All Good Things Cast Shadows

As 2022 comes to a close, we are looking back our our predictions for the year, reflecting on the events that occurred, and looking ahead to 2023.

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EPISODE RESOURCES

TRANSCRIPT

Sarah [00:00:07] This is Sarah Stewart Holland. 

Beth [00:00:08] And this is Beth Silvers.  

Sarah [00:00:10] Thank you for joining us for Pantsuit Politics.  

[00:00:26] Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of Pantsuit Politics. A very special episode. It is our final new episode of the year. We are going to review 2022 and look forward to 2023. And we'll end the show, as always, Outside Politics by sharing what 2022 taught us personally.  

Beth [00:00:45] We always take the last two weeks of the year off, and we especially want to give our team the last two weeks of the year off. But our team has been working hard to get that time together. So you will hear conversations that we've had throughout the year about what we thought were the four biggest stories of 2022. So there will be new episodes in your feed, but they will contain Supercuts of conversations that we've had throughout the year. We also just wanted to mention to you quickly that if you are looking for something to read over the winter break our book Now What? How to Move Forward When We're Divided (About Basically Everything), is on sale in its e-book version for only $1.99 through December 31st. So just grab a copy of that. And we wanted to mention our partnership with ABLE. You can use the codE PANTSUIT30 with ABLE to buy lots of well and truly made leather products, clothing, so many things that we love. You can find our favorites in our gift guide, which we'll link in the notes.  

Sarah [00:01:43] Up next, we're going to look back over 2020. But I thought we could begin by revising our resolutions from last year. Do you remember last year?  

Beth [00:02:02] Vaguely.  

Sarah [00:02:03] It's a long ago and also 5 minutes ago. We talked a lot about facing another election year. We knew the midterms were coming and what we wanted that to look like. I just want the election to give us information and not more holy pictures.  

Beth [00:02:21] Especially related to your point about information, I want to resist the pull to nationalize because congressional elections should not be nationalized.  

Sarah [00:02:33] No. I've got to say, I feel like we did a good job with that.  

Beth [00:02:37] I think it helped us that we decided that we were fully divorced from polls this year.  

Sarah [00:02:42] Even though they were right.  

Beth [00:02:44] Well, they can be a tool, but a tool is different than a story. So I think we approach them in a way that helped us frame this up differently. I think that our series about American nations was helpful in trying to think differently about different parts of the country. Here's the one place where I feel like I have a note for us. I think that we did get caught up in the story being written about the midterm results because we love a good story. We love a good news story. We love positive trends. And I think we probably missed focusing enough on the places that just get written off by national media because they aren't competitive. And that's something I want to think more about, especially heading into a new presidential cycle. How do we not write off enormous chunks of the country because they are historically not competitive?  

Sarah [00:03:37] Well, I felt like we both felt that sitting down with our ballot clubs and looking through our ballots and how many races on our own personal ballots were uncontested. Right. It's depressing. It's not pleasant. Although I did have that moment with my grandmother this year where she was like, well, it was like that on the other side for decades. And I though part of that is the fact that we just have so many offices and so many races in America. And so I do want to take a beat to remind ourselves some of this is just in the design of our electoral system, which is unique in many ways. It's not necessarily a problem to be fixed. I don't think we want competitive races everywhere all the time. We'd be exhausted.  

Beth [00:04:22] I think that is true, and also I don't want my district to be written off because it's R plus 14. And not just written off in terms of being relentlessly covered in an election that could be a toss up, but understood and cared for and the community seen as something more than R plus 14. Just like we're hearing from people in California, in New York, "I don't want to just be seen as a blue state. We have unique challenges. We have unique opportunities. We want those to be understood." And I get that we can't understand everything all at once, all the time in depth. I just want to make sure that I am not too led by the condensed version that pumps through national media and keep in touch with that instinct, well, I live in a place like this, and it still matters a lot.  

Sarah [00:05:17] What I was encouraged by this electoral cycle is I do feel like the national media learned that lesson a little bit more in their bones. I don't feel the next midterm or even this upcoming presidential cycle will be covered in the way that previous elections have been covered. I don't think it'll be a total see change, but I just feel like these lessons are getting learned. Even I thought Matt Iglesias's writing about "Can we stop with the turnout?" Like if we just up our turnout that's all we need to win, when Republicans had this amazing turnout and lost. Like are there some of these narratives that we follow so closely that we can once and for all abandon? And I did feel a little of that shift post this midterm. Now only time will tell. And I might be being too hopeful when it comes to election coverage. But even the shift in the primary calendar,  if that ends up going through on the Democratic side, I think that will lend itself to a reinvention and a continue evolution of how we cover elections. And I hope we're part of that.  

Beth [00:06:20] Absolutely. And the thing I'll say about turnout is it's a both end.because it is exciting to see more people voting.  

