Do you have an opinion formed about Joe Biden? Do you also know what Joe Biden stands for? Do you know what Joe Biden will bring to America and Americans in 2021 and beyond?
When it comes to his opponent, we don’t need to ask. “Make America Great Again” and the new version, “Keep America Great,” are the calls to action for people on the far right.
What is Joe Biden’s call to action? If you don’t know, you’re not alone. I had to go look it up.
“Battle for the soul of the nation,” is the Biden/Harris call to action. This is from the man who became Vice President on the strength of Barack Obama’s hopeful messaging. Obama gave people a reason to vote, and a reason to care. Where’s the hope in this? All I hear is desperation. Also, don’t we all have enough to battle already? I feel like asking us to battle for something as grand and elusive as “the soul of the nation” is a massive over-reach.
To make matters much worse, Joe keeps playing Don’s game, even though that is a terrible idea, as HRC and the Democratic Party learned the hard way in 2016.
Why amplify Don’s voice? Why make this election about him? Informed voters know the damages that have been done. How in the world do we move forward now? This is what no one knows and what we all want to know from both Biden and Harris. Sadly, this is a backward-looking campaign from Biden at a time when we are desperate to move forward.
Saying so is painful. I want things to be different.
Don Don Alert: He’s Painting the Towns Red
According to Politico, Health and Human Services, under the President’s direction, is moving quickly on a highly unusual advertising campaign to “defeat despair” about the coronavirus. Senior administration officials have already recorded interviews with celebrities like actor Dennis Quaid and singer CeCe Winans, and have pursued television host Dr. Mehmet Oz and musician Garth Brooks for roles in the campaign.
The public awareness campaign, which HHS is seeking to start airing before Election Day on Nov. 3, was largely conceived and organized by Michael Caputo, the health department’s top spokesperson.
“No Malarkey” Is Some Malarkey
Malarkey is nonsense, and Joe Biden wants no more of it. He wants the truth to prevail over lies, and he believes that hope will beat back fear.
Biden is operating from an old playbook. “Unity over division” is a daydream. Biden wants to go back to the time when he was a Senator and GOP Senator’s were his friends and colleagues. I don’t blame him for the desire to return. I blame his team for not waking themselves up to the new reality in this nation.
The new reality is unspeakable.
The new reality is frightening and deadly.
The new reality is we need a new kind of leader and a new kind of federal government. We can not return to what was. We must build now for our new tomorrow and this means we must acknowledge what’s broken and then FOCUS INTENTLY on the myriad of solutions.
Feature / Benefit (Try It Sometime)
Biden and Harris might never refer to Don again and it would be more than alright with me.
Instead, the contenders could paint the picture of the America that we must usher in together—a more tolerant America for sure, but also an America with universal health care, affordable education, high-speed trains, a new sustainable power grid, prison reform, immigration reform, tax reform, a smaller military, and so on.
Also, there’s plenty of room to talk about competence. Joe Biden has spent his career working in Washington, DC. Explain why that matters. Explain why relationships matter, on The Hill and overseas. There’s no need to point out how Don has no experience. There’s a real need to show why and how experience matters. Biden can do this, and make a strong case in the process.
Otherize At Your Own Risk
One of HRC’s most painful errors in 2016 was her “basket of deplorables” commentary. A seasoned politician ought to know better. A person with humility does know better.
Racism, sexism, and xenophobia are deplorable, but the people who harbor these ill thoughts and feelings are both perps and victims. We are truly all in this together, even though that fact is obscured by the densest of media clouds.
All Americans need help today and all Americans need a leader who is consciously and openly inclusive. When HRC or Biden or any of us state our disdain or disgust for Trump’s hardcore followers, we join the problem. Because, no matter what your political leanings or views, if you’re an American citizen who is not part of the top one percent, you are being harmed right now by a radical consolidation of power and wealth.
Dear Joe,
If I were advising the Biden team, I would emphasize the need to build a better us and a better nation and how we will get there. Talk about big plans but also how we can, as individual citizens, take small steps each day and commit to being better people and better at what we do. We can be a better friend, a better parent, a better teacher, a better coworker, a better neighbor. That’s the path forward and we will live in a better world when we walk it.
