Joe Biden, slightly befuddled, usually successful at remembering which woman is his wife and which is his sister, often capable of detaching his facemask from his left ear, is going to take care of us for a while. Our Joe.
And, by the way, we should thank our lucky stars for that. Seriously. I mean consider the alternative. We dodged a bullet. Big time. Not just because the other guy is such a self-centered jerk, but because “taking care” is what comes natural for Joe. He’s been doing it his whole life. And, being cared for, is exactly what our country and our world need right now.
We don’t need a knight in shining armor. We need care and healing, literally and figuratively. We need someone we can trust.
“Caretaker” is not exactly what most politicians, on the make, aspire to be. You know the type. Hard chargers, who point with pride and view with alarm. They dominate debates with cut and thrust. They aspire to be transcendent actors on the world stage and practice their slow walk strut before full length mirrors. That’s not Joe at all. The other guy, no briefing books please, he’s practicing his strut and fist pump.
Joe is no silver-tongued snake oil salesman. He’s more like your favorite uncle who always seems happy to see you. His most memorable line in umpteen Democratic debates was “I see I’m out of time” which he used three times. Whatever he said before he became “out of time” was, and is, entirely forgettable.
Yet, another reason to thank our lucky stars.
Somebody will explain sometime how we came up with Joe as our nominee and now President-Elect. All I know, is Joe started as a possible nominee, moved quickly to dead in the water where he stayed until Congressman Jim Clyburn of South Carolina let it be known that he was going to vote for Biden in the South Carolina Primary because “Joe knows us”…meaning the black citizens of South Carolina and America. Next stop, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, with the Marine Band playing Hail to the Chief.
To borrow a line from sports guy, Al Michaels, “Do you believe in Miracles?”
ADDENDUM: ELECTION (November 20, 2020)
This war is not over. Trump and his people are still flailing away. What are Democrats doing in response? Making witty comments about how Rudy Giuliani looks with his hair dye dripping down the side of his face and hoping nobody will believe what he says.
Guess what? That is not the way to finish the race. Years ago, Bill Clinton had a strategy of answering every charge against him within 24 hours. That was 1992.
The Democrat response to every ridiculous statement coming out of the mouths of the Trump-Giuliani-Kayleigh McEnany team has to be a hard in-your-face rebuttal and countercharge. And it has to come within 30 minutes of the other side’s statement or tweet.
Democrats are in a “we won; nobody will believe them” mode. That is way too passive and gives the other side way too much operating room and incentive to keep up the fight.
The person to run the Response Team is Ron Klain, Biden’s Chief of Staff. He is smart and tough. Handling Response should be Job One until at least December 14. A team of responders should be enlisted, the best. People who love political combat.
Joe won the election, but Trump has not been beaten. He can’t be ignored. He has to be beaten. Beat him.
Comments are welcome at tomc[at]wednesdayswars[dot]com. Comments will be addressed in subsequent posts.