We must not forget that Democratic star Stacey Abrams is so much more than a potential vice president to someone who hasn’t yet declared their candidacy, despite recent headlines. Much—so very, very much—has been made of Joe Biden’s plans for the 2020 presidential race: Will he run? Should he run? More recently, thanks to a “scoop” from Axios, there’s been much handwringing over the idea of whether or not “Uncle Joe” would take a very strange approach to the Democratic primary, and run with a potential vice president already in place: the inimitable Abrams, whose Daily Kos-endorsed race for governor of Georgia was likely stolen by then-Secretary of State Brian Kemp.
The fervor over this “scoop” was instantaneous and widespread across the left, though not necessarily among the folks that such a move appears to target. The Root’s Stephen A. Crockett, Jr. eloquently summed up his thoughts about the rumors on Friday.
Has anyone talked to Stacey Abrams about this? Has anyone asked this black woman with agency, clout, a hot name and a massive following if she would even like to be his old ass running mate? Has anyone told Biden that black women aren’t his prop for votes? Has anyone told Biden that Stacey Abrams isn’t to be played with? Has anyone checked Biden’s life alert to see if he’s fallen and hit his damn head?
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Has anyone talked with Anita Hill? Has Biden apologized to her yet?
To answer that last question is no, he certainly hasn’t.
But back to Abrams. As Daily Kos’ own Marissa Higgins reported on Monday, the fight to silence this rumor has taken far longer than it did for “close sources” to start it.
(Abrams) clarified that “Vice President Biden and I had a lovely lunch. And we talked about food and we talked about, I mean, look, we talked about the presidency and what it means.” And that half of the quote is probably what sent some people into a tizzy. But then she kept speaking:
"We talked about whether I was thinking about running. We talked about whether he was thinking about running," Abrams continued. "But we did not have that conversation and everything else is pure speculation made up by somebody else."
This came, of course, after her own representatives (and one of Biden’s) denied the rumor.
Nevertheless, the speculation persisted, following Abrams all the way to the stage of ABC’s The View on Wednesday, where, as though she didn’t have other things to say, Georgia’s favorite Stacey was forced to address the Biden rumor mill once again. Abrams was there to promote her new book, Lead from the Outside, but Joy Behar’s scripted introduction brought Biden up first, as did the first two scripted questions lobbed her way.
As you can see, Stacey … that rebuttal speech that you gave had a lot of people talking about you. They liked it. And now they’re talking about you being on the ticket with Joe Biden.
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What do you think about that?
This time, Abrams was a little more pointed in her response.
I think you don’t run for second place. I think my responsibility is—
The panelists interrupt her at that point to marvel at her (already agreed-upon) brilliance and spark a round of applause, while Abrams just shook her head and shrugged, seemingly amused by the fact that it took eight words to impress the people surrounding her.
She had so much more to say, though.
If I’m going to enter a primary, then I’m going to enter a primary. And if I don’t enter the primary, my job is to make certain that the best Democrat becomes the nominee, and whoever wins the primary, that we make certain that person gets elected in 2020.
This all happened in just the first 60 seconds of her 17 minute, 20 second appearance.
Behar declared that Abrams had “put that to rest,” and that “we don’t have to think about that anymore,” only to immediately jest about Abrams-Biden ticket being an option. Behar than repeatedly asked Abrams if she’s running, just as Fox News alum Abby Huntsman skeptically asked if she would really decline if Biden asked her to be his running mate.
So, I’m going to do both questions. I do not know if I’m running. I am thinking about everything. Part of my opportunity right now is that I have a number of options that I didn’t know about before.
It’s a senate race, it’s possibly running for governor again, it’s possibly running for president, and my responsibility it to take seriously the opportunity, to give credibility to those who are asking me, but to make sure that I’m the right person, this is the right time, and it’s the right job. But—
Applause erupts again, and Huntsman pushes back, stating that if Biden did ask her at the right time, she wouldn’t say no, which Abrams agreed with.
Republican strategist and pundit Ana Navarro dove in next with an odd joke comparing the imagined Biden-Abrams ticket to Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina, shifting the target to the panel’s earlier discussion of Biden’s treatment of Hill, and whether or not yesterday’s comments—that some, but not all, are calling an apology—were “enough.”
Again, Abrams shone.
We have to remember apologies aren’t for the person who commits the offense—they’re for the recipient. The measure should be, do people feel that their values have been heard, and that you are truly repentant?
Abrams then agreed with conservative Meghan McCain that Biden is a good man, who’s done much for the nation, before explaining that Biden’s work is not done, and that any candidate had better be ready for scrutiny.
