Is there anything about Biden that you actually admire?

Politics & Elections
#1

Another election cycle, another establishment Democrat :yawning_face: How were they able to find a candidate even MORE boring than Hillary? They couldn’t have tailormade an emptier politician if they tried. Is there any redeeming value to this man beyond not being Trump? Has he ever actually done anything except smile and look harmless?

4 years of Biden… wouldn’t that just put us back in the same place as followed Obama, with the next Republican being another ultra-right ethnonationalist corrupt traitorous race-baiting fascist bully moron? It’s easy to come up with adjectives to describe Trump. Biden? Only one that comes to mind is “vanilla”. Whereas Hillary would’ve at least been a band-aid to the cancer, Biden isn’t even that… more just like a layer of thin makeup on a gaping wound.

Voting for Biden seems like a vote of no confidence in American democracy rather than a vote for anything meaningful. I just don’t get it :man_shrugging:

#2

While I’m not enthusiastic about him for all the reasons you state, I think the fact that he IS boring is probably a major appeal. “I am unremarkable normality” looks great against “I am destructive batshit crazy,” as “I am gaffe-prone but competent with decades of experience” looks good against “I am incompetent and rather a jerk.” Certainly why he has my vote.

#3

I don’t understand the thought process, though. Sure, he’s several orders of magnitude saner than Trump, but the GOP has shown no remorse in any of this, and an unabashed enthusiasm for destroying the country for their own gain. Biden would at best, what, slow down their plan for a few years while climate change, income inequality, epidemics, race relations, gerrymandering, the Supreme Court, Congress, religiosity, anti-intellectualism, journalism, campaign bribery, etc. all continue to deteriorate?

The structural attacks on democracy by the GOP are so extreme, and Biden is so unwilling to even begin to acknowledge them – much less discuss ways to address them – instead opting for the “everything will be alright” delusion that only lasts until he’s elected and stonewalled from January 2021. Hope and change didn’t work for Obama, who is infinitely more powerful than Biden will ever be… and what good did that do him? How is repeating history with a shittier photocopy of that in any way useful for the future?

Biden has no vision at all, he’s just checking another notch off his belt of power, and yet his mediocrity will just help the GOP build even more strength to destroy even more in 2022 and 2024. I don’t understand how this isn’t the perfect example of “throwing away your vote”. Ugh.

Sorry, not meant to be an attack on you personally. I just don’t understand how this is who we ended up with… leftover, weeks-old pudding forgotten at the back of the fridge. Yeah, it’s not the rotting carcass in the dumpster, but doesn’t taste much better :face_vomiting:

#4

Hope and change didn’t work for Obama, who is infinitely more powerful than Biden will ever be… and what good did that do him?

…which shows the limits of hoping for change. A lot of young voters got excited about Obama but quickly grew frustrated with the procedural aspects of politics that delayed and derailed a lot of his legislative agenda. When they had a chance to keep a democratic congress and keep the agenda going in 2010, they didn’t show up at the polls. Worse, since 2010 was a census year, staying at home gave us 10 years of gerrymandered districts. I know Biden doesn’t really light anyone’s fire, but people have to help the president by legitimizing his agenda.

How is repeating history with a shittier photocopy of that in any way useful for the future?

What’s the alternative?

#5

Agreed.

Our obsession with personalities in this culture is what gave us Trump in the first place.

#6

I admire Biden’s years of public service. I admire his ability to get through adversity and tragedy, I admire his compassion. I admire his willingness to treat other people with respect. I admire that he seems to listen as much or more than he talks.

#7

(This says I can reply by email: attempting)

Well, those are the reasons I voted for Warren in the primary. But my candidate lost.

#8

What???

The sad thing about this election is that Biden is still far better than Trump.

#9

“More boring” than Hillary ought to cool some of the insane overreaction that drove some fence-sitters to actually vote for Donald Trump for President of the USA. Somehow there is a vitriol against Hillary that is unhinged to be nice about it.
And to answer the question titling this thread: I don’t tend to admire politicians unless they are particularly brave or groundbreaking in some way. John Lewis, Barack Obama, Tammy Duckworth and John McCain all have something I admire.

#10

Positions on race change over time. Seriously. It isn’t like he has Trump’s record. Or Sanders lifelong problem respecting women.

#11

Oh no, not a ‘boring’ candidate. What are we, children?

I don’t give a shit about admiring a candidate, or running an exciting candidate. Politician is a profession and Biden is a capable one. As a progressive and a realist, I know that I’m more likely to see incremental change under Boring Joe, than the zilch I could expect from a big-talking, political unskilled candidate like Bernie.