Sarah [00:06:27] Mm-hmm.  

Beth [00:06:28] It's just what I tried to articulate as a mistake that I've made in my own thinking right after the midterms. My thinking has been increased turnout will lead to people voting more like me. And the truth is, increased turnout will lead to people of all varieties voting more. And we want that. We want that percentage to keep going up, but that is not a magic formula for either party. And I love that we're starting to dig into that a little bit more in political analysis.  

Sarah [00:07:00] Well, as we got ready for this year, we also talked and continue to talk about COVID. But here's what you said at the end of last year.  

Beth [00:07:09] It's probably reflective in some ways of our fatigue because we're not immune from a general fatigue with the pandemic. I did not expect the pandemic to be as present for us in 2021 as it has been, and I just don't know what it's going to mean in 2022. I know that it's not going to be over. I think it will be a very different phase. My church is talking about it as a rebuilding time-- 2022 is a rebuilding year. I really like that construction. And maybe a good resolution would be to just stay focus on that. We said that for 2021. Let's not move beyond it just because we're ready to be done with it. Maybe we just have to re-up that one for 2022.  

Sarah [00:07:50] Again, I feel that was pretty good. I think that that's what I felt this year. I felt like it was and continues to be a rebuilding time.  

Beth [00:07:58] I see that in my own life for sure. I see it in connection with a lot of organizations that I'm part of. The big footnote for me-- I guess I'm just kind of footnote everything today. The big footnote for me is that I'm not in health care and I just don't know that health care has gotten there yet. And that's why as we've been making our plans for next year, health care is something that I really want to talk a lot about and learn more about and explore more. I think that, unfortunately, this phase of COVID is much like some of the beginning phases where it affects all of us, but it affects us so differently that you just can't kind of have one theme about it.  

Sarah [00:08:38]  Now, in that episode, we were really careful not to make any predictions. But I think we could have seen some of these biggest stories coming, if I'm being honest. All of the clues were there; you have the invasion of Ukraine, the overturning of Roe v Wade, the January six committee's work, even honestly I think the raid at Mar-a-Lago and cryptos collapse. I mean, heck, we knew the queen couldn't go on forever. And by that queen I mean Nancy Pelosi. No, I'm kidding. I mean the real queen but both queens.  

Beth [00:09:09] There are specifics that I would have missed about these stories. I didn't know the classified documents were coming. It wouldn't have occurred to me to think through that is one element of his exposure. I just knew he had a lot of exposure and that some of it was going to start to show up. I think about this all the time. There was a television show on when I was a kid and it was one of those shows that I happened to like record on a VHS tape and then I just watched it a million times. It had Melissa Gilbert in it and she was a lawyer, I think. But there's this scene from that show that is burned into my memory where she's talking with an older woman in her life who she really loves. And that older woman looks at her and says, "Sooner or later everybody's bill comes due." And that in the sense that I had about Trump coming in to this year.  

Sarah [00:09:53] Yeah. And I think that's going to continue through 2023. The bill is not paid. The bill has not been paid fully and completely. And so when I look back at these big stories, in the moment they felt sort of breaking. But again as I look back I think no these were the culmination of so many things. Can I tell you who I think truly understood the assignment this year and who I'm reclaiming my MVP? I want to hear who your MVP is. NASA, the MVP of 2022. We got Artemis Orion successfully splashing down from their trip to the moon recently. We had the DART spacecraft. Remember when they slammed into an asteroid Armageddon style only without anybody dying and show they can save us from that. And wait, and The James Webb Space Telescope images, which I can still look at and cry. I just feel like they were firing on all cylinders over at NASA. They really, really were.  

Beth [00:10:56] Here's what I really love about NASA. They had all of these successes in the midst of an extremely challenging environment. It is getting harder and harder for NASA to compete for talent with private space companies. They have struggled by having people work from home and trying to get engineers back into collaborative environments. They got sidelined on psyche. The psyche mission did not work out and they had to investigate why and figure out what changes they needed to make. A lot of these projects were over budget, way past the timeline, and they just kept putting one foot in front of the other and that to me is the most encouraging part. I agree with you. I'm just going to cosign that spirit that we just keep going and we keep looking for something bigger than ourselves and we keep setting wildly ambitious targets and take the progress that we can get as we move toward them, I think it's beautiful.  

Sarah [00:11:55] Well now I will say this, should we name as a very, very close runner up one Miss Liz Cheney?  

Beth [00:12:09] I have to think about what title would befit Liz Cheney this year. There is a ruggedness about her that I really admire as well. Even as I don't fully understand what motivates her, I am appreciative of her willingness to go her own way at a time when it seemed like we had lost the ability for people to go their own ways. And I'm really interested in what she does next.  

