Oliver Wendell Holmes on FDR: "Second-class intellect. First-class temperament."
Joe Biden is no boat rocker. It is the temperament Democrats wanted.
 |
| Iowa voters: Biden |
Kamala Harris brings sparkle and edge to the ticket. The criticism she is getting is a net positive. Anchor baby! Interloper of color! People who welcomed a new round of birtherism were never going to vote for Biden anyway. As it is, Trump's tactic is renewed and revealed. It will energize people who feel marginalized.
Harris comes across as sharp, both in the sense of highly alert and precise--a sharp cookie--and in the sense that she can cut, a political knife. Biden needed that because Biden is the opposite of sharp. Joe is "Mr. Can't we all get along?" Thad Guyer's Guest Post below cites a Politico article describing the tension between Obama and Biden. Cerebral, cool, intellectual Obama was not a backslapper and deal maker. Joe Biden was and is. Joe Biden was old school politics. Find out what is important to the other guy. Find common ground.
That attitude nearly sunk his primary nomination campaign. Biden had said nice things about openly racist southern politicians at their funerals. In Harris' one stand-out debate, she called Biden out on that. Democratic primary activists were in a mood to find a fighter, not an accommodator. How dare Biden get along with a segregationist?
Thad Guyer is an attorney who represents whistleblowing employees, with an international practice. He has developed a reputation within this blog for sharp commentary in Guest Posts. There is more of it today. Biden, he says, is out of it mentally and a very weak choice to lead Democrats.
I share his worries, but not his conclusion. Biden is OK. Biden has the one quality that Democratic voters seemed to want, beyond not being Trump. Biden wants to unite a divided country.
I expect a president Biden to be golfing with Lindsay Graham if Graham is re-elected. I expect Biden to be able to get judges through the system. I expect some Republican senators from red states--and Democrats Joe Manchin and Steve Bullock from red states--to get undeserved new dams or airport overlays or regulatory exemption to continue polluting a while longer, and there will be righteous critics galore from left and right both, but the system will begin to work again.
I expect a president Biden to be golfing with Lindsay Graham if Graham is re-elected. I expect Biden to be able to get judges through the system. I expect some Republican senators from red states--and Democrats Joe Manchin and Steve Bullock from red states--to get undeserved new dams or airport overlays or regulatory exemption to continue polluting a while longer, and there will be righteous critics galore from left and right both, but the system will begin to work again.
There are plenty of smart, sharp people for Joe Biden to lean on. Black voters in South Carolina wanted something that white, woke, progressive Socialists in blue enclaves do not. They wanted to stop rocking the boat. Joe Biden was about people getting along, making progress, getting half a loaf, because when the boat gets rocked by a boat-rocker, they know all too well that the people who get thrown out of the boat are the most marginal people. People like them, not white activists with college degrees. Biden won't rock the boat.
I agree with those South Carolina Democrats, but there are other points of view:
Guest Post by Thad Guyer:
 |
| Guyer |
It would be a pitiful sight watching Biden collapse into confusion, but thank goodness his senior staff has no intent to ever letting him answer questions of the Washington press corp. Nope, they cherry pick friendly journalists. Biden's staff hustled him off stage with due haste after he introduced Senator Harris as his running mate, thankful that he only mispronounced her name once. Practice makes perfect. They are not going to let him debate one on one, Trump would destroy him, ask him trick questions like "what year was your first child born?" Yes, it would be all of that and more!
Still, we have at least some grounds to hope that Obama will remove Biden from the ticket, a simple announcement that "I love Joe, but he is not of sufficient mental capacity to proceed". According to Politico yesterday, Biden and Obama's relationship is going downhill still. See, Politico, "The President Was Not Encouraging’: What Obama Really Thought About Biden". The sooner we offload Biden, the better able we will be to fend off Trump with Senator Harris at the top of the ticket.
