(If I may I’d like to preface this tome by disclosing that I’m a 67 year old married retired white male. I voted for George McGovern in my first election and I’ve voted a straight Democratic ticket in every election that I’ve had access to vote in ever since then. I was a Sanders supporter in 2016 who voted for Clinton, and have supported Warren from the moment she declared her candidacy until she disbanded her campaign. I’m not actively supporting either current candidate but will vote for whoever becomes the Democratic nominee. I’m a student of American history, having spent a good many of the formative years of my youth in the south where I learned all I ever wanted to know about how NOT to live. If, after having read the below, if you come to believe that I am ageist or some other flavor of “…ist”, there’s something a very old wise gentleman told me a long time ago while I was sitting on his backyard porch eating plums I took off his tree that is still true today: “If the truth hurts, boy, then it probably should.”)
So the party, in it’s contemporary idea of what passes for wisdom has all but anointed Joe Biden to run for President against the leader of the most fascistic government that North America has ever had on its soil since after the Revolution. Just about any other thinking group of people would have wanted a whip-smart, alert, adroit and cunning warrior advocating for them who wouldn’t almost nod off in the middle of a sentence, who wouldn’t toss out off-handed gaffes during press conferences that later have to be retracted or explained away by frustrated staffers or forget where he is during an appearance… but that’s the kind of politician that America casts its lot with these days, and if there isn’t any actual realistic strategic planning going on amongst the Biden campaign armada and the hired bankrollers who got him to this point to deal effectively with those “shortcomings” and “vulnerabilities” for the months ahead of election day, we may as well resign ourselves to a republican senate, a republican house of representatives, another 4 years of Trump and a super majority of neocon fascists on the supreme court.
Short of hanging a drug pump on Biden’s back and constantly mainlining him with a medicinal stew of Jolt cola, Geritol and Nugenix suspension, his handlers need to understand immediately that if they expect him to displace Trump on election day and carry the down ballot candidates in November, he is going to require one hell of a lot of policy coaching, rote memory instruction, visual stimulation exercises and aggression training - and stick to the damned script. That is a simple fact: the man has an undeniable track record of giving opponents the kind of openings that they can drive bulldozers through and leave him standing there wondering what in hell happened with the same look on his face that Wyle E. Coyote has when the Roadrunner kicks on his afterburner and leaves him in the dust. He simply cannot rely on that million dollar smile with the flashy dental work in front of the TV cameras and do his “because, my BFF OBAMA!” anymore to carry the day while Trump and his surrogates throw him into the social media log chipper of public opinion and confuse the hell out of him on the world’s stage with their ballistic blind sides, circular logic, unbridled vicious personal attacks using his son as ammunition and his lousy record as a non- advocate for the middle class during the banking crisis in 2009 and his ham-handed dealing with Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings. As much as his supporters here would like to forget about all of that and call it “ancient history”, there isn’t a single republican strategist who isn’t working full-time right now this minute to get their hands on and catalog every last bit of slop they can find on this guy and ensure that all of it is exposed to the bright light of day with extra klieg lights from the TV news crews there to report every miserable morsel; and every fascist faction from conservative media outlets, evangelical fundamentalist zealots, NRA worshipping militias, Klanners and Nazis are drooling at the prospect of finding any opening they can wedge their blood-stained, bony fingers into. They’ve had decades to reestablish themselves and they’ve gotten brutally efficient and single-mindedly dedicated to what they do. WE DO NOT CURRENTLY HAVE ANY LEVEL OF DISCIPLINE OR ORGANIZED, FOCUSED DETERMINATION LIKE THAT AMONG OURSELVES RIGHT NOW AND IT LOOKS LIKE NOBODY IN PARTICULAR SEEMS TO NOTICE THAT IT’S STARTING TO EAT US ALIVE AGAIN… and Biden as a candidate unfortunately isn’t strong enough to help - at least not yet.
So for those who joyously claim accountability for accomplishing a sound, pragmatic coup by selecting a centrist, safe, silver tongued mature white male political stud in Joe Biden, they should be aware that all is not what they imagine it to be: unless big changes in the chosen candidate happen very quickly, one wonders if they will willingly assume the same level of accountability for helping give Trump another four years in office and cripple America as a nation of law and a land of opportunity for all — for generations to come.
Postscript- while Sanders’ heart may be mostly in the right place, many of his posse are perverting his message through their antagonistic, condescending and sanctimonious behavior. While some among them are responsible and respectful towards others whose allegiances differ from theirs, others are using scorched earth tactics that contribute to bad blood and do Sanders no favors at all. Notwithstanding First Amendment rights however, here’s a quote by somebody who knew a thing or two about political campaigns:
"If you can't make yourself understood by your friends, you'll be in trouble when your enemies come for you.” — Dr. Hunter S. Thompson