What The Hell Is So Special About Wes Moore?

 

"I'm a social moderate, a strong fiscal conservative..." If you hadn't read the title of this article, and I told you to guess which politician said those words in a campaign speech, what would your guess be? You would probably say a New England Republican like Charlie Baker or Chris Sununu. Maybe a red-state Democrat like Joe Manchin or Andy Beshear. Nope. This was said by the new governor of the dark-blue state of Maryland, Wes Moore.

Normally, after the incumbent President's party receives a 100 megaton carpet-bombing in the midterm election, the national press will get very excited about the possible candidates for the party out of power. For example, Scott Walker received a huge amount of national attention in 2014 after winning a third election as governor in four years (one was a recall), which eventually propelled him to a run for President in 2016. But after democrats' shocked the national press by playing to a well-earned draw against republicans in the midterms, the media has been very excited about the democrats' bench of possible successors to a two-term President Joe Biden. Some of the speculation has been well-merited, such as the prospect of Michigan's two-term governor, Gretchen Whitmer, who over-performed Joe Biden by 8 points, and now leads a democratic trifecta in the state poised to restore power to unions, rebuild the manufacturing prowess of Michigan's auto industry with investment in electric cars, and permanently codify abortion rights. Whitmer's leadership is of the kind that democrats should desire in all their politicians, and we should be excited about her future. But the national media has also been captivated by some undeserving of the spotlight, and we're going to talk about one of those people: Wes Moore.

Wes Moore has excited the media and some democrats after soundly defeating a die-hard MAGA republican named Dan Cox who spread numerous conspiracy theories about the 2020 presidential election. By winning the governorship, Wes Moore finally opened the floodgates for many disgruntled Maryland democrats whose policy ideas were stifled during the 8 years of republican governor Larry Hogan. By technical definition, Moore "flipped" the seat from red to blue, but this says absolutely nothing about him. Maryland is the third-bluest state in the country, only behind Vermont and Massachusetts, which means that for one to say Wes Moore winning by 30 points against a fascist republican in Maryland should catapult him into the 2028 conversation is ludicrous. That's like if Alabama football defeated the Middle North Dakota Girls School for Ballerina Dancing 200-0, and an ESPN reporter said "Alabama looks to be in contention for the national title this year." Sure, Alabama might be the real-deal, but that victory doesn't tell you anything, just like how winning in Maryland by 30 points doesn't really give us insight into Wes Moore's national prospects.

Wes Moore also garnered a lot of national attention because President Biden used him as an outlet to campaign for the midterms without risking unwanted attention for swing-state Democrats. Because Biden's approval rating sat between 40-45% in the months preceding the 2022 elections, many democrats running in close House or Senate races did not want the President campaigning directly for them because his brand could be toxic to swing voters. However, Biden still needed to pump out a strong narrative about the extremism of the "MAGA Republicans" on issues like abortion and threats to democracy for national democrats to campaign on. So he went to the place that was closest to the White House: Maryland. With Maryland a near-certain win for the democrats, Joe Biden could take a quick car ride to Maryland and rally for a new, exciting, charismatic candidate named Wes Moore, poised to become only the third black governor in America. His presence in the state of Maryland would not put Moore's electoral prospects at risk, but could raise both Moore's profile, and the profile of Biden's campaign message. It also likely boosted turnout for important down-ballot races in Maryland, such as the close House election in the western 6th House District in Maryland, which was won by Democrat David Trone by just over 2,000 votes, or 1.2% of the vote.

Yes, it is true that Wes Moore has a stellar resumé to carry with him. He grew up for most of his life as a dirt-poor resident of the Bronx, but after graduating from Valley Forge Military Academy, subsequently attending Johns Hopkins and earning a Rhodes scholarship to study at Oxford, he became an extremely successful young man. After serving in Afghanistan for two years, his first major job was working as a senior White House fellow for Condoleezza Rice. 

But Wes Moore is no Barack Obama, even though many democrats want to paint him this way; his career after serving in the state department was a far cry from Obama's work as a community organizer and advocate for the poor black folks of Chicago. In 2006, Wes Moore became an investment banker for Deutsche Bank, and then transferred to Citibank in 2007, just as the stock market was crashing from Wall Street's greediness in manipulating the housing market and subsequently destroyed our economy for five years. In 2012, Moore left his job at Citi, but with cash now flowing out of his eyes, he created a new company called BridgeEdU, that supposedly helped new college students in their "transition to college" for a fee of $500. For anybody like me who despises the sick privatization of the college industrial complex, this company just seems downright shady. During the pandemic, Moore took up another cushy job as a member of UnderArmour's Board of Directors. 

Now, to be completely fair, lovers of American political history know of another wealthy elite governor in the northeast United States who turned out to be a fierce advocate for progressive ideas and the working class. That man is Franklin Roosevelt. So yes, Wes Moore is loaded with cash, but it is entirely possible that he really cares about the working class. But I think Wes Moore is just an overzealous politician who is skilled at public speaking and his playing to his future political prospects. There is no reason that a person running to be the governor of the third-bluest state in America would need to say he's a "fiscal conservative". Maryland has a lot of poor black folks who are in need of a government that spends its tax dollars to help them afford food and rent, but if Moore is focused on playing to his prospects in a future presidential election by acting "fiscally conservative" and selling out real Marylanders who are fighting to feed their kids and keep the lights on, he can't be trusted to be a strong democrat. 

I'm not saying Wes Moore is a bad dude, but the political talking-heads downing pints of media Kool-Aid need to chill out with the 2028 speculation on this guy. I may be completely wrong, and Wes Moore could be a fantastic executive leader who leads Maryland to great successes as governor. And, if Senator Ben Cardin, 81, chooses to run for re-election one more time in 2024, Wes Moore will have a fantastic opportunity to serve as governor for eight years, prove he's worth more as a politician than just his skill at the campaign rallies, and then run for the open senate seat in 2030 when Ben Cardin retires. 

I understand why Democrats are anxious to find possible successors to President Biden, especially with Vice President Kamala Harris slowly exposing herself as having serious deficiencies in her political skills - but winning a single election in a blue state with no prior experience in government does not make you presidential material. It's tempting for people to gravitate to "outsiders" for elected office, but Biden's successes as President did not form out of thin air. You really do learn some things about how to operate a country of 330 million people after working in government for 44 years. And you really do learn some things after national media has fawned over untested politicians whose careers end in a dumpster fire for...way more than just 44 years. 

Maybe give this guy a few more years before you start calling him the 47th President of the United States.