Sarah [00:12:42] I mean, I'm pretty comfortable with most valuable player. Now, we could give most valuable player in the universe and most valuable player in the United States. We could break it up category that way because she deserves something. And I feel like it's come full circle for her in a way post midterm. I felt like she was sounding the alarm, she was doing the work, she was pointing out these things inside the Republican Party-- which I don't think have fully played out yet. I don't think the Republican Party has, of course, corrected in any real sustainable way. I think they've taken a fork in the road. I'm encouraged by that. But only time will tell to see how fully that plays out. But I  think anybody who at enormous personal sacrifice does the right thing just deserves praise, and under any rubric that is what she has done.   

Beth [00:13:33] A hundred percent. She deserves some kind of senior superlative along with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He got the Time Person of the Year, rightfully so. There are so many people who have done really big things this year. But I think you're right. For us sitting in America to highlight Liz Cheney's leadership feels right to me.  

Sarah [00:13:55] Well, as we look back, many things were predictable, but some things-- really surprised us. And so, Beth, I kind of looked back and I kind of created this little menu of things that surprised me. But I know what my absolute number one is going to be. I'm still not over it. I feel people perhaps could roll their eyes at this, but I'm okay. I'm okay with my choice. I'm secure in my choice. I am still not over Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, even that was almost an entire year ago. That is my most shocking moment of 2022.  

Beth [00:14:31] Well, I can understand why that is. I was having this conversation with our listener, Katie, who came on to More To Say to talk with me about the World Cup. And we were discussing how sports remain really exciting because there are so few things now where you don't know how it's going to go. Almost everything has become very choreographed, very predictable, very static. And so especially in an award show where maybe you don't know the outcome, but you have a real sense of how it's going to feel and what the vibe is going to be for something to disrupt that flow in such a significant way. And then to see how the whole production around it did not know how to adapt. It was very surprising.  

Sarah [00:15:14] Well, and I just think it was this energetic manifestation and like this crest in a real way. It feels like-- now I might be creating this storyline as I look back, and I'm okay with that, but it feels like that was sort of the culmination of all that COVID people are acting so ugly. Like they're acting ugly to retail people, they're acting ugly to waiters, they're acting ugly at the airport. And I'm not saying that has completely disappeared, but it was almost like that moment where we all went like, oh, okay, hold on. It was this very public moment where we saw someone act, physically attack someone, and we're reminded now there are real stakes in our interactions with each other. And the other part of it that I can't quite get over is how bad-- just truly, truly bad-- some of the takes were trying to justify a physical attack on another human being. And I think we've sort of glossed over that and I'm not over it, obviously. And because Twitter became such like a storyline with Elon Musk buying it, which I think was another kind of shocking thing that happened this year, and we started to really talk about what happens on Twitter in those takes and why they're so bad. I think that was part of it and that was that moment. It felt like the moment when the Internet takes truly jumped the shark where you had people justifying a physical attack on another human being. And then when Will Smith came out and said, "I shouldn't have done that, I'm sorry," those all kind of dissipated. But  I'm keeping the score. I remember. And it's like--I don't know. I need some sort of like Oprahmoment where we can all process that together. Or maybe this will be enough for me just getting this off my chest here on the show. But, man, it really affected me.  

Beth [00:17:06] So there was that initial disruption of the award show. And then I do think there was a discourse disruption because you could see how the trajectory of all of our conversations had moved away from anything being able to just be said. And, of course, there were elements of race and class involved in understanding this incident and people brought in Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia. Like, everybody brought all these things to the table. And I think it was a chance for us to look at that table and say, "Is anything just here that we all can see together and analyze through some common lens?" I don't think we fixed it and maybe fixing it is not available. But I do think that we have shifted toward a path where we're able to not just critically look at every social structure involved in every situation, but also critically look at the way we're bringing that criticism to each situation.  

Sarah [00:18:11] Yeah. I realize the irony in what I'm about to do, which is to read  tweet to illustrate.  

Beth [00:18:18] Modernity is fun.  

Sarah [00:18:21] But I think it's so good. It's from Mister Rogers neighborhood. I don't know who that is, but it says, "I like pancakes." "So you hate waffles?" is giving Twitter users too much credit. It's more like, "I like pancakes." "So you think I should have to eat pancakes every day even though I'm allergic to buttermilk and my father was ground to dust in a flour mill?" That's it. That is what I'm talking about. And I have to say for myself, like,  I'm kind of exhausted and done with that sense of every time I articulate something about my experience, I must also articulate the ways in which my experience falls short of everyone else's experience. And I can't do it anymore. It's exhausting. It's also inherently incomplete. And I think when we started that, when we started that, it was so powerful and it was so connecting, it felt like inclusion. It felt like we were we were picking up pieces and building the conversation. And now every time it happens, it feels the exact opposite to me. It feels like a part of the conversation is closed, someone is excluded, someone is disconnected, and it feels like this sort of door closing. And I can't tell you exactly when it shifted, but it feels like maybe when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock across the face, it was a big one for me where I thought, oh man, this is not doing what we're supposed to be doing anymore. We're using it to push each other away instead of using it to draw each other closer.  

