Former Vice-President Joe Biden is running for the White House.
Contain your enthusiasm.
Yes, Biden announced his candidacy yesterday, and had his first campaign stop in Pittsburgh, before going being scheduled to visit some of the early primary states in the immediate future.
Biden will bring into this presidential race all of the excitement that Hillary Clinton brought to the masses in 2016.
Really, there are some striking similarities. Both are mainstream Democrats, middle of the road politicians who are well-established Washington insiders. Both supported the Iraq invasion in 2003, and look how well that worked out! Both like their big corporate sponsors, and Biden is cozy with them to the point that he was once jokingly referred to as “the senator from MBNA.” And both take a condescending attitude towards young people.
Hillary famously quipped that Bernie supporters were living in their parent's basement.
Here is something that Biden recently said in response to being asked if he felt that millennials have it tough:
"The younger generation now tells me how tough things are. Give me a break. No, no, I have no empathy for it. Give me a break."
Nice, huh?
Of course, student debt is a crushing burden for young people graduating college these days, and this is far and away the most expensive country in the world to attend college in. In fact, it goes beyond that, because Americans have more debt than any other nation in the world. We also have the highest costs for healthcare in the world. All of this is because of the undue influence of big banks and major corporations over Washington politicians, and let us remember that Biden is one of those politicians, which means he is greatly contributing to all of these things that make life in America worse, not better. He had his time, he had his chance. We know his answers to these questions, and we understand how condescension is indicative of who he is, and what he represents.
Plus, those major corporations have greatly contributed to the greenhouse gases that have warmed the planet, and made the future feel decidedly grimmer than it should feel.
Biden's answer to these concerns?
Again, let's repeat:
"Give me a break."
Biden represents the de facto Washington elites, the establishment Democrats who want the Democratic Party to be as close to Reagan Republicans as they can be. Maybe they are not as blatant in their elitism and idiocy as Donald Trump is, but do not mistake their criticism of Trump for real change, because it is not.What it represents is a kinder, more articulate way of defending the same status quo that Trump champions, even though Trump and his rabid supporters would likely balk at this notion.
But the idea that Biden represents some real change, and that he could bring real hope, let alone any change, to Americans, when we need it the most?
Well, let's borrow Biden's own words, shall we?
"Give me a break."
~ Joe Biden
Joe Biden is the Hillary Clinton of 2020 Americans want outsiders, reformers, and fresh faces, not politicians with decades of baggage. By Matthew Yglesias@mattyglesiasmatt@vox.com Updated Apr 25, 2019,
Quote by Biden on Millennials taken by the following:
Joe Biden trashes Millennials: 'Give me a break' By Eric Ting, SFGATE, Friday, January 12, 2018:
The larger problem as always is that people who should know better vote for them. You can't have mediocre politicians without people who turn up at the polls to cast their ballots in their favor. By being so complacent and settling for mediocrity, they essentially act as their enablers. It's the same beyond-tired rhetoric every time: "Now is not the time for idealism, we need to focus on getting their asshole out of the White House." Right, so that we can replace him with YOUR asshole? Not good enough. And the inherent problem with that type of thinking is that it has never been, nor will it ever be, time for idealism. Because when people reconcile themselves with mediocrity and associate that with realism, that will always be their knee-jerk instinct. It's so glaringly obvious that in order for a Democratic candidate to win in 2020, that person would actually have to INSPIRE and ENERGIZE people. As you accurately point out, someone who represents the status quo – pro-corporate, pro-military-industrial complex, pro-big banks, pro-big-pharma – simply isn't going to do that. And since the Democrats systematically choose to ignore that, it can only mean one thing: they have absolutely no interest in genuinely shaking things up and making things easier for the 99%. It's all talk. Carefully scripted, well-rehearsed, hopelessly disingenuous talk. You'd think people would eventually realize that they're being patronized and condescended to, and modify their choices accordingly. But then I gave up on that pipe dream ages ago. Plus, even in the unlikely event that a genuine progressive were to actually prevail, you know that A) people with a vested interest in keeping things the way they are would unrelentingly do everything possible to thwart that person's efforts, and B) given how polarized voters are, his or her successor could very easily turn out to be a superlatively spirit-killing lowlife, i.e. 2016 all over again.
ReplyDeleteI like your description:
ReplyDelete"Now is not the time for idealism, we need to focus on getting their asshole out of the White House." Right, so that we can replace him with YOUR asshole? Not good enough.
That sounds about right, too.
Indeed, I think people are insulting their own intelligence by continually supporting mediocrity or, as Michael Moore once put it, to support the "evil of two lessers." It is also clearly doing the country a disservice, as things just get worse and worse.
Yet, it would not surprise me if we get yet another very four more years of an administration that has overly friendly relations with major corporations, and that does not even require Trump winning re-election (with likely another minority of the popular vote).
We are reaching pathetic new lows in American politics...