Joe or No? Why is This Even a Question?

Photo by Deactivated Account on Unsplash

So, yeah, it’s been a while. Sorry I haven’t been in touch. I don’t know if you’ve missed me but I sure have missed all of you.

I’ve gone through it over the last year. When yours truly last wrote here, I just lost my nephew to suicide. I’ve lost people before but that hit me like a gut punch, followed by a brick in the head and topped off by being hit by a city bus. From there, my life took some more unexpected twists and turns, including me having to accept that foundational lifelong beliefs I held were not only misguided but, in many cases outright false. That may be a story for another day but while I ruminate over whether or not to explore it here or not, I’ll share compositions from other Substack writers here and here that provide a good snapshot of this revelation. Oh yeah, this little nugget from another media source here too.

After all of this radio silence, what was it that roused me from the slumber of my malaise and despair? What spurred me to pull my laptop out of its sheath, watch the light glint of the edges of its keys and begin rushing back in with a primal yell? Joe Biden.

President Joseph Robinette Biden, first of his name (as far as I know), 46th President of the United States, Scranton, PA’s favorite son, lifelong Catholic and occasional gaffe generator, has endured an endless news network drone over the last couple of weeks over contemplation he won’t run for reelection. It’s all because he laid an egg during a single debate and they said it made him look old. This persists as his opponent has a litany of far more serious things that make him a poor candidate and horrible choice, and that is not even counting the too long tie or the bird’s nest hair. The opponent is also old, being only a few years younger than Biden.

Said opponent was found guilty of fraud and charged with a fine of $454M as a result; found liable of sexually assaulting a woman and fined $5M, fined another $83M as he was found guilty of defamation of the same survivor of sexual abuse and is a felon convicted of 34 counts of falsifying business records, with more cases pending. This same opponent proudly helped to seat Supreme Court Justices that rolled back 50 years of reproductive rights, when he last occupied the Oval Office. This change endangered the lives of women throughout the nation, a development that OBGYN’s believe contributed to more maternal deaths in the aftermath.

This citric tinged menace didn’t trust our nation’s intelligence agencies, going as far as rejecting their findings if they contradicted what he already thought. He told people he didn’t trust the COVID-19 vaccine he secured funding to develop, then went on to regale people with tales of bright lights, bleach injections and horse de-wormer as cures, while dissuading mask use to prevent those who were sick from sickening others. Some who heeded him would get sick and sometimes sicken those who were immunocompromised. Then he got COVID-19 and pumped himself full of every cure he cast doubt on and then some. With the help of what seemed like every doctor at Johns Hopkins, he cheated death to make a winded ascent of the White House stairs, something meant to appear triumphant but was defeated by him puffing belabouredly at the top. All of which caused lots of death, closed restaurants, slow sales in physical stores, vacant city centers and business districts, a whopping economic downturn and lots of unemployment.

He lost reelection. He lied and claimed the election was rigged to make him lose. He didn’t congratulate incoming President Joe Biden and his historic VP, Kamala Harris. He arranged a “rally” instead and it ended like this. That is what his turn in the chair wrought and that maelstrom of pandemic death, national upheaval and violence is what President Biden and Vice President Harris inherited and immediately had to quell the moment they took office. And quell it they did.

Joe and Kamala, (yeah, I’m gonna dream and play like we’re that tight), came in and quite frankly, kicked ass and took names. They:

• Clearly endorsed COVID vaccines and dramatically increased their availability.

• Passed the American Rescue Plan, with almost $2T in economic stimulus.

• Passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to rebuild the country’s ailing roads and bridges, expand internet access and bolster the electrical grid.

• Successfully convinced a hostile Republican majority to raise the debt ceiling to pay the debts that earlier right-wing tax cuts and borrowing racked up.

• Passed the CHIPS and Science act to invest in reshoring chip fabrication to the US.

• Passed the Inflation Reduction Act that lowered drug prices, introduced tax reform to lower the deficit and extended Affordable Care Act insurance subsidies.

• Oversaw an economy with the lowest unemployment in over 50 years.

• Experienced high inflation from a rapidly growing economy, but saw that inflation met with the highest wage growth in 20 years.

• Oversaw the highest small business start in 20 years.

• Bolstered NATO, which added two new members, while building an alliance to aid Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.