Beth [00:19:48] I think it has been educational, as you described. It has been important work that we needed to do. And also taken to the place that we've taken it, has really stifled some creativity. Even where I don't feel disconnected from people, I can just hear little phrases kind of ding in my head from that online space that I'm carrying offline and I don't like it. I was giving a talk this week and someone asked me about how we can increase civility. And I could just hear like a pinball machine, almost like ding, ding, ding, "Well, civility can be weaponized," and just kind of all of these Internet phrases. And I don't want as a person to walk around being a collection of very online phrases. And so as I was talking through that question, I said, "You know, I think it almost is time for just a new word in terms of our goal. What do we mean when we say civility? I think we mean that we want to make progress for all people together and strengthen our relationships in the process. And so let's put that goal on the table for consideration and ask who all needs to be sitting around that table to move toward that goal." But I think we have to sort of retire the idea that we're all even going to agree on what civility means, and we're especially going to disagree on whether it is a social good. Let's articulate a social good that we can rally around.  

Sarah [00:21:14] Yeah. And I think that's what felt so good to me about 2022, is it felt like we were dialing down the very online from the fact that Congress was doing some real concrete work. NASA was out there doing some real great concrete work. The justice system was out there doing some very concrete work. The January six committee was out there doing very concrete work. It just felt like everyone  kind of got back to work. I don't think that happened in 2021. The pandemic was still so intense and still affecting our lives in such real ways. In 2022, not that the pandemic was completely over, but I just felt like everyone was grounded and moving and starting to sort of come back, not just to life, but to each other. And I think it showed up in some really concrete ways, and it dialed down all that energy around online and being online. Even just like the tech companies having their sort of market share decrease from Joe Biden continuing to be just a nice, normal, boring president and less and less emphasis put on Donald Trump, who was such an online president.  I just think it was all these things converging and it felt so good to me. It felt so, so good.  

Beth [00:22:35] Even as we are getting used to artificial intelligence becoming a bigger topic of conversation, it's nice that as it's happening and people are going, "Wow, this is amazing," they're also going, "This is amazing, and it could be a big problem and we might not want it." And let's do a little better than the last time we said, "Wow, something's amazing." And so I agree with you that we seem to be pulling some pieces together and learning some things.  

Sarah [00:23:02] So before we move on to our predictions and resolutions for 2023, we wanted to take a moment and memorialize the members of Congress who lost their lives in 2022.  

Beth [00:23:11] Jim Hagedorn of Minnesota's first district.  

Sarah [00:23:15] Don Young of Alaska at large.  

Beth [00:23:18] Jackie Walorski of Indiana's second district.  

Sarah [00:23:21] And Donald McEachin of Virginia's fourth district. We did not agree with everything these representatives of Congress ever did or ever said, but we wanted to mark their loss because their service mattered. All right, Beth, we're getting ready for 2023.  Are you ready?  

Beth [00:23:51] I am ready. Yes.  

Sarah [00:23:52] You know what? I think I am, too. Yeah, that's the energy we're bringing today. That's right. That's good, because I don't think we're leaving a lot of these big stories behind. I think we're still very much going to be talking about Ukraine, and the fallout from the overturning of Roe V. Wade, and justice coming for one Donald J. Trump and our economy. I just see all of those pieces still very much in play.  

Beth [00:24:16] I was reading these pieces about Jerome Powell this morning and I thought I think he wants to hold up his hands and say "It's just alchemy, people. Were just trying to figure out the gold and the chemistry of it all. And just give us a minute. It's new. We're doing our best."  

Sarah [00:24:30] And stop asking me about it. I feel like his energy is very like how I mean a parent-- like, I am trying to create something or I'm trying to distract your little brother and you keep bringing it up. Like, stop talking about it so much.  

Beth [00:24:40] You can almost hear him when they talk about interest rates. Asked and answered, it's not going to be zero again. We are not going back to zero.  

Sarah [00:24:48] I don't want to go back to zero for what it's worth. I'm fine with that.  

Beth [00:24:51] Well, as we were talking about all the things that were positive developments this year and the learning's, a big learning for me that I've been reflecting on ( and this is so obvious, but I feel it this year) is just that everything has a cost. And there is no way to move through the world without having a downside of some of what you try. And I feel like some of what Jerome Powell is saying is like, this was going to be hard. There's a war and a pandemic and the climate-- the Earth is angry with us-- there's going to be some hard stuff and we're doing our best to deal with the hard stuff.  

