Biden, Harris: Get Out Of The Office And Hit The Streets
By Ed Kociela
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, voters did not elect Joe Biden and Kamala Harris because they had great strength in economic principles. They did not elect them because of their intellectual capacity. And, they certainly did not elect them because of youthful exuberance and energy.
Biden and Harris got the nod because of what I call the Reagan Rebound.
Ronald Reagan was not a very good governor. He was not widely liked or respected when he led California governance, where he was often referred to as Ronnie Ray-gun. He was, for the most part, a washed-up B-movie actor who could barely keep up with a chimpanzee who served as co-star.
Politically, Reagan was schizophrenic.
Although he is said to have idolized President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, he also served as an undercover agent for the FBI, turning over names of those in Hollywood with suspected links to communism. It led to an embarrassing time when many talented writers, directors, and actors were blacklisted from working in the film industry because of the accusations. He was Sen. Joe McCarthy without a portfolio. The effect was that some of the world’s most talented actors, writers, producers, and directors like Dalton Trumbo, Howard Koch, Ring Lardner, Jr., Orson Welles, Paul Robeson, Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Katharine Hepburn, Melvyn Douglas, and Fredric March had their feet held to the fire, hounded by the House Un-American Activities Committee. It was so bad that some left the country. Among the writers, some used pseudonyms or the names of friends to submit their work and earn a living.
The HUAC lasted for a good two decades before America slipped out of its Red Scare haze with then-President Harry Truman saying it was “the most un-American thing in the country today.”
Reagan rehabilitated his career when he served as president of the Screen Actor’s Guild from 1947-‘51, then again in 1959. It whetted his appetite for politics so he became a Republican in 1962 and became a strong supporter of Barry Goldwater in 1964, setting himself up for the power play to become the governor of California.
His rugged looks and ability to read a speech with authority after years of acting professionally groomed him for further advancement. He didn’t know what the hell he was saying, but he sounded real good.
In 1980, the timing was right when a fatigued, disconnected electorate sought relief from four dismal years of Jimmy Carter. Reagan put on his most paternal smile and promised to pick us all up and set us back on course as a nation, and voters lapped it up, giving him a victory so lopsided that Carter conceded before the polls closed in California. I remember because I was standing in line to vote when a transistor radio one voter brought along announced that Carter had thrown in the towel.
Flash forward 40 years and the parallels are stunning.
We had just been through four dysfunctional years of Donald Trump, who left the nation in shambles mentally, spiritually, and ideologically, so much so that a group of domestic terrorists set out to dump the Constitutional process of verifying the election.
Democrats were hard-pressed. A more progressive approach was definitely needed to get the nation back on course to battle COVID and an economy that was headed for the dumper even before the virus began to thin our ranks at heartbreaking rates and there were certainly better minds lining up to take the Democratic Party’s mantle, but the goal at that point wasn’t so much to pursue a progressive agenda as it was to unify a nation teetering dangerously on collapse.
Biden was the beneficiary when the nation was swept up in “Anybody But Trump” emotion, cashing in when he promised us that he felt our pain, that he understood our plight, that he would work for all of us. He regaled us with stories about his hard-working father and grandfather, shared the wisdom of his mother, and got us to think of him as “Joey,” instead of the former Mr. Vice President.
He’s been in the seat for a year now, working mostly out of the Oval Office and addressing us with a calming demeanor and the wrinkled brow of our own mothers and fathers who labored to give us a better life than theirs.
The thing is now we need more than a kind and soothing face on the news stations. All that has done is detach us from the things that pulled us together behind him in the first place.
In other words, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris must now get off their duffs and head out among the people, pounding the pavement, shaking hands, listening, in person, to what we need.
Biden is often referred to as our most compassionate president, but that shine is beginning to fade because of the lack of up-close interaction.
Instead of sidling up to the press, they need to hold town hall meetings across America. They need to go to lunch in the local diners and talk to the workers who are trying to eke out a living.
They need to go to Georgia and Alabama and every other place where voting rights are at stake and talk to those who would be denied.
And, they need to deliver a firm backhand to Democratic senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema as well as Republican obstructionists like Mitch McConnell, Kevin McCarthy, Lyndsey Graham, and others.
But, most of all, they need to get out among the people.
Instead of being talking heads on the television, send them out to the inner city to talk to the folks most likely to be affected by restrictions on voting rights. Instead of going to the factory of some rich benefactor and giving a rah-rah speech, head to the corner bar and have a beer with the men and women who work in that factory. Instead of polls and research that can be easily manipulated, get out and collect some empirical evidence gained only by being there, not being told about it all by some intermediary. It makes it all real, something that could touch the heart and mind, not cold, stark numbers.
I don’t want Joe Biden to go down in flames like Jimmy Carter, not because he is a Democrat, but because it would not further our nation.
Sell yourselves, Mr. President and Ms. Vice President.
Get out of the office and rediscover America.
Otherwise, it is going to be a very bad midterm.
Viewpoints and perspectives expressed throughout The Independent are those of the individual contributors. They do not necessarily reflect those held by the staff of The Independent or our advertising sponsors. Your comments, rebuttals, and contributions are welcome in accordance with our Terms of Service. Please be respectful and abide by our Community Rules. If you have privacy concerns you can view our Privacy Policy here. Thank you!
Click here to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or a Letter to the Editor
