Joe Biden was not my first choice in the Primary. It was Julián Castro. When he dropped out, it was Elizabeth Warren. Alas. Now, with how everything has played out, whomever my choice, your choice, anyone’s choice was, Uncle Joe simply has to be everyone’s choice if we want the Orange Menace out of the White House.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately, though. With COVID-19 still raging and with the recent protests in the wake of George Floyd’s murder actually eliciting some progress, I think that Joe Biden is the right choice for these troubled times. Things are so influx. There is so much chaos, so much turmoil and Joe Biden has been a steady beat of this country’s political landscape for decades.
Both great, good… and, yes, bad. I think that even the bad is a good thing. Because it’s a reminder that mistakes are made and we can learn, and we can grow from those mistakes, move on from them. We can forgive, we can show progress, we can rise above them. We can become greater than our mistakes. Joe Biden has been on the wrong side of history. We know that. We know his flaws. He has owned those flaws, expressed regrets, offered apologies (even if they weren’t accepted). He is tarnished. That is OK, because America is a tarnished country. America has flaws.
But America is also full of hope and idealism and strives to be, do something better when at its best, and Joe Biden stood next to our most recent shining example of that when this country elected the first Black president. Joe Biden was everyone’s Uncle then. He was Barack Obama’s BFF.
Joe Biden has also been on the right side of history. He introduced the Violence Against Women Act. He was the one who pushed Obama on LGBTQ matters. He was the one who expressed when things were “big fucking deals.” He is no-nonsense; he cuts straight through the bull. He is a comforting presence; he’s that guy you want to have a beer with—like Bush, but, you know, without all of horrific asterisks that accompany Bush, he’s the one you can laugh with and be real no matter your age or the color of your skin. He’s the guy who loves trains. Who loved his son, who lost his son.
Joe Biden is someone a lot of us can relate to... and right now when it seems like everything is going crazy, we kinda need that. We need that comfort. We need that familiarity. We need Uncle Joe. Six months ago, he wasn’t the best choice. Now, I think he is.
NOTE: Please, please don’t attack. If you disagree, please do so respectfully. I had to put my 17 year old cat to sleep last Thursday and I’m still in mourning.