I recently attended a fundraiser in Seattle at which Biden spoke for about 20 minutes.
The President had the energy of the State of the Union speech, he zinged Trump with one-liners, he painted a clear picture of how disastrous a second Trump term would be, he touted the accomplishments of his presidency, he brought the crowd to its feet cheering multiple times.
It was uplifting and exciting.
But, . . .as I walked out, I realized that something seemed missing.
There had been no mention of what Biden hopes to accomplish in the next four years.
You know—the “vision.”
Yes, he is for protecting women’s rights to choose, taxing the wealthy, combatting climate change, continuing the work of his first term and opposing every R idea. In essence, being a democrat.
But, he did not talk about new ideas or plans for the future.
His pitch was—“Elect me, because I am not Trump.”
Dread of a Trump victory is a powerful message. But meeting the R message of “Biden is a disaster and the country is being destroyed by D leadership”, by a counter message of,
“Trump is a disaster and the country will be destroyed by a Trump second term,” only pits dark future v. dark future.
“Not Trump” is enough for me.
But, I believe the D message would be so much stronger it included an optimistic vision of the future. Nothing would convince voters that Biden’s age is not an issue better than his determined focus on what he wants to accomplish in the next 4 years to make life better for all Americans.
I believe that the country wants to move beyond the politics of fear, despair, angst and worry (otherwise known as Trump) and be optimistic.
It is not too late.
As Mark Twain said, “It is better to be an optimist and be wrong some of the time than to be a pessimist and be right all the time.”