An "Open Source" Candidacy Worth Following
Vivek Ramaswamy will be the youngest, wealthiest, and most interesting GOP candidate in 2024. His resume is amazing, message compelling, and transparency refreshing. Does he have a chance?
How many of you, by age 37, had been a nationally-ranked junior tennis player, graduated from Harvard and Yale Law School, made millions from two successful businesses, made the cover of Forbes magazine, and published two books, one a best seller?
Me neither. And add “announced candidate for President of the United States” to the resume. Not bad for a young man from Cincinnati, Ohio, who now resides in Columbus. He’s young enough to be my son, with a nest egg valued at about $500 million.
His name is Vivek (pronounced “vih VAKE”) Ramaswamy. This will be his first but probably not his last run for public office. He chose an interesting contest to start his political career. And his campaign is worth paying attention to.
You should start with his Twitter feed. It’s prolific.
A better place to start is his recent interview with radio host and former Reagan Administration official Hugh Hewitt, whose 23-year program is broadcast over hundreds of outlets in nearly every state, including Iowa and New Hampshire. We’ll let Ramaswamy describe his biography.
I was born and raised in Cincinnati, as I said. My parents were immigrants from India. They came over in the late 70s and early 80s. I ended up going to public high school, public school through 8th grade, private high school, St. X (Xavier) in Cincinnati, and then went to Harvard for college. I thought I was going to be a scientist. I was sort of a nerdy science guy for much of my education. I ended up getting into the world of biotech investing, had a successful career in that realm from 2007-2014. And then I started a biotech company that I led as CEO from 2014-2021, worked on a range of medicines, five of them are FDA-approved products today, from diseases from a rare genetic disease in children to prostate cancer. That’s probably the one I’m most proud of.
One of the most conventional, if tiring, observations or questions offered by pundits and prognosticators deals with what “lane” they’re running in. These “lanes” are often mythical analyses that reflect the opportunities available to capture support - money, delegates, and primary victories.
Ramaswamy’s “lane” is clear. He’s running as the “anti-woke” candidate. His words, again, to Hugh Hewitt on why he’s running:
I ended up stepping down as the CEO, though, to focus on a cultural cancer that was the one that threatened, I believe, Martin Luther King’s dream, and threatened the dream that allowed me to achieve everything I had in my life, which was this new secular religion in America that said your identity was based on your race and your sexuality. . .
I wrote Woke, Inc, and then I wrote another book called Nation Of Victims, and I traveled the country speaking out about the risks of corporate power and state power combining to enforce this new orthodoxy. . .
I decided that the real problem was a missing national identity in America. And I think we’re in the middle of this national identity crisis. I think there’s a vacuum at the heart of the American soul. We can’t answer the question of what it even means to be an American today, and that’s ultimately what led me to take this most recent step to pursue the presidency.
Ramaswamy has company in his “lane” in the visage of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who arguably envisions himself occupying multiple lanes as an oversized tractor trailing skimming down the highway with an aircraft carrier as its cargo. After all, as DeSantis is fond of saying, “Florida is where woke goes to die.” Just ask Disney.
While the rest of us have trekked with our children to Orlando to “feed the Mouse,” DeSantis conquered its state-within-a-state without firing a shot.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Ramaswamy’s campaign is its transparency, driven by his humility. There are two words one doesn’t often associate with a political figure. It doesn’t mean he lacks confidence or even chutzpah.
Hewitt asked Ramaswamy - a question he brings up with all prospective candidates - about prioritizing funding of the “nuclear triad,” our land (Minuteman III ICBMs), sea (Ohio-class submarines), and air (B-52 and B-2, bombers) nuclear deterrence.
Ramaswamy was unfamiliar with it. That’s one strike - no candidate should launch (pun intended) a presidential campaign without basic knowledge of the triad. But his response was interesting.
An “open source” presidential campaign. He is a candidate who will not know or try to answer every question - the standard operating method for most candidates - but to gain your trust and support as you learn along with him. That’s new ground, and I’ll await to see how that sells with voters, especially Gen X voters that Republicans have largely ignored strategically and tactically but vote 2:1 or more Democratic.
