Get Up, Joe

Get Up, Joe

I have not been in the habit of blogging continuously, but I feel that today has been a very interesting day and that it’s worthy of a bit more attention from me, whether anyone wants to hear it or not. After last night’s difficult debate performance, I struggled with the conversation on Morning Joe where I estimate that ⅔ to ¾ of the Democratic ratio pundits were talking about calling for Biden to step down from the ticket and finding the best alternative before it was too late. I was as uncomfortable with that message as I was with what I saw on stage last night. I am so incredibly impressed with the job that Biden has done for our country and the people of America that I tend to defend him against anyone I know h who speaks contrary to that. I am thoroughly convinced that Biden will go down in history as a great president, and indeed an UNLIKELY great president. The thing I like most about him is the extent to which he has stood up for the common Americans, the union workers and yet doing it without giving in to the slippery slope of the progressive leaning of the extreme left that is so concerning to many Americans. Finding that space to position his presidency is actually a very impressive feat to a committed liberal like myself. So, this morning I came to the conclusion which I felt the need to message out right away (even before my regular daily blog post went out), expressing my trust in Joe Biden that he would come to the right decision…not for himself, but for our country. I believe that Joe Biden’s decency is his longest suit and that he, more than anyone else in the world, knows if he’s up to the task of beating Donald Trump or not.

Then, I spent the day walking two miles on the boardwalk (further than I wanted to but not as far as the rest of the gang) and then siting by the pool in the shade, trying desperately not to go to the room and watching MSNBC to wallow in more of the agony of defeat. You have to understand that I usually LOVE to watch MSNBC in the afternoon to catch up on the day’s events and especially with SCOTUS coming to the end of its session and making multiple pronouncements, it is highly unusual that I would shy away from the screen as I was doing. But I finally succumbed after a nap…I turned on MSNBC and it was just after Joe Biden spoke at a rally in North Carolina. Right now he is talking at a campaign rally in New York City. In North Carolina, I couldn’t believe it was the same Joe Biden I saw on stage last night. He had better color in his face. His hair looked less sparse. He walked with a spring in his step (albeit that seemed somewhat purposeful) and he spoke crisply and clearly and with some strength and fervor that was totally lacking in him last night. They say he had a cold last night. Bullshit. He is a man who has had a lifelong stutter, which means that he has a degree of stage fright and can get the heebie jeebies about public speaking. The man had just spent a week at Camp David getting over-prepped for this debate. Everyone was telling him that it was a make or break event for him and that he had to look strong and forceful. The man was inadvertently driven out of his comfort zone and into the scared and fragile state that we saw him in last night. If he had not spent the last four years proving that he could stand up to the stress and rigor of the job, I might have a different reaction to that realization. But I feel that the circumstances of the evening just gripped him and it sapped him of his best attributes…even his civility. He was less civil to Trump and even lowered himself to squabbling about golf. Joe Biden is not a golfing president. Donald Trump is a golfing president. Its like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk challenging each other to a physical martial arts fight. It was demeaning and it was not who Joe Biden is. It was a tell that the circumstances of a high profile debate against an inveterate liar like Trump was just more stress than he could take.

When Biden said to the North Carolina crowd that he planned to do what all sturdy Americans do when they get knocked down, he planned to get up and keep fighting, I realized again why I like and trust the man. He’s right. He acknowledges his faults and when he trips he says he tripped and gets up, brushes himself off and carries on. I like that. I respect that. Trump would declare that someone tripped him and then he would say that it was a lie that he never tripped at all. Joe isn’t like that and I think that makes him so much a better man than Trump that it reminds me of why I like him so much for another four years. He has declared that he knows he can beat Trump and I think this stumble may well give his campaign the reset which boosts his prospects well ahead of where they might otherwise be.

We have all been wringing our hands and wetting our bed over the debate and I believe I can now say that I am over it. Joe is carrying on and he looks strong in doing it. I am 100% behind him and want to see him win more than ever. I believe he can do it because I believe others in America will give him the support that Americans always give to the guy who is getting bullied but who has the better heart. Biden is our guy and I am back to thinking that his odds of winning are as good or better than they have ever been.