Keeping Biden out of the public eye creates an air of electoral illegitimacy. Can a party hide a mentally incompetent candidate and claim the high ground that his VP will take over as soon as needed? Yes, a party can do that if they tell the public the truth about this plan. But if our party is engaged in active concealment of non compos mentis, then Trump is unleashed to fight fraud with fraud. Trump is good at fraud. He is already laying the groundwork to destabilize the election. See, The Nation, "Forget the Nasty Insults Trump Plans to Sabotage the Election",and as a mutual friend wrote, "the Nation is a conservative publication. Hold on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride ..." (Click: The Nation. Trump to sabotage the election.).
I know it is serious, but it is just so fun and exciting! It's about time that America had a truly rocky transition of power, I am weary of all these claimed faux "constitutional crises", bring on the real thing already! And thanks to the case of Bush v Gore, our system is totally prepared to deal with it and let the Supreme Court decide who is president. "Stop the counting!" With Democrats showering mail ballots like confetti on Fifth Avenue, and our departments of elections in traditional non-mail voting states are unable to handle the warehouses full of paper, choking on on envelopes, just as they were with the Democratic primary ballots. We are head for irregularities far beyond "hanging chads", they will seem quaint compared with challenges to postmarks, envelopes, signatures, manner of delivery and greasy finger prints.
To Obama's credit, to the credit of the Chicago political machine from whence he came, his administration during the transition did all it could to sabotage the Trump presidency through FBI corruption and fraud with the FISA court. I found all of that to be pretty exciting, the near misses of Mueller and Impeachment disappointing but stimulating. Iron Man prevailed! And now Trump's repayment of the favor is likely to be astonishing.
I hope my expectations for drama aren't too high, but every time I think we are in a unique historical moment with Trump that myth is burst by history. Here is a 1977 dramatization of the Marbury v. Madison story (a government funded 30 minute movie). https://www.c-span.org/video/?310956-1/marbury-vs-madison. Skip to minute 11 and watch Thomas Jefferson spit vitriol, hatred of the other party, and lawlessness in hiding or destroying 43 judicial and other commissions issued by his predecessor John Adams. It is the depiction of Trumpism. If you watch the whole movie (it is fabulous), the rendition of the overtly political Supreme Court seems just like the Roberts court.
Stop the counting!
Against all of this, against Trump, what do we do? Nominate a drooling old white man who can barely remember his VP's name. Who was it who said "We came face to face with the pitiful and it was us"? Whomever, but don't let this happen to us. Otherwise, buckle up for 4 more years.
10 comments:
Talk about buyer's remorse!
At one point Democrats had over twenty candidates but moderates rejected them all for the VP. Lots of reasons; Bernie backlash, fear of women, etc. We all know how it went.
Now a hail mary, Palin inspired VP pick that may have the same result, I hope not.
In the coming week VP Biden will not be able to hide any infirmities as he headlines a convention, and it will take a Mensa level performance to put the concerns to rest. Otherwise this issue will dog him (as I predicted), and we're not even talking about Hunter yet.
I can't believe replacing Biden is a serious proposal. Democrats will vote as instructed, and the margin is holding at almost 8 points, so the convention will be a non-event, and after will be too late.
Caveat Emptor...
Again the bomb throwers and Trump defenders magnify the mental health of their challenger rather than admit to the psychosis of Trump. I find their support for Trump appalling and their harping on Biden for being inclusive is beyond the pale. I expect to see used every smear tactic in their arsenal. I’m a reformed Republican and I can’t take it anymore. Support the Biden Harris ticket and right the ship of state!
I believe Thad Guyer, in his eagerness to field a younger, more vigorous and more forward looking Democratic nominee has allowed himself to engage in an unwarranted amount of hyperbole in his abasing description of Joe Biden's
mental acuteness. Thad, please do not underestimate the growing desperation engulfing the Republican party in respect to the upcoming election. When their candidates ask our wealthy citizens (the main beneficiaries of Trump's big tax cuts) for campaign funds they will unleash a veritable treasure trove to "buy" this election. In case you've forgotten Chad, everything in our vaunted democracy (and most importanatly, our Congress) is "For Sale". If the cretin should be defeated the nation would be spared the execrable executive orders that smack so accurately of dictatorship, and the wealthy will face new challenges from a hostile Congress redress for every insult visited upon them by the maniacal actions of the liar befouling our White House. I for one am ready to risk a doddering senior as a replacedment to the unspeakable moron now in office. Even someone afflicted with Alzheimer's could do a better job.
