A common theme that quickly surfaces in any conversation regarding Joe Biden, is that the media doesn’t cover him enough, thereby voters do not know the true caliber of this outstanding candidate. Most often these remarks come from supporters who, like fans of a television serial, want to see more of "their favorite show." Their bewilderment and heightened sense of frustration can be compared to the angst one feels after hearing that their "to-die-for" show is canceled... For why on earth would a network cancel "Lost", "CSI", "House", or "Desperate Housewives" and replace it with "Barney and Baby Bop"?
All humor aside, that is exactly the paradigm the media creates whenever it chooses to show us a slumbering candidate, as opposed to an enlivened one. Because air time is all about "ratings", these avid viewers seem perplexed that the mainstream media would shun the most charismatic candidate, and focus instead on its preordained front runner.
Well, Iowa has the opportunity and should take advantage of it, to show those "bigwigs" a thing or two.... Iowa, as well as the rest of the nation, wants to see its best qualified, effective top rated candidate move on to the next race. We are eight years behind. This country needs an expert to begin repairing our country from day one. We need, after January 20th 2009 to forget what the word "politics" means. Instead we need to focus on this word: "results".
Because dull footage of the front runners replaces that of the more vibrant candidates, rumors have surfaced that this blacklisting of Biden and others must be forced and deliberate. In fact, if one is open minded, there could be the remote possibility that as Randolf Hearst once said, the moguls pick the candidates and put them into office. In the long run, that is unlikely. For that idea works only as far as we, the voter, chose to continue to allow ourselves to be manipulated.
Remember, we are free agents. We have the right to source opinions from many other experts. We have the right to make up our minds.....And although it may sound ironic, perhaps this subtle silence on Joe Biden is actually a good thing. Perhaps caucus goers, miffed by the media's "force feeding" of its preordained choice of a candidate, will be angry enough to respond by caucusing with "Biden for President" on the first round. As of this point, I do not know God's plan for Iowa. But I do know that for now, all those truths we hold to be self evident, were at one time not only a minority opinion, but often illegal...
The Idea that we could govern ourselves, and throw off the yoke of a king, started over beer, I believe, in Sam Adam’s bar in Boston. As others got wind of it, isolated groups began meeting in other colonial cities. Bottom line: the idea was ripe for its time.
Sadly, the freedom we won, did not apply to persons bought and sold as property. Again, a minority opinion surfaced among the Quakers: slavery was wrong, and that idea spread. Eventually our nation resolved the issue, by having to split, come to blows, and reconcile to make it happen. Tragically, due to Lincoln’s untimely death, we botched the Reconstruction "big time" and large numbers of our population continued to live in squalor as second class citizens. It took one person with courage to not give up her bus seat, to start the crumbling of over a century of wrongdoing.
Today, the candidates court the women vote. Originally a women could not vote. So as one steps back to look, it seems to be the nature of this country that when something starts out small and gains ground, it turns out well for the nation and all of us. Compared to the alternative course, where an idea achieves mass hysteria, then becomes law prematurely, and eventually creates enough havoc to be repealed like Prohibition (a bad idea if there ever was one). it turns out poorly....
As one looks back over our greatest presidents, the standouts, all started as extremely unlikely persons for such a leadership roll. Once chosen, they excelled. The other group, those vetted, primped, and primed for office, only occasionally rose to levels of mediocrity during their administrations. However the big four, Washington, Lincoln, Teddy. Roosevelt, and Truman, at first had difficult times persuading Americans that they were truly the best man for the job. Assumed to become laughingstocks, it was only after they excelled in the execution of their office, that history turned those expectations on their ears and placed these four upon their pedestal as all time greats.
So it may be with Biden. If Iowa can rise up and show the world that it too can evaluate a candidate without the help of an imbalanced media, then perhaps some good may yet be harvested from this nation’s soil tomorrow.....But if the media’s prevailing wisdom holds forth, and we all wake up to no surprises on the morning of January 4th, then I am afraid that for this nation, it will be another boring, long, dry summer of poor crops.......