The Biden Factor

On Wednesday in the aftermath of Super Tuesday I posted this to my Facebook feed. I leave it here to mark my journey and my thoughts during these interesting times. 

This article by a Black man covering justice issues for The Nation (a progressive weekly magazine) spoke to me of what it means to know your status and place in a society where “white will white”. It is a survival strategy born of long experience. It showed me how much privilege we stand on—we who would dream big and presume to change something as big as our government. 

There were some in my feed (of liberals) who sincerely think Bernie is the worse kind of change they can imagine; the people who are invested in the veracity of the establishment (and its wisdom of incremental change), but it is clear now that what most drove the wins for Biden was fear. A similar fear to knowing your place in the world and who actually runs things. It is the belief that we must join with those who run things in order to be safe from another term of Trump. This fear far out weighed the desire for good beneficial change. 

I was also struck by an underlying internalized doubt or out and out belief on the part of women that a woman isn’t really good enough. I voted for Elizabeth Warren even though I believed that this country would be too misogynistic to allow a woman to be president. I wanted the nation to hear what she had to say for as long as possible. (Bernie was not articulate enough for me though he had my vote last time.) I am also heartened that she is doing as well as she is. It speaks to how much a smart effective woman is already able to be heard despite the establishment media being determined to ignore her or give her credit. And this race is not over yet.

America has not yet dialed in what will be the enormous economic impact of the coronavirus. It is only just beginning to realize what the impact of base stupidity in a leader will have on the country when it comes to coping with the reality of people dying of such an uncontrollable contagion. A story that will fuel the media news even more than the shenanigans of Trump did during his rise (that helped bring him to power). When it becomes clear how dangerous such stupidity is in a leader I think we will see a shift from the fear of a Trump reelection to the realization that his reelection will be near impossible.


8:30 am. update: Goodbye Elizabeth fierce defender of the people. May all that you have seeded by speaking with such intelligence, compassion and courage go forth and birth a nation with a thousand plans implemented in all the hopeful hamlets of its progressive reach. For now we are a nation who know what it is indeed possible to do. xoxo