In November I’ll be voting for Joe Biden with some enthusiasm. From the Leftist perspective, there are things to criticize (Israel, immigrant detention, typical disappointingly liberal stuff) but also moments of pleasant surprise (Biden’s push to abolish student debt, ending the war in Afghanistan, marijuana pardons, big money to families under the American Rescue Plan and Child Tax Credit, huge infrastructure and climate investments). Good policies — and despite thus far fruitless bribery investigations by Republicans, Biden seems like a decent enough person, minus the creepy uncle handsiness around women and occasional lie or embellishment.
I’ve been somewhat surprised at Biden’s low approval rating. (And somewhat pleased. The last thing you want is Democratic voters and officials comfortable, confident Biden will win. You want them in a panic, to ensure turnout.) To me he seems relatively inoffensive, a job done just fine. A conversation revolves around his age and faculties, but I can’t take it too seriously. If he has grown more frail and jumbles words and gets momentarily confused like a typical grandpa, that does not automatically mean the careful decisions he makes (with his team and advisors, mind you) are compromised or faulty, nor does it change the nature of his person or politics.
It would have been delightful if Biden had blown everything up and stepped aside for someone younger, more progressive, a woman or person of color, to really excite the base. Something fresh, without question creating better odds of victory. Overconfidence and pride may well cost Democrats another election. But if he’s our man, if he will not step down for a younger candidate, very well. I cannot get worked up enough to reject or disapprove of someone so vanilla and “just fine” and solidly adequate.
Trump, of course, is an awful man with extremist policies, a demagogue whose pathological lying, authoritarian flair, and general imbecility threaten the democratic functioning of society. We’ve enjoyed seeing Trump and his followers arrested and tried for their crimes. All that goes away when a Republican returns to the White House. Trump will win a stay of prosecution, order the Justice Department to drop its charges, try to pardon himself, or do the Two-Step Shuffle (Trump resigns as president, his vice president ascends and pardons him and makes him the new VP and then resigns, returning Trump to the presidency). Pardons will be issued for accomplices and January 6 rioters. No one will be held accountable for anything. The rightwing extremism, madness, and undermining of the rule of law and democracy will resume. These are the stakes.
On November 5, do your fucking job.
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