February 26, 2020 was my cousin Ronnie’s birthday. It was also the day Jim Clyburn announced his game-changing endorsement and called on us, via Twitter, to “stand with @Joe Biden”:
I know Joe Biden. I know his character, his heart, and his record. Joe Biden has stood for the hard-working people of South Carolina. We know Joe. But more importantly, he knows us.
I felt hopeful for the first time in months. The Democrats will finally get it together, I thought. Trump will be defeated.
CUT TO TODAY…
That endorsement and Ronnie’s 75th birthday was five months ago. Looking around me, I see an altered universe that becomes more unjust, more dangerous — literally, deadlier every day — with Trump in charge.
I can only hope that Peter Wehner of The Atlantic is correct: that Trump is a broken man. But let’s not be complacent. Trump is Trump. He won’t go down lightly if he loses.
More importantly, he hasn’t lost yet. In response to his plummeting ratings, Trump is already fighting back, reports BBC journalist Jon Sopel in “The Week When Everything Changed for Trump.” Over the course of a few days, Trump held multiple press conferences to rebrand himself as the responsible President who tells people to wear masks and listen to the scientists.
It could work. As Sopel points out, we have short memories.
The beam of the lighthouse doesn’t stay long in any one place. With our impatience for new developments, for new story lines, for plot twists, we seem to suffer collectively from attention deficit disorder. And this president understands that better than anyone.
Some will no doubt write that this has been the president’s worst week ever. If he wins in November it will come to be seen as his best.
I don’t know about you, but it takes a lot to move me to political action. I’m not proud of this. I’d rather be a better citizen, more engaged, an example to my grandsons. In part, I’m lazy; in part scared.
Occasionally, I do push past my reticence. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, overwhelmed by images of victims calling out from rooftops or standing knee-deep in flooded front yards, I flew to western Louisiana with a small band of good-hearted people from western Massachusetts to help survivors restart their lives.
That was 2005. Now we’re all shouting from rooftops, begging to be saved. Disease (and dis-ease) engulfs us. We are in the “after” of a pandemic that has been hidden, underplayed, and mismanaged by — take your pick — a madman, an ego-maniac, a despot, all of the above. If there are moments in history that inspire us to action, this is one of them.
This is why I find myself — uncharacteristically — writing about a political candidate. I didn’t fall head over heels for Biden when he was one of twenty. I worried that he didn’t have enough pizzaz. But when Clayburg endorsed him, I remembered what on of my “old ladies,” 102-year old Marge, had been saying about him all along:
Biden is a good man, a very good man.
Time and the pandemic have made me realize how right Marge is: A “good man” is just what this country needs.
In a cogent piece that asks, Which country has been the worst in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis? journalist Sujata Anandan notes that in India, states led by humane leaders have done better than governments led by macho men. She points out that this pattern is true globally as well:
Western newspapers have suggested that four nations that have handled the Coronavirus crisis very badly are the United States, United Kingdom, Russia and Brazil. They also think they know why – all four nations are governed by not just right wing parties but also alpha males who tend to think their machismo is a euphemism for strong leadership – Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, Vladimir Putin and Jair Bolsenaro – while their so-called strength rooted in false notions of macho and ideology is actually a great and debilitating weakness.
You need to have a heart to be able to develop the courage of both conviction and compassion that makes you able to walk the extra mile to take the chance to effect some extraordinary and lasting solutions to problems facing the people.
Joe Biden fits the bill. He isn’t macho; he even cries in public, offering up a different model of strength and leadership. He has the experience and the good sense to know that the problems we face as a country and as a civilization aren’t about him and, in any case, can’t be solved by one person. He will, I believe, surround himself with wise, careful, forward-thinking, and caring advisors. And he’ll listen.
I will vote for Biden, because now that we’re five months into this pandemic and things have gotten so much worse than I could have ever imagined, I know how right Marge was. Biden has a good heart.
Note to my Subscribers: Thanks for showing up and for reading. I’ve been absent lately, not because there’s nothing to write about, but because there’s too much! You can help by leaving comments and letting me know what you like…
I am commenting on my own piece (before you do!). By saying that we “need a good man,” I am referring to the male gender only because two men are running for president. We also need good people in leadership roles, women and men. I don’t think I have to point this out, but just in case….
Thank you for reappearing! We’ve missed you!
And what a timely and thoughtful piece.
Yes it is time to bring this madness to an end. Biden was not my first choice, but definitely in my top 3. We need a kind, intelligent, steady and experienced individual in this period of tumult and division to put the ship of state back on an even, positive course.
I can only hope and will do my best to insure that he has both houses filled with Democrats to help him with this difficult task. So much harm has been done ! Let us hope that the nation can be repaired and healed.
Greg, I’m also open for suggestions. Phone calls?
You speak the truth. Actually the countries that have done the best in this pandemic are led by women!! In any case, thank you for speaking up. We need Biden and people like him to keep our country from Becoming a dictatorship, which This so called president is working at doing. God Bless Us and let Joe Biden win.
Amen to that.
Carla if you didn’t click on the link to read the full article by the (female) Indian journalist for more on how bad “macho“ is, I think you’ll like it!
I couldn’t agree more.
There may be two “MEN” running in the literal and biological sense of the word. But in my mind there is only one man running for President.
Joe Biden is my poster boy for a man.
The other candidate is an embarrassment for either sex.
So, true, Holly. An embarrassment only begins to describe him
You are so right Melinda. These are unprecedented times in our lifetime. The person that’s takes the helm of our country in the upcoming election could change the course of our country that will reverberate for generations to come. We can’t allow a narcissistic selfish lunatic continue on with the dismantling of our great country.
Many changes are needed, but we need a “good man” to lead the way.
I am writing as an act of activism. Besides voting, what can we do? Suggestions welcomed