I've spoken about crossroads often enough, but I've never written about the topic. All of us are faced with crossroads. They change our lives.
My definition of "crossroads" assumes that you didn't know it was coming, you didn't ask for it, and you don't deserve it; but here it is anyway.
Examples include showing up at work one day to find out you no longer have a job and walking back to your car at night when a mugger with a knife demands your wallet and what you do in the next 30 seconds can literally determine whether you live or die.
In public office there are crossroads all the time. Franklin Delano Roosevelt never saw Pearl Harbor coming. George W. Bush never knew that 9/11 would happen on his watch.
Both Roosevelt and Bush elevated their standings by their reactions to these horrific events.
I first heard about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s adult interests about 15 years ago. A friend of mine was learning about vaccines and their supposed unintentional negative side effects on children.
A small but vocal group of citizens was arguing that the significant rise in autism cases was correlated with and caused by the increase in the number of childhood vaccines. Their unofficial spokesperson? Kennedy. Who knew?
I read some academic articles on the subject and remained unconvinced. I forgot about the issue, but Kennedy was just warming up.
The mother of all diseases, COVID-19, was upon us and everyone paid attention to vaccines. Kennedy resurfaced.
This time, his issues had broadened to children's health, Big Pharma, and mandatory vaccines. And this time, Kennedy was looking for a bigger audience — a much bigger audience.
Kennedy announced that he would run against President Joe Biden to be the 2024 Democrat nominee for president of the United States.
Audacious? Yes, but he's a Kennedy and politics are in his blood.
Also, presumably his bank account is overflowing.
Kennedy was in, or so he thought. The Democratic Party had other ideas.
It had decided that the Democrat nomination was closed. No one would be allowed to compete against Biden — not even a Kennedy.
Kennedy was forced to run as an independent candidate. Yes, his father, Bobby Kennedy, had been our attorney general and a U.S. senator.
Yes, his uncle, John F. Kennedy, had been president. Both his father and his uncle had been assassinated.
Kennedy's plans for a broader platform and a national health discussion were being blocked.
One door — the Democratic Party nomination — was closed. So he opened another: the former President Donald Trump door.
Kennedy followed his conscience and raised the possibility that he would be a major player in a potential Trump administration. This is way more than he expected from a quixotic campaign against a sitting Democrat president.
The ending is unknown, but the trajectory is vastly changed. It's much more vertical now.
Josh Shapiro is a very successful governor. He has an approval rating of 60%, high for any governor.
His state, Pennsylvania, is seen as the single most pivotal electoral prize in the 2024 presidential contest. Both sides need it.
Kamala Harris, the Democrat nominee, needed a vice presidential running mate. This was too easy.
But Shapiro has a problem: He's Jewish. And Kamala Harris has a problem: She wants the anti-Israel "undecided" votes from Michigan and other battleground states.
Shapiro's religion was a nonstarter with that group.
Shapiro groveled. He exchanged his Judaism for joining the two-state solution crowd, aligning his position on Israel with the Biden-Harris administration.
He still didn't get the vice presidential slot. Only now he has become a governor without a conscience, a sellout to his faith and his lifelong convictions.
What should he have done at this career crossroads? He should have reaffirmed his convictions to his values and then put the burden on Harris to choose him or not.
Instead, he hurt his brand and became a weakened politician going forward.
Had Shapiro stuck to his values and if Harris loses, Shapiro would be the 2028 heir apparent for that presidential nomination. In the blink of an eye, a political career took a major hit.
Josh Shapiro is no Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Sid Dinerstein is a former chairman of the Palm Beach County Republican Party. Read More — Here.
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