The last few days have seen a flurry of new Joe Biden ads, and there is a certain theme running through all of them that form the campaign’s closing argument. Seeing these has made me sit back and reflect on what their strategy has been and how it has actually rolled out. There are 2 things I want to touch on in this diary: how Joe Biden has measured up as a candidate for this election and this moment that we all live in and the execution of the campaign.
In full disclosure, I did not even vote in the Texas primary last March. I didn’t have a dog in that fight. In part because I thought all the major candidates were well qualified to carry the banner for Team D, so I would have been happy with any of them. And secondly, I would have voted for a potato if it was the D nominee. My driving need was, and still is, “anyone besides Trump.” Although I probably do trend more towards the Obama-Biden-Beto wing of the party I was at best lukewarm when it became obvious Joe was going to be our guy. As time has passed, I have gotten increasingly excited about having him as our candidate, and now I whole-heartedly feel that in this election and in this moment, against this opponent, Biden is the best candidate we could have fielded.
And here’s why: in the face of an opponent who thrives on division, what we have needed is a candidate who can speak to unity, to the things we share that make us Americans. And Joe has a seemingly bottomless well of understanding the human condition. He can speak with first-hand experience what it feels like to have your dad laid off, when he speaks with empathy to someone who has lost a loved one it is purely genuine because of all the loss he has faced himself. Speaking with that young man about having a stutter, or looking someone in the eye who has a child in a battle zone when he has himself sent a son to those same places and had to deal with that same worry. To be sure, Joe is not the most dynamic candidate we have ever had, he can’t light up a crowd with a speech the way Obama can, he has made many faux pas in the past when speaking, and he no doubt will in the future. But for all of us who feel fear, grief, anger at the situation we find ourselves in right now, I can’t imagine anyone better than Joe Biden who can say “I know what you’re feeling, we’re in this together.”
And that has been the campaign’s closing argument. Recently I have watched 1 ad narrated by Brad Pitt and another narrated by Sam Elliott (both Biden campaign ads) along with another from the Lincoln Project with Sam Elliott. And they have all hammered on the same idea: that we are *united* and that Joe Biden will be a president for all Americans whether they voted for him or not. That what defines him is decency and a willingness to do the work to make the country better. This has very much not been an argument to excite just the Democrat base or those furthest to the left (perhaps to the frustration of those on this site). In fact, I can’t recall anything coming from the campaign about policy specifics. There have been a few vague ideas but that’s all. Instead they are going after the whole population, they are trying to make it where those on the right can feel ok voting for Joe because he is an honorable man who will do right by us. I think the campaign has done a lot of focus group testing and found that this message is one that hits the hardest with the greatest number of people.
That is why I feel he is the perfect candidate for this moment. I don’t think that any of the other major primary candidates could fit this mold the way he has. Had Warren or Sanders, or anyone else won, could they have put together a path to victory suited to their character? I’m sure they could, but the approach the Biden campaign is using feels like the antidote to what has been ailing us as a country.
Which lastly brings me to the execution of the campaign. We have to give credit to Biden, Harris, and campaign manager Jen O’Malley Dillon for running a tight, disciplined campaign. In long-distance running there is the mantra “run your own race.” In other words don’t pay attention to what other runners are doing, just stick with the pace you worked out during training. This campaign has run its own race. Trump thrives on dragging people down to his level, on having insult slap fights. And the Biden campaign has largely refused to engage. I have seen some responses occasionally, but they all seem to be one-and-done, and then they return to what they want to focus on. Likewise, in the last several months there have been no slips, no controversies and no fumbles from the Biden camp. For Trump this must feel like trying to scale a cliff made of glass. There are no cracks to get a grip on. All of the things that the Trump camp has tried to manufacture have not stuck, and the Biden team hasn’t given them any fuel for a fire. In contrast, who can forget Hillary Clinton’s “basket of deplorables” comment? But this time professional and steady as she goes.
Biden did make a comment about transitioning away from fossil fuels, but as I’ve seen elsewhere- we’ve been doing that for 50 years. Even in my home state of Texas, which is world famous for our oil industry we are a leader in green energy. Just driving around the state a little will reveal solar panels on top of houses, and huge fields of solar panels, and untold thousands of wind turbines. The green revolution is alive and well in the Lonestar state. If that’s the controversy we’re giving Trump to work with, or that Biden would (gasp) listen to scientists on dealing with covid then I’d say we’re doing pretty good.
We still have a few days to go, the election isn’t over yet. But let us celebrate what a good candidate we have to throw our support behind, and what a smart coordinated campaign they have run.