Joe Biden is getting by with a little help from his many friends.
Out of chaos comes order.
Amid the confusion imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, we have witnessed a remarkable event this week: the frequently fractious Democratic Party rallying in a resolute and disciplined way around a presidential ticket of an older white man and his Black female running mate as the short bridge to a new, pluralistic, diverse political future.
And in so doing, Democrats are elevating the 2020 presidential election to a seriousness of purpose and breadth of appeal Republicans will simply not be able to match, given the divisive figure who leads them. Former president Barack Obama spoke an unvarnished verity on Wednesday: “Donald Trump hasn’t grown into the job because he can’t.”
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That truth has become self-evident. Trump is characterologically incapable of being the president this nation needs in these times — or any. His view of America comes from the 1950s: White, male, patriarchal, paranoid, authoritarian, and racist.
Not so Joe Biden’s vision. Although chronologically older than Trump, the Democratic nominee is decades younger in outlook. Despite his age, race, and gender, he has worked hard to understand the needs, priorities, and sensibilities of a younger America. He is, as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi put it Wednesday at the Democratic National Convention, “forward-looking.” And he will get by with a lot of help from his many diverse and multi-generational friends who hold him in high regard and believe he genuinely cares about their future.
Wednesday showed the strength of that approach. It was a night that presented Biden as a trans-generational trustee of the future on issues from gun control to climate change.
Long-time Washington figures tend to be seen as one-dimensional figures, their human dimensions compressed and flattened by the lens of political perception. But in his own sometimes clumsy, often verbose, but usually decent way, Biden has always been more than that.
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That’s why the DNC segment on his pioneering role passing the Violence Against Women Act was so resonant. It showed the former senator and former vice president as he has long been: Someone who has pushed persistently from inside the system to identify and address problems, to expand rights, protections, and opportunities.
The night also gave much of the nation its first real chance to size up vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris — and her impressive performance showed why she is such a smart, strong VP choice. Her pick reverses the dynamic of Obama’s 2008 selection of Biden as his ticket mate. Back then, Obama was a youthful nominee in touch with the younger generation but only lightly experienced as a national figure. He chose Biden as his running mate because the then-senator was someone grounded in the ways of Washington, D.C., experienced in foreign policy, credible on both sides of the aisle, and with a record of getting things done.
With Harris, that balancing effect runs in the reverse. She is a proven achiever who grew up in a changing America, a country that held out the promise of a prominent place for a Black woman, but also presented numerous hurdles to overcome.
She represents Biden’s promissory note to women and to the Black community, whose faith in and loyalty to the former vice president rescued his presidential candidacy. When Harris described Joe Biden as “a president who will bring … all of us together — Black, White, Latino, Asian, Indigenous — to achieve the future we collectively want,” it was completely credible. Her selection can be thought of as Biden demonstrating that his commitment is real, that he understands both the promise of America and the gap between the ideal and the actual.
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These two can bring America to a place where Trump can’t go.
Back to rationality.
Back to national purpose.
And most of all, back to decency.
Scot Lehigh is a Globe columnist. He can be reached at scot.lehigh@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeScotLehigh
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August 20, 2020 at 07:51PM
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The Democrats bring it all together - The Boston Globe
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