(H)as he sufficiently answered the question of what he has done? Because what people want to know is, will it happen again? And this is true for anyone running: We will make apologies because we’re asking people to trust us. People cannot trust you if they don’t know that you know who you are and what you’ve done. But once you’ve admitted and offered atonement, then we should move onto the next space. I think that he’s begun the process.
I think he’s begun the process appropriately by saying “I know there’s pain, and I want to respond to that pain.”
McCain then FINALLY shifted the discussion away from Biden, offering a double-edged compliment in the form of a question: Was Abrams surprised she crushed it when she gave the State of the Union rebuttal speech in February? (Nope. Abrams also acknowledged she had bipartisan help with the speech, instead of taking all the glory.)
Undaunted, McCain then tried to get Abrams to bash “the young freshman class of socialists.” It didn’t work out how she planned at all, as Abrams’ legendary sense of humor mingled with her politics.
I’m not a socialist. I like capitalism. I think markets need to be regulated. I think when people face a combination of avarice and conscience, avarice tends to win, and so we need to regulate our markets.
But no, I grew up poor. I didn’t like it, and I don’t ever want to do it again. And I think that for most people, they agree with our economy, they just want to have a fair shot at it. And that’s our responsibility.
But I do think that there are those who see the economy as being so weighted against them that they are looking for other solutions. I don’t disparage their desperation. I want us to be better at making sure there are answers.
Before the segment ended, known Abrams fan Sunny Hostin awkwardly read a ton of exposition about Abrams’ refusal to concede to Kemp in November, before asking her if four months later, she still stood by that stance.
In my book, I say, part of power, part of leadership, is being able to call out problems where you see them. We are, so often, if you come from the outside, you’re so often told to be complicit in your own demise. You are taught to accept what happens to you, because that’s the only way you can make progress. But the reality is, the more you accept the diminution of your power, the more powerless you become.
In this space, the election was not fair, the process was not fair. I can’t say that, empirically, I won, but I will never know because we did not have a fair fight.
And then, just about halfway through Abrams’ time with the panel, it was time for a commercial.
Huntsman kicked off the next segment by calling Abrams “thoughtful,” before bashing Democrats who focus too much on “identity politics” and such, which she characterized as “missing that connection” to voters. Abrams did not let that nonsense fly.
I don’t think they’re missing that connection … and I want to push back on the “identity politics” narrative.
Identity politics means, “yes, I want healthcare but I need you to understand why I’m not getting it. Am I not getting it because I live in a rural community where you don’t invest in it? Or am I not getting it because I’m a black woman, and maternal mortality is not the top of the list, and that’s why black women are the most likely to die from giving birth?”
Identity is simply saying “I see you and I see the obstacles to you getting the things that all of us want.” Healthcare, economic security, educational opportunity. What I look for in this Democratic primary are conversations that say “We see all of you.”
If we want people to turn out and vote in November, they have to be seen long before that. You don’t win elections by getting the same people to do the same thing. You win elections by getting new people to say, “I care too.”
That’s how we win, and that’s what I’m asking everyone else to do.
She also reiterated why voter suppression is a key aspect of her work.
If you can’t even have your voice heard, you’re not going to participate in an election.
There was no response from the crowd, but there sure should have been.
There’s still so much left to learn from Stacey Abrams. She speaks about the Mueller report with genius, shutting McCain and Huntsman down with soundbites for the ages.
But she still wasn’t done. In the third and final segment, Abrams finally got to talk about her book with Hostin.
I did not write a political memoir. I wrote a book about how I messed up stuff a lot … and how I fixed it.
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I have ambitions. In a normative space, I’d be told, “Well, Stacey, you’re not ready, or you don’t look the right way, you’re not the right person.”
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(Friends) would whisper, “you’re a black woman,” like they were giving me a diagnosis.
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Being a black woman means there are impediments, but there are also things I’ve learned, ways I can be successful.
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I’ve been a minority for a very long time—I am really good at it.
For the folks in the back:
Abrams closed her appearance by addressing her own introversion as only she can. You’ve gotta see it to believe it.
All of this is to say that we must keep Stacey Abrams and her philosophies in the spotlight, not just because of what they mean in the context of establishment politicians like Joe Biden, but because of what they say about us as a nation, and what they express as hopes for this country. We’ve been fans of Abrams ‘round these parts for a long time—longer than Biden, actually—and whatever path forward she chooses, she’s got our support, just like the eventual 2020 nominee will.
Any candidate in this field would be lucky to have her support, and hopefully be pushed further into the good place should they be forced to compete against her.