Sam Smith - I'm no fan of Joe Biden but the current uproar
over a few hugs and kisses he gave in public offers more than a hint
that we may be once again on our way to another liberal election
disaster. I was raised on the local politics of Philly, Boston and DC
where few politicians were worth emulating or admiring. You supported
them to get something done - not the way you might pick a pastor for
your church. And as noted here before, LB Johnson and Adam Clayton
Powell got more good legislation passed in less time than almost anyone
in our history but you wouldn't want either one of them near your
daughter.
True, I helped to start two third parties - the
DC Statehood Party and the national Green Party - but unlike many
members of the latter group I thought of them as instruments for new
policies, not in order to get two percent of the vote in a national
campaign. And it's worked: 80% of DC residents now support statehood and
many of the current Democratic presidential candidates are echoing
ideas pushed by the Greens for years.
It would be
great if we could win - as some 600 Socialist mayors did before WWI -
but the rules aren't like that any more. And so, you have to treat
politics as a battlefield and not as a religion that proves your virtue.
As things stand now, Joe Biden is the candidate
who shows the best chance of beating Trump in non-blue states where the
election will be decided. To reject him for the way he kissed some hair
or lips is to play right into the goals of a guy who not only has abused
women much of his life, but wants to do away with national healthcare,
dump immigrants into concentration camps and turn the Supreme Court into
a major anti-democratic force.
Is Biden my choice? No,
but if he wins the nomination I'll support him just as I backed Hillary
Clinton despite the fact that three of her close business partners went
to prison and the real estate hustle she and her husband ran caused over
50% of the purchasers to lose their lots. She was, however, running
against Donald Trump.
I hope one or more of the other
Democratic candidates will show surprising strength and change the
game, but I also don't want Trump to win again because of a handful of
misplaced hugs. Liberals have to learn that politics is not where you
prove how noble you or your candidate are, but what will be the best way
to get some good things done.
