform with Obama and the Green Party. Though the Green Party did run Cynthia McKinney as its Presidential candidate in 2008, the party has been struggling in gaining African-American votes, with some success coming at the local level, obviously here in Baltimore with Joshua Harris' strong showing in the mayoral race. An Obama candidacy would be a boon for the structure of the Green party, drawing talented African Americans to the party to not only vote, but work on the party's behalf. There has frequently been overlap between the green movement and the Black Lives Matter movement, and an Obama candidacy could jump start increased environmental awareness in African American communities, but moreover, creating alignment between these movements on specific issues that become part of Obama's platform. Currently, while African-Americans are plugged into and participants in far left movements, direct participation and support from greater numbers of African Americans have fallen off for various reasons, be it the exploitation of Haiti, or the contradictory behavior of white liberals in response to the Michael Vick dogfighting case. Michelle Obama has the charisma and mien to bridge this gap with one speech, and the results could shift environmental movements into a high gear. Imagine the Dakota Access Pipeline standoff augmented by gas station boycotts in cities that are connected with fuel suppliers that use the DAPL. Imagine the reemergence of Black farms, committed to organic produce, and tied to addressing food deserts in cities. In short, Michelle Obama's mere candidacy as a Green Party candidate could be as transformative as Barack's presidency.
Baltimore based writer Jason Harris, a 2015 Kimbilio Fiction fellow, is the editor of the speculative fiction anthology REDLINES: Baltimore 2028, as well as the author of the soon-to-be-released novel Fly Girl.