My favorite of his many slogans is “embrace merit over identity politics,” found on his first-rate campaign website.
Since Jimmy Carter’s improbable presidential run in 1976, the first candidate or two in the race hasn’t fared well. And there’s no doubt that Ramaswamy, his fellow child of Indian immigrants, former Gov. and estimable former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (R-SC), have uphill battles. Both former President Donald Trump and DeSantis are capturing most of the oxygen in the nascent campaign thus far, with a strong bench of talent waiting in the wings. But early polling is highly unstable. Just ask President Edmund Muskie (D-ME, 1972 campaign against Richard Nixon). Or perhaps President Scott Walker (R-WI, 2016 campaign). Or President Ben Carson (R-MD, same). Oh, wait.
Ramaswamy, a Hindu, will test a persona that many may find challenging to relate to (see first paragraph), coupled with a detailed and attractive political agenda and intriguing strategy. His real test will be on the debate stage against formidable, quick-witted, and battle-tested opponents. His first test may be how he responds to the nickname Donald Trump gives him. He must know it’s coming.
While Democrats have ditched Iowa and New Hampshire as first-in-the-nation delegate selection states (too white, it seems), they remain the initial tests for Republicans, quickly followed by Nevada and South Carolina.
Ramaswamy’s religion is unlikely to be a serious detriment, thanks to former US Rep., National Guard Major, and former Democrat Tulsa Gabbard (I-HI), who is Hindu and enjoys a strong following among Republicans. The Constitution also forbids a “religion test” for public office. But it doesn’t make his challenge any easier.
Stealing another candidate’s message may have worked for Donald Trump in 2016 when he pilfered former US Senator Rick Santorum’s (R-PA) “Blue Collar Conservative” book, but I doubt it will help Ramaswamy.
He also has no prior government or military service. Then again, neither did Trump. And Ramaswamy, while not a real estate mogul, has fared better financially than the former President, at half his age.
But it’s Ramaswamy’s message that will resonate with Republican rank-and-file voters. He’s plowing bold and creative policy ground yet tilled by other announced or prospective candidates. Conventional wisdom loathes policy details in political campaigns that might attract pushback. But there’s a class of GOP primary voters who like policy-based campaigns. I’m one of them. In politics, a good offense beats a good defense.
Ramaswamy will bend the knee to conventional wisdom in one way - he’ll need to discover the joy of retail politics in Iowa, lunching on vegetarian pizza (he doesn’t eat meat - strike two) at Pizza Ranches, and shuttling to New Hampshire to do much of the same retail politics. Watching him turn down the ritualistic fried pork chops, deep-fried butter sticks, and corn dogs that predominate the Iowa State Fair will be interesting, a must-visit for any serious candidate.
Not that he needs to win the Iowa caucuses. Most recent GOP winners did not go on to win the party’s nomination, including Sen. Ted Cruz (2016), Sen. Rick Santorum (2012), or Gov. Mike Huckabee (2008). But he’ll need to meet or exceed “expectations.” Being in the top three would impress.
That he can attract, speak, and motivate a crowd is not in question. He exudes energy and sunny optimism on the stump, essential qualities for a 2024 candidate.
But perform an online search of Ramaswamy engaging one-on-one with voters or small groups of them. Good luck finding any. He needs to fix that.
Ramaswamy’s real accomplishment for the 2024 race won’t likely be winning the nomination but driving the eventual winner’s agenda. And that’s positive. But do not count him out just yet. When large naval destroyers (think Trump and DeSantis) turn their guns on each other, frigates can whiz right on past them.
I’m looking forward to watching how Vivek learns, how he’s received in Iowa’s Pizza Ranches and its famous state fair this August, and how he performs on the debate stage. Also, how will he invest his campaign cash? He told Hewitt that he’s self-funding to start. That’s huge since many campaigns struggle with cash at the beginning. That won’t be a problem here.
He’s one to watch.