Bob Warren
I think Trump is actually a brilliant strategist when it comes to "creative destruction" and the manufacturing of consent. Consider his latest application of these (originally liberal) theories in terms of "law and order" and the de-funding of the post office and suspension of the payroll tax. He is taking the Republican "starve the beast" strategy to a whole 'nother level. A misguided, selfish, predatory capitalist, yes, but no moron.
Democratic Party leadership lives in a snow-globe, insulated and tone-deaf, giving a cold shoulder to the cries of the destitute, who want only the dignity that comes from work and a living wage. These “leaders” cannot see that the aloof technocratic “professionalism” they project is a turn-off to the wage slaves and small business owners who are the backbone of our economy. It remains to be seen if Peter's South Carolina theory (seemingly based on an admission of the existence of class distinctions: wealth/education) is correct; perhaps it is for older African-Americans but, from what I see, there are plenty of disenfranchised black and white young folks standing shoulder to shoulder in the streets not only rocking the boat but challenging incumbent corporatists...and winning.
Andy Seles
FACT! Joe Biden handlers won't allow him to do television interviews, and the "reporters" he does speak with are friendly with Biden. Biden only gets "softball questions".
Now, Peter Sage can spin it, but the average voter is too smart, and they know a demented person when they see him, and they can determine when a candidate is "ducking" the press. You all can play "stupid" and tell yourself that everything is OK, but we all know that Biden has lost it, his political positions are now all hard-left", he ain't calling the shots anymore, and if he's lucky enough to win, then he won't last long in office before Harris takes-over.
STOP with the Biden is OK stuff. Biden isn't OK. He's as demented as the next demented person at an Alzheimer's Unit. Biden can't even remember what he had for breakfast, and he definitely isn't capable of dealing with Russia or China. Biden couldn't run a lemonade stand at this point in his life.
Be honest with the voters, and tell it like it is. Biden is a Trojan Horse who exist just to get Kamala Harris (and perhaps Hillary Clinton) into office. If democrats were honest, then they'd just dump Biden and run Harris at the top of the ticket.
Curt Ankerberg
Medford, OR
Most Trump attacks are pure projection right out of the Roy Cohn playbook,if you're a proven crook say crooked hillary, news will be there are charges that both sides are crooks. Amazing that supporters of man who doesn't know where Thighland is and claims the !918 pandemic ended the Second World War have the nerve to attack his opponents competence.
Sorry, Curt, from where I sit, Biden is far removed from the Left. He's a "centrist" which means he belongs to the tribe that, for the last 40 years, has followed the Republicans moveable goalposts. So you really have nothing to worry about.
Sometime, we should have a discussion about common ground issues: the NDAA, the bailout of the banks, NAFTA, overturning Citizens United and, now, the last two Covid relief packages that both parties have lavished upon their wealthy donors while throwing crumbs to the working class.
Andy Seles
I don't really think Biden is all that diminished. He does have problems when speaking off-the-cuff so I'm waiting to see if they get their talking points down. Once they are all on script this may not be such a big deal.
To clarify for Andy.....
I think that Biden was a "moderate" in the old days, but he's morphed.
When Biden served as VP with Obama, I think that Obama was the more liberal of the two, but now that Biden has started to lose his mind, he doesn't have the mental strength anymore, and he and his public statements are being controlled by others. Biden may be the person speaking the words, but his script is being written by someone else, and that someone else is a Bernie Sanders or Liz Warren operative. Essentially, Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren Nancy Pelosi, and Chuck Schumer are all the puppet-masters behind Joe Biden, and Biden is just reading their script. Biden is not the architect of the agenda. The other extreme liberals I named are. They are the controlling bodies behind Biden. So.....while Biden may not personally be an extreme liberal, he has taken on the role as the spokesman for extreme liberals. Every position that Biden has publicly taken is no different that what Bernie Sanders thinks. It's group-think among the democrats.
Come on....And then there was George Bush....articulate and a deep thinker. At least Biden can read a prompter. Smooth with script, like Reagan. No philosopher kings here in America.
Post a Comment