Sarah [00:25:28] I'm so glad you said that. It reminds me of this quote I cannot stop thinking about from Barbara Brown Tailors, An Alter in the World, which I'm just now reading. And she's saying she worries about what happens when we build a house for God. And she says where people of faith meet to say their prayers because saying them together reminds them of who they are better than saying them alone. And she says this is good and all good things cast shadows. And I thought, oh, that is so cool. All good things cast shadows. I think that is just perfect.  

Beth [00:26:08] That is it.  

Sarah [00:26:10]  That is it.  

Beth [00:26:12] All good things cast shadows. All bad things open some doors along the way. Nothing is pure. This is the theme that we keep returning to.  

Sarah [00:26:21] Yep. And so I'm trying to keep that in mind as we move into these stories, because I think when you're halfway through a story it's really easy to create a narrative. It's very easy for me to create a narrative that Russia is losing and it's just inevitable. It's easy for me to cast a narrative that America has woken up to the importance of reproductive rights and we will only be expanding reproductive freedom henceforth. It's easy for me to write a narrative that justice is coming for Donald Trump and all the ways that I want. And so I just have to remember that just because I think I understand these stories as we move into 2023, there is still so much room for surprise.  

Beth [00:27:02] Yeah, and I feel more confident in our work the less I try to tell myself that I understand these stories and the more I say, "Here is what I am seeing. What am I missing?" And I think that's a vibe that I very much want to take into 2023.  

Sarah [00:27:17] Of course, the other global story I think that we're going to be dealing with a lot in 2023 is that this march toward authoritarianism isn't always a walk in the park. I mean, we have protests upon protests around protests. We have protests in Russia over the invasion of Ukraine, in Iran after the death of Mahsa Amini, protests in China over COVID restrictions. And not a single bit of that is going away. And I expect to add more countries to the list in 2023.  

Beth [00:27:44] Well, I think that's right. As we are recording, we are receiving stories about protests in Peru. I think political instability is going to continue. My daughter Elena is at home with me today because she has pink eye and she was chatting with me and asking where her dad was. And I said, "Oh, he went out to pay some of our taxes." And she was, like, "Remind me what that is again?" And I told her we give money to the government so we can have roads and clean water and your school and things like that. And she goes, "Oh, and because we don't have a king." And she starts talking about what she's learned about how kings operated and how we used to only have kings. And it was a great reminder that the history of the world is about people wanting to govern themselves and move toward greater freedom. And I do think that is going to continue next year in the sense that it's always continued. And I think that the beautiful side of all this technology that we spent a while bashing is that we're going to know more about it and it's going to connect people to each other and give them leverage and fuel for those movements. And all of that will cast some shadows, too, and we'll just have to pay attention to it.  

Sarah [00:28:49] And I think the other thing I'm looking at a lot, because I am realizing that it is a global trend, not just a U.S. trend, and it is a trend I do not understand. This is not an experience I have a lot. I'm in the gut triad. Okay. I can read things and think, okay, this is what I think is going on here. And I kind of sense it especially around political maneuvering. And I do not feel that here. It's not that I'm always right or that I don't continue to ask questions, but it's very rare that I find myself in a space where I go, "I don't know what's going on here." And the global trend of parity where our elections are getting tighter and tighter to 50%. You see it in Britain, you see it in Israel, you see it in Brazil and I don't know what's going on. I just don't understand it. I do not understand this increasing parity, and I want to, and I'm hoping 2023 will reveal some fundamental truths surrounding that trend to me.  

Beth [00:29:51] I'm glad you brought this up. It is something that I think about often. I don't have any answers about it. It helps me to remember that every generation carries a little bit more than the one before it. As much as we like to tell ourselves that everything was harder forever ago-- and that's true, and it was in many ways-- we are saddled with the expectations and the memories and the stories and the grievances of everyone who came before us. And so I think that if you combine how we just naturally carry more generation by generation with the capacity to hear that from everyone in all the spaces all the time, it makes sense to me that we are finding more to struggle through with each other than we have in previous generations in fewer times when we feel like, well, everybody loves this show or everybody loves this president, or everybody thinks this war is wrong. And then you add into all of that all of the incentives to capture power or money based on manipulating how people feel, it is a it is a complex soup. And I think it's going to be an even more complex soup here in the U.S. as we go into another presidential cycle.  

