(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Thank You Joe Biden [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-07-21 I've watched Joe Biden for over 20 years. He and I sometimes rode the same Amtrak train in the mid aughts. He was a humble guy who was more interested in the opinions of the people who staffed the train than spending time with donors. It's why his 2008 campaign for President floundered in Iowa. I also saw Joe Biden, after he was crushed in Iowa and defeated soundly in New Hampshire in the 2020 Nevada Caucus--the last election before Covid changed it all. That election was very odd. Biden was sort of ignored by the power brokers of the State (who weren't for Bernie but didn't know who could defeat him). Joe Biden by all rights should've finished 4th or 5th in that election. Bernie kind of had a lock on the Caucus process. Pete Buttigieg, having defeated Bernie in Iowa and finished a strong second in New Hampshire, should've been ascendent. Elizabeth Warren should've had the union support given her policies at the time. And Amy Klobuchar was running around rural Nevada trying to win delegates to the State convention (she was actually relatively successful at that). A series of things happened. Warren promoted people she was most comfortable with--academics--and made them central to her campaign, with some even introducing her at rallies. It alienated labor a little bit. She also did this retail politics thing where she took selfies with everyone. It was very disciplined and well organized. It took maybe five seconds to get your photo taken. It felt impersonal and like you were a prop in her statement. The lights went out at a Buttigieg rally in Sparks. He riffed off of this to give a speech about "how one light can change a room," that sounded way, way too much like Obama's "one voice can change a room," speech from 12 years prior. And Joe Biden? He was plodding along running his own race because at this point he had nothing left to lose. He was giving speeches heavy on foreign policy and labor (his two main interests, I think). But his speeches weren't what was notable. It was what he did and how long he spent on the rope lines after the speeches. Chatting with people, telling them things like "God love you for doing that," when they told him they were volunteering for him. And most importantly listening. Listening to people struggling with recent loss. Listening to people complaining about the Obamacare employer exemption (before the Biden Administration, if your job offered you affordable insurance and made that insurance available to your family at full price, you were ineligible for subsidies on the exchange...this left a lot of people out of the system). And I could go on. When you walked out of a Joe Biden event, you felt as if you knew the man and he knew you even if you had spent all of 30 seconds in with him. He did the selfie thing too, but in a way that one upped Warren, he would take the photos himself on people's phones. I thought it seemed like a way for him to tell people, "I may be old but I'm not a luddite," without saying it. If you watched the State of the Union on C-Span and watched him work the room afterwords, you saw the Joe Biden that went to a Culinary picket line in Las Vegas and the Joe Biden that talked to grieving mothers in Northern Nevada. He had the rapt attention of people like Congressman Adam Schiff as he regaled Congress with tales of taking to Bibi. It was so good for Biden that Mike Johnson literally turned out the lights on him. Joe Biden ended up finishing a stronger than expected second in the Nevada Caucus. That finish allowed Jim Clyburn to do what he did in South Carolina and endorse Biden. If Biden had finished behind Buttigieg, who finished 3rd or Warren who finished 4th, he probably would've dropped out of the race. He did this with (and these people have since gone onto do amazing things) what I would describe as third string political aides. All the cool people wanted to work for Bernie or Warren or Buttigieg. Biden didn't forget those who stood by him in Nevada. He took several elected officials who endorsed his candidacy with him to Washington. He made sure that Labor had, and still has, a big seat at the table. To put it in terms the donor class would understand, labor and progressives in Nevada and the African American community in the South bought Biden campaign stock when it was low. His administration has reflected that being the core of his coalition ever since. The donors want Biden out because they know they can never really be central to his administration in the ways they were with Obama. The operatives of the world likewise were embarrassed that people who they wouldn't hire for their big money campaigns kicked their ass with limited resources. Do you really need to pay David Plouffe anything if somebody fresh out of college did Comms for a Presidential campaign and won? The operatives are also people who assume people get inspired by politics and speeches like they do. It's why they loved Obama so much and it's why (despite the fact that he won't run) they're pushing for an open convention where Gavin Newsom--the political figure who gives sweeping and inspiring speeches--might emerge in their minds. The reality is, and this is speaking as a person who has worked in the field endlessly and probably made or been responsible/led/organized over a million calls and door knocks over 20 years in politics, people don't really care about being inspired. Most people don't really like politics or talking about it. They really don't like watching debates or speeches. They vote because it's a civic duty, akin to jury duty in many people's minds. What they want is to be able to feel that they can trust the President. They want a President who keeps them & their families physically safe in a dangerous world. They want a President who pursues economic policies that make their lives better. And they want a President who they would be comfortable having over for a barbecue. Joe Biden got 7 million more votes than Trump in 2020 because he fits the definition of that to anyone who has ever observed him on a rope line. And when one watches him talk to people up close, two things become apparent: he is absolutely in command of the facts and he wears some sort of false teeth (nobody in their 80s has teeth that good), which sometimes slip and exacerbate his stutter. The only advice I have for the Biden campaign at the moment is let him spend more time on the rope lines. If he does, he'll win. And when he does win, who has had his back at this the lowest moment of his presidency? People of color, especially women of color, labor unions and progressives. Who will be central to his administration in the second term? People of color, especially women of color, labor unions and progressives. Who hasn't defended him? Corporate Democrats like Adam Schiff and his rich donor buddies, who will probably have a hard time getting a post office renamed in a second Biden Administration. Joe Biden is our nominee. He is a great President. And let's go shock the world and win, the way his campaign did on Super Tuesday 2020. [END] --- [1] Url: https://dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/21/2256311/-The-Great-News-if-Biden-Hangs-On-and-Wins?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=trending&pm_medium=web Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/