Biden’s Last Gaffe

New York Times caption reads, “Lawson Millwood and Mackenzie Kiser, who managed to buy a house this year, worried affordability would only worsen if they waited because of rising interest rates and prices. Audra Melton photograph. Courtesy New York Times, November 28 (1)

The “Save Democracy” Campaign Doesn’t Sell

Despite the blessing of the middle void of American ideology as celebrated by a fawning media, the 2024 Reelect Biden campaign subtext belies the reality gripping voters:

“It’s the inequality, stupid.”

Democrats, take a page from the current Israeli-Hamas impasse: given the inequality of Palestine and Israel that America supports, how can there be an enduring cessation of this internecine conflict?

Not Palestine, but America is “our collective enemy” in the Israel “diaspora.”

The American UN Ambassador’s bromide, “Israel’s right to defend itself,” rings as solipsistic.

How can touting a bubbling economy promote public resentment? Rosy statistics fall flat. Approval ratings sink. Biden’s words come off hollow and frustrated with voter intransigence.

What don’t we get?

Or rather, what doesn’t he get?

The political campaign space is squandered daily. Not that the current threat to democracy Trump and his mob pose is not real.

No.

But consider, even if Trump wasn’t Trump, what is the status quo? How far short of a functioning democracy would America be?

Without Trump?

The important elections are the ones ‘down ballot.’ What Michigan has achieved with a simple change of legislative majority and an able Governor-AG-Secretary of State could be a future scenario for Progressive voices: incrementalism does wonders. Quietly, then quickly. No touting, no polls, just moving forward collectively.

This ‘war of inequality’ ain’t going away.

January 7

Notes

1- Lydia DePillis, “Even Most Biden Voters Don’t See a Thriving Economy,” New York Times, November 28.