Sarah [00:31:07] Well, maybe what it is-- I just thought this as you were talking-- it's we are increasingly diverse and the voices we hear are increasingly diverse more than any other point in human history. I just read a book by Pat Conroy. I don't want to burst on him, but it was a bad book. It was a bad book. Poorly written, badly developed, weirdly paced, the plot was bad. It was bad. And I thought, man, this got published. There are glowing reviews from the Washington Post on the cover. And I thought, well, he just had a lot less competition when he was coming up. And I thought, how often did that happen? A lot, probably. You go back and you read old books or watch old movies, you're like, "How did this get made?" And I wonder if that parity is just like us working out we really are bringing in more ways than we ever have in human history, sort of the breadth and depth of everybody. Now, we have not solved discrimination or prejudice or any of that, but we're getting closer than we ever have. We're bringing everybody and all of their experiences and we're learning  what that diversity means and how that plays out. I think you see that in the post election analysis and how certain interest groups voted or that maybe they're not an interest group and maybe we're characterizing them in a way that's not fair. I just think that maybe that's what we're seeing, is we had a narrative because the power structure was more tightly contained in order to create one. And that's not where we are anymore. And maybe that's what we're seeing out in that parity. But I like the idea of like asking that year a question. Like, I have some questions. Instead of resolutions for 2023, I have some questions.  

Beth [00:32:50] Yeah, I like that too. I also think that it means for our political parties, if you accept that, if you don't fight that, if you don't sit around and say like, well, this parity thing is really frustrating, or how do we draw lines differently so that we can get what we can get. I think our political parties have been in such a space of scarcity and defense. And if you accept, the competition is just going to continue to be higher for good ideas, for good leaders, for good products and services. Okay. So how do I build something that competes well? And how do I be in this space where I'm trying to attract people to me instead of just holding on very tightly to the people I know are with me.  

Sarah [00:33:36] Or assuming because of their identity you understand what they're going to do.  

Beth [00:33:39] Right. Or that they will be with you no matter what. Or that they will be against you no matter what.  

Sarah [00:33:43] Yeah, I mean, that's a very unevolved view of diversity, right? Is that once we understand someone's identity in this very, like, Census Bureau checkbox way, we understand what they're going to do. And I think what we're learning the hard way is that's not true. That's not what real multicultural democracy is like. It's just a little bit of a chaos lottery because there's so many people involved. But I think that's sort of what we're learning. That is probably a good transition to what, of course, we know will be a huge story in 2023, again, the presidential primary. So here's some context. I went and looked when did everybody announce. So Barack Obama announced in February of 2007. Which was really early. He was trying to get in front of Hillary. It clearly worked. She announced for the 2016 presidential cycle in April of 2015, as did Bernie. Trump came down that escalator in June of 2015. So we are definitely, definitely, going to get a bunch of announcements this coming year in 2023.  

Beth [00:34:49] Yay!  

Sarah [00:34:49]  I was going to say, how do you feel about that?  

Beth [00:34:52] No, I'm ready. I'm ready. Let's do it. Because I do think the nice thing about elections is that they ask a bunch of questions and it's time for us to ask a bunch of questions. I was really bothered in the midterm elections by how many campaigns were animated by the approach to COVID in 2020. Many of the midterm elections to me felt like they were asking backward looking questions instead of forward looking questions.  

Sarah [00:35:21] Oh yeah, for sure.  

Beth [00:35:21] And I hope that a presidential primary gives us the opportunity to ask more forward looking questions.  

Sarah [00:35:28] No, I agree. I do think-- hear me out here. I have an argument for why we should do this. I think we should predict whether Joe Biden is going to run again because here, look, if we predict that he's going to run and he doesn't, it's a pleasant surprise. If we predict that he's not going to run and he doesn't, then we look super smart. So I think we should predict.  

Beth [00:35:50] But what if we predict he is not going to run and he does.  

Sarah [00:35:53] Oh, wait. I didn't think through that scenario.  

Beth [00:35:57] This is like the movie clear where they go one plus two plus two plus one.  

Sarah [00:36:04] I still think we should predict.   

Beth [00:36:07] Okay. I'm going to predict that he is not going to run again.  

Sarah [00:36:11] Okay. So you're going to take that bet?  

Beth [00:36:14] I'm going to take that bet. I have seen some reporting that Jill might persuade him not to run again. And I think Jill definitely persuaded him to run this time. I continue to remember (and will as long as I live) being at the rally in New Hampshire, where his campaign was thought of as lifeless and watching her bring the room to life, watching her bring out the best in him. And I think that if her perspective is that he shouldn't do this again, that will carry a ton of weight. I also think that Hakeem Jeffries and the way Nancy Pelosi is handling that transition has got to weigh on him. And I just think this man loves his family and would probably like some minutes of just getting to be with his family. And he deserves that at this point in life. And I wish it for all of them.  