To quote then Vice President Biden, “This is a big $%@&in’ deal!”

Was it all perfect? No. The border influx continues to be a problem but much of that is from the prior administration and not Biden. How? Many of the people trying to cross are doing so under asylum claims. The Former Guy’s administration severely restricted who was eligible for asylum, while closing many of the immigration offices that process the claims, causing a massive pileup of desperate people seeking to properly engage with the asylum process to be heard for either approval or denial. Those denied engage in a game of catch and release, joining other new arrivals also seeking asylum and swelling the numbers of the hopeful. The Afghanistan exit was horribly handled. Plus, watching over 20 years of fighting erased by a Taliban takeover in a matter of days was demoralizing. Inflation has been stubborn, yet many companies are raking in record profits, the money left after expenses, not just revenues, which are proceeds before expenses. I tend to agree with Robert Reich that some of that inflation is in those markups.

However, even though he’s not perfect, Joe’s been very, very good. All stock indices are up. Wages are up. Economic growth continues, even as business news talked about recession in 2022, 2023 and early 2024 and unemployment is low, with the participation rate, the number of people actively looking for jobs, also growing.

Even with the above accomplishments known, the network chatterboxes continue to bemoan the performance of one debate, and paint it as negation of Biden’s whole body of work. They say he should be swapped out at the convention. So, the millions of people who voted for him in the primary should just be ignored? I’m sure dismissing their will is the way to drive your base out to the polls. I remember when all of the spurned Sanders supporters came out en masse for Hillary and she rode that wave to…oh right. I didn’t agree with them, mind you. I was “with her” too but those who felt that the party apparatchiks ignored them to run their pick instead, stayed home and helped give us 4 years of rule by Twitter.

They say it’s time to foist someone else up there and ride the wave to reelection. Who will that be? Bernie Sanders? Mayor Pete? Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez, lovingly known in these parts as AOC? I like every one of them but do they have the name recognition, the broad favorability, the support to keep the base, grab the fence sitters, AND do it in under four months, while forfeiting the funds raised expressly for Biden/Harris? Doubtful.

Others say that Joe could give up the ghost before his term is out. Some say Kamala Harris should run instead. Let’s game this out, shall we? So, let’s say the ticket stays as is while people are worried Joe won’t last four years. If he goes, who steps in, puts their hand on the Bible and takes the oath of office? Right, Kamala. I’ve also heard from some conspiracy theorists that President Biden isn’t even running the country, it’s actually Kamala and the Cabinet, and Joe is just a puppet. If that’s the case, that puppet picked a damn good Veep and Cabinet, they’re doing a helluva job and he STILL gets my vote.

I will vote for Joe because the alternative prospect is so harshly stark. The Republican candidate is hostile to immigrants. I am a birthright citizen, borne of immigrants who scrapped, arrived legally, became naturalized citizens, hustled and carved out a life. He is hostile to people of color, often referring to them in derogatory terms and trotting out tired stereotypes to dehumanize and demean them. I am a person of color. He is against women’s rights, proudly boasts of sexually assaulting them, even found liable in court of sexually abusing a woman and helped install a court that erased women’s assurance of full reproductive health. All of the women in my life should be safe, respected, represented by someone who respects them, their bodily autonomy and their right to receive all healthcare. He is hostile to LGBTQ+. After years of having my own rigid and backwards views of LGBTQ+ rights, my views have evolved, changed and I’ve made a number of friends in that community. They have a right to be safe, have their rights protected and be represented by someone who wants the same for them. The opponent is also old and the man he has chosen as his VP, and possible successor, shares many of his awful traits.

Some weak-willed Democrats, spurred on by pundit propaganda, are willing to chase the perfect at the expense of the good. Meanwhile, the opposition stands lockstep behind a man who threatens to be a dictator on day one, round up immigrants to send them away, use the Justice department to target opponents and openly embraces racists and xenophobes in a country with diversity.

For those who say that they feel that they don’t have a choice, I push back. You do have a choice, even if it is not the selection you prefer. Both have had a turn in the chair and you’ve seen their audition tapes. I’ll take the one who after four years has a growing economy, low unemployment, restored relations with allies, respects the rule of law even when it doesn’t go his way and has selected a cabinet that looks like all of America and works effectively. Please join me.