Trump was an exciting candidate. He couldn’t even manage to build a wall or repeal Obabmacare, despite Republican dominance in all branches. It’s an insiders game played by the politically skilled. That’s why Biden was was the best choice for the Dems.

#12

Not only that, but to ensure a victory this election has to be a referendum on Trump himself. You’d never get the “Never Trumpers” to vote for Sanders or Warren. But with centrist non threatening Biden there is a faction of Republican voters who may vote D.

#13

Biden wasn’t my first choice or even my third. But I think he was a wise choice. First and best reason: he is demonstrably electable. A whole lot of people will vote for him who wouldn’t vote for someone farther left. He represents calm, normality, compassion, and sanity, and a willingness to work across the aisle – all things at least some people who voted for Trump are now hopefully missing.

He works well with others. He’s reassuring. He has working class roots, and he’s an old white guy. People who sat at home, or voted R last time, are not going to vote for anyone edgier than him. They won’t vote for a woman, a person of color, or anyone they perceive as ‘elite’ whatever that means.They’re the group who want a regular guy who you can imagine having a beer with. The fact that Biden feels like that guy, after his centuries in the public eye, is actually a tribute right there.

#14

Biden has dignity, something Trump doesn’t have. In fact, I doubt Trump even knows what dignity is.

And as a result of Trump’s lack of dignity, he has weakened or destroyed all of our international relationships.

~VOW

#15

Well put. Biden possesses intelligence, compassion, humility, and decades of political experience, all of which will lead him to surround himself with competent staff, just as Obama did, and he’ll listen to them.

Is Biden boring? Sure he’s boring, but sometimes boring is just what you want. If you’re bored at home, it means the house is NOT on fire, there is NOT an earthquake, and the roof is NOT falling in, all of which are currently metaphorically happening thanks to the Orange Imbecile, the embodiment of the Chinese curse “may you live in interesting times”. The Orange Imbecile is certainly entertaining, like a circus of clowns, but not if you have to live it, and it deeply affects your life, and has made the USA the laughingstock of the international community, which is turning more to other major countries and self-sufficiency instead.

When I browse the news pages, I generally go to CNN first to get my daily dose of “interesting” and “laughable”, in a black-humor sense. I only go to CBC later, because our Canadian politics tends to be boring, and thus for example we have very boringly flattened the curve on COVID-19, very boringly failed to have political in-fighting over it, very boringly minimized the impact on hospitals and businesses, very boringly stayed home and worn masks when we go out. Whereas the US is in the midst of an exciting, interesting emergency epidemic right now. I think the US can use a bit of boring fact-based competence and leadership right about now.

#16

He is a honest man, he went through a lot and he is centrist like me.

If Biden wins, his VP may run herself in 2024.

#17

1977?!

I thought a lot of things in 1977 that I’ve learned better than since.

You know one of the things I like about Biden? He appears to be capable of learning things.

And this.

And this.

And I think he gives a shit. Given that we are in a whole lot of shit right now, to twist a metaphor through a few loops, we need somebody who’s got a chance of turning some of it into fertilizer*. Fertilizer’s boring, to most people, and filthy to some others; but it helps things grow, flowers and food both.

– you know, I think I’ve talked myself into liking Biden better than I did. So if this thread was intended to talk anti-Trumpers into staying out of this election, on me at least it’s not working; not that I can think of much that would.

*some of the shit we’re currently in is beyond being turned into fertilizer, and needs to be inserted in a volcano or the Mariana Trench.

#18

Did not cheat on his wife as far as we know, that’s rare in DC

#19

I believe they’re called ‘primaries’.

Of course, we could go back to the party picking the candidate in a ‘smoke vape filled room’ if you like . . . but we didn’t stop doing that just for the fun of it.
CMC

#20

We should approach electing a President with the same attitude that we’d have if we were hiring somebody to manage a business we owned.

Trump’s the guy who says he has a great idea for cutting back on heating and lighting overhead; he’s going to build a giant bonfire in the middle of the store.

Sanders is the guy who says building a open fire in the middle of the store is crazy. And just to make sure there’s never any fires in the store, he’s going to flood the entire store until the water rises up to the ceiling. That way there will be zero chance of fires.

Trump and Sanders start arguing with each other about whether fire or water is better. They call in their friends and their friends start yelling at each other. Eventually it ends up as a major brawl and everyone is excited.

Meanwhile, Biden shows up. He hands you his resume and says he has managed other related businesses in the past and they’ve all done well. He talks about things like inventory management and marketing your products and procedures for hiring and training employees. When you ask him where he is on the issues of fire and water, he advises you to have a good insurance policy.

Who do you hire? The guy with the exciting ideas about setting your business on fire? The guy with the exciting ideas about flooding your business? Or the guy with the admittedly boring ideas about just running your business well?