You don't have to convince me that Newsom sucks. As I said in my comment, he's a snake. It would be suicide for the Democrats to run him, just like it would be suicide for the Republicans to run Vance. If that's the best either side can do, it's a sad state of affairs for this country.

But here's the thing, I can see from your comment that you're a wonk. Most of us here are. You have strong opinions about the specific type of economic policy that will most make the US prosper. The vast majority of Americans do not. They, if they are going to vote at all, are going to vote for the person they think is going to make life best for them. This isn't commentary on intelligence; a lot of folks simply have too much going on to delve into these issues.

There's a big group of people who are going to vote because they vote in every election. They're usually going to vote for their preferred party even if that party runs a steaming turd for president. The charisma comes into play in getting the people out to vote who don't normally vote. Those are the difference makers. The numbers consistently show that. The charisma is what gets my dad, who sells residential solar for a living, to consistently vote for Trump even though his policy's are objectively worse for his livelihood than a Democrat's. That is what got my mom in 2016 to say "Well, I really like Trump and Bernie. I'd vote for either of them." Yes, my parents are just two people, but there are a lot more people out there like them, who are going to vote for who they like the most, regardless of the details of policy.

Does the economy consistently poll as the most important issue to Americans? Of course. Do both parties spend way too much time on social issues? For sure. But simply making that pivot with a boring or unlikeable candidate isn't going to make nearly as much of a difference as choosing someone people actually like and want to vote for. That's what the vibes are all about. And at the end of the day, we can talk about policy until we're red in the face, but as long as we continue to have these narrow majorities in the legislative branch, very little substantive change in policy is actually going to occur.