Sarah [00:37:10] Well, I was going to predict that he is going to run again, but I found your argument very convincing. I mean, she did say to McCraw that they were ready. He asked, "Are you ready for another election?" She was like, "Of course." I don't know what how else she would answer that at an open state dinner. But it's watching the delight and the sort of social aspect of being president and first lady that I'm kind of, like, I think they might run again. They're seeming like they're having a lot of fun hosting weddings at the White House, really enjoying those state dinners, really enjoying the Christmas decorations. And it would be hard to, like, do such a good job, everything's finally opening back up again and be like, "No, man, I'll peace out." 

Beth [00:37:46] No, go out on a high. That's a beautiful way to go out.  

Sarah [00:37:49] That's true. I'm just trying to prepare myself so that I'm not massively disappointed if he does.  I feel like I'm taking some very Beth energy right now. I'm just going to assume this is what's going to happen so that I'm ready emotionally if it does. I bet nobody would have guessed you'd predict he's not going to run and I'm going to predict he is going to run. Keep y'all on your toes in 2023.  

Beth [00:38:12] 2022 has shifted a lot of energy for us. I like it.  

Sarah [00:38:15] That's right. Do you have any other predictions for 2023?  

Beth [00:38:19] Well, I guess in the bucket of I think we're going to continue to watch this and talk a lot about it. I think the House of Representatives is just going to be its own situation in 2023.  

Sarah [00:38:32] Can I opt out?  

Beth [00:38:34] I don't think so. I don't think that's available to us as Americans. I am finding myself re-engaging in some reading that I had ignored for a while. Usually I get annoyed with some of the inside baseball news out of DC because it gets so focused on process. But I think as we're thinking about what is the next iteration of the Republican Party going to look like, some of these process fights are illuminating and the process and the substance are not so clear cut. And it's interesting to find myself reading about measures advanced by the House Freedom Caucus and thinking, I mean, that doesn't sound like a terrible idea, that makes sense to me. And also realizing that a lot of those things that don't sound like terrible ideas create even less stability within Congress and make it harder for Congress to move quickly. And there are advantages and disadvantages to all of that. So I am concerned about some of what will happen in the House of Representatives. But I also think there is something that sparks my intellect about watching people say what's this place going to look like now? And we know it's going to look very different from even the last time Republicans controlled the House.  

Sarah [00:39:50] My most grace-filled energy I can bring to this is I have been advocating for some upending surrounding our Congress. I would like some processes up into it. I would like lots of things shaken a little loose over there. So I will have to remember that as they shake some things loose and we'll just have to see what happens. But, overall, how are you feeling about the upcoming year, Beth?  

Beth [00:40:13] I'm excited for it. I really am. I'm excited for things that we have planned, for some of the travel that we're going to do. I'm excited to be out even more connecting with people in person, and I'm excited about a lot of the progress being made like this stories about nuclear fusion. And I think that we are just on the cusp of so many transformational ideas, and I love that.  

Sarah [00:40:39] I agree. I said on our premium channels that I feel like I'm standing on a very sturdy foundation in a brand new house. You know like when they put up the frame and they just put down the subfloor, that's how I feel right now. I feel like we're standing in the space where things are getting a little stabilized and a little sturdy, but they're in a whole new location and I love it. I'm here for it. I can't wait to see what 2023 brings to us, to America, to the world, everywhere. Beth, to close out this last show of the year, we were going to talk about what we learned personally in 2022 based on Emily P. Freeman's practice. What did 2022 teach you?  

Beth [00:41:28] Outside of the work that we do here, most of 2022 for me can probably be captured and just recognizing how fragile our bodies are. I have felt that sandwich generation profile heavily this year and I know that that's going to continue as well. And having spent a week in the hospital with my mom and watched the decline of some other family members who we really care about and watching different generations in my family approach that aging process in really different ways, has me recognizing that life is really short and fragile. And I think the lesson that I keep trying to take from that-- because sometimes you choose what you're going to make meaning of. And so what I'm trying to take from that is recognizing how precious and fragile and temporary everything is, is really fortifying my joy. It's really fortifying in me our resolve to have a lot of fun and love in a way that's really obvious and generous, and be with the people who I enjoy and not let my calendar be filled up with things that don't provoke all of that joy, and just try to even look at the saddest things I know. And I know some really sad things right now in a deep and personal way to even look at the saddest things I know and think, wow, how precious this is and how lucky am I to be part of it?  

Sarah [00:43:06] Yes. My learning was also very physical. I learned all about diabetes this year.  

Beth [00:43:10] You did.  

Sarah [00:43:12] I did. I learned how it works. I learned how to manage it. And honestly, diabetes is an incredible metaphor for exactly what you were describing. I've talked about this before, that you have sort of a foundation of insulin and then you bolus for meals. So you have this steady drip and then you go up and down and, man, is that not a good metaphor for life? And I learned that even more this year that if the foundation is strong, you can handle a lot of ups and downs. And I think I knew that, but every year, every season, every child gives you a new way to learn that. And I'm just so grateful to be here learning. And I'm so grateful to face challenges with the people by my side, including you. I am so, so grateful to be alive and to be able to travel and to love and to eat and to talk and to connect and to feel and to just live. And I knew all that. I learned that very young. But, like I said, it's like every new learning adds a dimension to that that I'm incredibly grateful for. In fact, I think I've decided my word for 2023 is going to be blessing.  

