Where Are You, Joe Biden

MISSING IN ACTION

If we tell Joe Biden being all over Facebook is not enough, he won’t get it.

If we tell Joe Biden the pandemic is an extraordinary political opportunity for him to show leadership, he won’t get it.

If we tell Joe Biden that as the virus recedes and the Market blossoms to record highs Donald Trump will take all the credit while you remain essentially invisible and silent, he won’t get it.

If we tell Joe Biden that his friend Andrew Cuomo has stolen all the Democratic leadership thunder while he has shown none, he won’t get it.

If we tell Joe Biden that the selection of a woman as a Vice Presidential nominee won’t matter, he won’t get it.

If we tell Joe Biden that policy decisions about healthcare, student loans and the environment aren’t enough, he won’t get it.

And if we tall Joe Biden he doesn’t have the style or the personal ability to beat Donald Trump, he won’t get it.

THE REALITY

Donald Trump will continue to be on national television every night for months. It doesn’t matter what he says, how he corrupts facts, changes his mind, shows his ignorance, contradicts himself, embarrasses the medical professionals, looks scared to death.

He will be there behind the Presidential seal still not even trying to be Presidential…but that’s his title and he won the election so he gets to use it…which is exactly how he feels and lets us k know it every chance he gets.

And where is Joe Biden? Showing he has social media muscle though when last we remember Presidential elections do get on TV every now and then and more Americans watch TV then play on Facebook.

Donald Trump makes everything political because for him in a very natural way, being personal is being political. He gets that because he has been a salesman all his life…and he sells high-ticket numbers. He knows what it takes to be a conman, a liar, a showman, a fake because he knows what it takes to make a sale on a high ticket number. And does what he has to do.

While the world of government treats him as part of it and part of the politics at its base, he treats government, all of government, as something to despise, denigrate, belittle and rebuke.

Because that’s the way he has always felt. And he does it every day in every way possible. And every word makes news. He has found his personal heaven and lifelong dream. It was never to be President. It was always to be attended to. Mother and Father issues come to life.

He doesn’t even try to be President because he has no idea what being President is about and couldn’t care less. He just does Donald Trump every day and that’s enough for him. And for the tens of millions who voted for him and will again.

Now Joe Biden could never consider politicizing the coronavirus. He will insist now is the time to work together to defeat it.

But politics is personal and nothing in American life has ever been as personal as this killing disease which has turned us upside down and inside out.

Biden should buy 15 minutes of time every other day and talk about the events of the day, the needs of the people, the concerns that must be met now and in the immediate future. He should highlight his expertise by being joined by experts in all fields reassuring and guiding and leading.

Can he do it? Not so far. But Andrew Cuomo is doing just that.

Here’s the problem with the Joe Biden candidacy. It is about a man and his people who are living just out of this time…Think of making just one wrong turn on a journey to a friend’s house. That one turn will keep you from ever arriving unless you correct your mistake.

The problem here is that Joe and his Democratic Party have been missing the point for a very long time. That was purely evident when they ran Hillary Clinton again after she had lost a race to a man of color who few people knew and who said little about policies and programs.

Because no one really cares about those things anymore. Because Americans vote for what they see and like not for what that person stands for – or against.

Why will Bernie Sanders young voters stay away or vote for Trump. The media says because Biden is not progressive enough; doesn’t believe in Medicare for All.

But when you speak to those millennials…and they are the very same ones who supported Bernie in 2016 with very, very few additional minions, they will talk about Bernie’s anger against the entire establishment – party never mattered – his fury against the reality that America is owned by wealth and power able to buy votes and people. They love that anger, the strength behind it, the power that anger generates.

They didn’t like Hillary nor do they like Biden for the same reason. There is no power, no conviction, no fury at the establishment. Biden and Hillary are the establishment.

But none of this is Biden. The talk they he will pick a woman as his Vice Presidential candidate made a momentary stir. But anyone who knows politics knows that once upon a time a Vice President was picked because he could deliver his home state and maybe a neighboring one or two for the Electoral College vote.

Nobody voted for a President because of his VP selection. Then or now. Even if they believe the Presidential winner might serve only one term. Because no one ever says he will.

So Biden is too late and much too silent to matter when November rolls around. He has a great Irish temper but that is no substitute for the power of belief. Trump believes in Trump and that is his power. Biden never had a gift for words only gaffes. Today he seems to have difficulty with the words themselves.

Where is Joe Biden? It doesn’t matter. America is in deep trouble if he becomes the Democratic candidate for President.