Joe Biden is hardly seen as a revolutionary figure. With good reason — he isn’t.
But Biden is creating a coalition that could change American politics for the better.
In this great article How Joe Biden — yes, Joe Biden — could revolutionize American politics E. J. Dionne of the Washington Post argues that Biden is creating something really special.
He writes:
Joe Biden may be running a safe and centrist campaign, but beneath the methodical calm is a genuinely innovative ideological appeal. The former vice president is updating and bringing back the long-dormant Democratic tradition of labor liberalism.
How is he doing this?
He is doing so rhetorically and with union hall visits, but also through an agenda that seeks to spark economic growth through substantial public investments. He would build infrastructure, fight climate change, raise wages, guarantee health insurance coverage and expand child-care and pre-K programs.
and it is working:
Steve Rosenthal, a union strategist with access to labor polling, said Biden was “running a solid 10 points ahead of where Hillary Clinton was in union households nationally,” and even better in swing states.
But Biden isn’t doing only that. He is also:
creating the sort of multiracial electoral coalition that has always been the only workable path to progressive governance.
Biden isn’t choosing to focus on old school Democratic platforms by ignoring the very real issues that Democrats have also been focused on such as racial injustice and the climate crisis.
{Biden and his advisors} see how economic and racial injustices aggravate each other…. By addressing the climate crisis through investments in efficiency and new energy sources, Biden turns actions to try to avert environmental catastrophe into an engine of job creation.
Biden is creating a new kind of Democratic party in this election — one in which the appeal to the labor branch of the party is firmly entwined with appeals to racial justice and environmental responsibility.
His plans intertwine all of these issues — creating jobs, saving the planet, and increasing racial justice are threads that run through each and every plan. For example, his infrastructure plans not only provide solid union jobs, but they specifically target areas that need revitalization to decrease racial injustice, increase opportunities for minority owner businesses, and rebuild American in ways that are good for the environment.
Dionne calls this labor liberalism for the 21st century. He argues that it could revolutionize American politics.
I would argue one step further. By brilliantly intertwining these three goals into all of his plans, Biden is not only setting himself up for an administration that brings American back to her feet, he is setting us up for a moment of unity — a moment where people from the center to the far left and from every kind of racial, religious, and ethnic group can come together as their goals become one. Biden’s plans bring us together. And we have never needed that more.
Joe Biden will be a great president.
This is Day 89 in my series 100 Days of Loving Joe Biden
Did you miss any of the 100 days? Here are links for all of them:
- Day 63: Biden ran his very first campaign in 1972 on the issues that are still central to us today -- voting rights, civil rights, crime, clean water and air, pension protection, and health care.
- Day 64: Biden has worked for campaign finance reform for his whole career. He can bring real change as president.
- Day 65: Biden surrounds himself with a diverse group of advisors and plans to do so in the White House as well. Representation matters.
- Day 66: Biden has a great plan for dealing with Iran
- Day 67: Biden has an aggressive plan to fight climate change
- Day 68: Even when you disagree with Biden, you will know that his heart is in the right place.
- Day 69: Biden loved the Biden/Obama memes which shows us more evidence of the person Joe is — someone fun, who can laugh at himself, and who values his friendship with another man enough to want to enjoy reminders of that bond.
- Day 70: Biden is running for president for the right reasons. Trump’s “very fine people on both sides” response to Charlottesville, motivated him to run. Biden is running for president because he loves our country too much to stand on the sidelines and not do all he can to save it
- Day 71: Joe Biden doesn't hold personal grudges. He has the maturity to see that every slight or misstep is not about him and that gives him the ability to focus on what really needs to be done for the good of the country.
- Day 72: Biden believes in democracy. Throughout his 40 years of public service, he has repeatedly shown that he sees elected office as a sacred trust where you work to make people’s lives better. He will fight like hell for that now, after November 3rd, and after his inauguration as our 46th president.
- Day 73: Joe has championed funding and application of basic and applied science for his entire career.
- Day 74: Biden has a great plan for Puerto Rico
- Day 75: Biden is not an elitist
- Day 76: Biden will nominate great justices
- Day 77: Biden is just the right mix of pragmatic and idealistic
- Day 78: Biden supports the rights of transgender people
- Day 79: Biden won’t have anyone from the fossil fuel industry (or any lobbyists) on his transition team
- Day 80: Biden is responsible for funding to provide the MRAP vehicles that saved many lives.
- Day 81: Biden is a progressive in the true sense of the word. Being a progressive means not just wanting our society to progress to a better place (which he does), but being listen to other people, learn, and change.
- Day 82: Biden will unite us. In the political speech of his life in Gettysburg, he acknowledged awful injustice and inequality; spoke of a country torn apart; and promised leadership that listens, and cares, and works to bring us together
- Day 83: Joe Biden loves and respects strong women. Women are making greater and greater strides in public service and a president who welcomes and celebrates that will be amazing.
- Day 84: Biden has great plans for sustainable farming that will help farming, farmers, and the environment.
- Day 85: Experts agree that Biden’s plan is best for economic growth
- Day 86: Biden has a plan to help the American automobile industry that is good for the industry, for workers, and for the planet.
- Day 87: Healthcare is personal to Biden. He was sworn in as Senator by the hospital beds of his two sons after his wife and daughter died in a car crash. When his son Beau was at the final stages of his battle with cancer, he and Jill considered taking a second mortgage out on his house to help with expenses. Biden fought for the ACA and he will fight like hell to make sure that every American has affordable healthcare.
- Day 88: Biden’s parents taught him that the mark of a person wasn’t whether they got knocked down, it was whether they got back up. Biden gets back up. He did it when his wife and daughter died, he did it when his son died, he did it when failed professionally. Joe Biden gets back up and he will lead America as we get back up as well.