Beth [00:44:38] That's lovely. I love that.  

Sarah [00:44:40] Yeah, I was thinking about not just the blessings in my own life, but I read something online that was like a blessing is not a prayer to God. A blessing is something you send out to other people. And I've received so many blessings and I want to put that forth on other people. And so that's what I'm thinking about as my word for 2023. Do you have your word picked out yet?  

Beth [00:45:02] I do. My word is cheers for 2023. 

Sarah [00:45:07] I love it. That's fun. That goes right to what you were just talking about.  

Beth [00:45:10] Absolutely. Well, I was thinking about reading Casper Ter Kuile's book, The Power of Ritual. And you're going to hear from Casper in a conversation with us in January. And it's a delight. Just a little preview, it's a wonderful conversation about community. I was thinking about how he describes the ritual of cheers in his book and how early on-- and there are lots of iterations of this origin story, but the idea was that your liquid would literally spill into someone else's cup. And I'm not here for that. I have learned enough on the public health front that I'm not interested in sharing liquids with each other. But the metaphor of that is exactly how I want to be in 2023 and not just with the good times. But part of what I have really loved about spending some time in the U.K. and consuming more content from the UK is the way that cheers shows up in moments that are not just a fun party. And I hope to live that too, that we will impose on each other a little bit more and let each other carry some of the hard things together a little bit more.  

Sarah [00:46:17] Well, in the spirit of that and in the spirit of my word for 2023, blessings, I wrote a poem after I sat down and looked through the incredible Christmas cards that our listener sent to us. I wrote a blessing for them. Like to read it with me?  

Beth [00:46:35] That's awesome, Sarah. I would be honored to read it with you.  

Sarah [00:46:40] As you decided to divorce,  

Beth [00:46:42] To change careers,  

Sarah [00:46:44] To move to a new city,  

Beth [00:46:46] You listen to our voices.  

Sarah [00:46:48] As you gave birth to babies,  

Beth [00:46:50] To new careers,  

Sarah [00:46:52] To new realities,  

Beth [00:46:54] You gave us your time.  

Sarah [00:46:55] As you said goodbye to your beloved,  

Beth [00:46:58] To toxic relationships,  

Sarah [00:47:00] To an imagined future,  

Beth [00:47:02] You invited us into your lives.  

Sarah [00:47:05] And with every listen, we were filled in return.  

Beth [00:47:08] We may not know all of your names, but you are written on our hearts.  

Sarah [00:47:13] May every blessing this community has given to us,  

Beth [00:47:17] Be returned to all of you tenfold in the New Year.  

Sarah [00:47:20] May 2023 bring curiosity and grace and nuance,  

Beth [00:47:25] In all its beautiful and unpredictable ways.  

Sarah [00:47:29] May we continue to learn from each other,  

Beth [00:47:32] When it is joyful, but also when it is hard.  

Sarah [00:47:35] May we remember that no matter what the next year brings,  

Beth [00:47:39] Or takes away,  

Sarah [00:47:40] Together is all we have.  

[00:47:48] Thank you for joining us for an entire year of Pantsuit Politics. Over the next two weeks, we are going to share highlights from that year and we wish you the best holiday available to you.  

Beth [00:48:18] Pantsuit Politics is produced by Studio D Podcast Production. Alise Napp is our managing director.  

Sarah [00:48:23] Maggie Penton is our community engagement manager. Dante Lima is the composer and performer of our theme music.  

Beth [00:48:29] Our show is listener-supported. Special thanks to our executive producers.  

Executive Producers (Read their own names) [00:48:33] Martha Bronitsky. Allie Edwards. Janice Elliott. Sarah Greenup. Julie Haller. Helen Handley. Tiffany Hasler. Emily Holliday. Katie Johnson. Katina Zuganelis Kasling. Barry Kaufman. Molly Kohrs.. Katherine Vollmer. Lauri LaDow. Lilly McClure. Linda Daniel. Emily Neesley. The Pentons. Tawni Peterson. Tracy Puthoff. Sarah Ralph Jeremy Sequoia. Katie Stigers. Karen True. Onica Ulveling. Nick and Alysa Vilelli. Amy Whited. Emily Helen Olson. Lee Chaix McDonough.  

Beth [00:49:11] Jeff Davis. Melinda Johnston. Michelle Wood. Joshua Allen. Morgan McCue. Nicole Berklas. Paula Bremer and Tim Miller.  


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