YOU COULD HAVE DONE BETTER, BUT I DON'T MIND

Over a year ago, as Democrats began to declare their intention to run for president, I wrote that I hoped to be able to vote for a candidate younger than I am, and preferably one with two X chromosomes.  Maybe next time. 

Nevertheless, my fellow Democrats have chosen a candidate who is far superior to Donald Trump, and I’m happy to support Joe Biden in the general election.  I was impressed by both Joe Biden’s victory speech and by Bernie Sanders’ concession speech.  Good on both of them.

But out of the large cast of characters who have come and gone since the race began, the two people who impressed me most were women.  I believe that Elizabeth Warren was the best candidate in the field, and I’m sorry that relatively few Democratic voters agreed with that assessment.  And among the non-candidates, I was particularly impressed by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who is a savvy enough politician to advocate effectively for Bernie Sanders without burning bridges to his rivals.  I like her “mission before position” attitude – she cares about getting stuff done, but she doesn’t need to lead the process.  People like that are the ones who make good leaders, and I hope I live long enough to vote for her some fine day.

In the meantime, there’s work to do right now.  “Electability” was one of the major themes of the primary season.  Is Joe Biden electable?  Who knows?  November 3 is a bit over seven months away, and it’s been fifty years at least since a presidential election took place in the middle of this much chaos.    

(As usual, I can’t resist a brief stroll down memory lane.  In case you’re too young to remember, 1968 was the year a sitting president decided not to run for re-election, the two most prominent progressives in America were both assassinated, more than 16,000 American soldiers were killed in Vietnam, and there were ten riots in American cities that were major enough to have their own Wikipedia page.  Good riddance to 1968.)

Returning to the matter of Biden’s electability, my answer is that it’s largely up to us – Democrats and everyone else who wants to get rid of Trump – to make him electable.  Joe Biden’s not an angel, and he’s not a devil.  He’s a career politician, and his positions have evolved over the decades.  I’m glad, because some of his earlier positions were wrong.  He’s also gaffe-prone, and has been for decades.  And none of that matters much to me.  For all his faults, Joe Biden would make a far better president than Donald Trump, who will continue as president if we fail to make Biden electable.

As I see it, the logical first step in getting rid of Donald Trump is to avoid trashing the only candidate who has a chance to beat him in November.  Instead of using phrases like “lesser of two evils” and “hold my nose and vote for him,” consider saying something like this.  “He wasn’t my first choice, but it’s imperative that we get Donald Trump out of the White House, so I’m voting for him, and I hope you do too.” 

Republicans and their allies in the Green Party will keep up the drumbeat of attack ads.  We’ll relive Biden’s gaffes, old and new.  They’ll bring up questionable votes, and try to do a Benghazi number on Hunter Biden. 

If you’re a Democrat, the proper response is, “OK, now do Trump.”  

Whatever your opinion of Biden as a candidate, one point in his favor is that Donald Trump is afraid of him.  That’s why he had Bill Barr and Rudy Giuliani tramping around in Ukraine, twisting the arms of local politicians for dirt on Biden’s son.  That’s why this week, he tried to concern-troll Democrats with tweets about poor Bernie being cheated out of his rightful nomination.   

I know that many Sanders supporters are devastated right now. I get it.  I myself have a history of making emotional investments in losing candidates, beginning with the first election I was old enough to vote in.  Well, that guy didn’t exactly lose.  Bobby Kennedy was murdered on the night he won the California primary.  I was shocked when Richard Nixon beat George McGovern badly in 1972.  I was outraged that Republicans stole the 2000 election from Al Gore.  Anyone who feels shock, outrage, and grief over Bernie’s loss should take time to grieve. 

But I hope they never lose sight of the fact that the alternative to Joe Biden is no longer Bernie Sanders.  It’s four more years of Donald Trump.  If you think that actively or passively helping Trump win re-election is the best way to avenge Bernie Sanders – boy are you reading the wrong guy.

For everyone else, my advice is simple.  Accentuate the positive, eliminate the negative, and don’t mess with Mr. In-Between.