All week the press has been gleefully covering the growing list of accusations that former Vice President Joe Biden has a habit of being inappropriately physical and affectionate in a way that makes women uncomfortable. Lucy Flores opened the floodgates with her piece one week ago, describing how Biden grabbed her shoulders and kissed her hair in a manner she called, “blatantly inappropriate and unnerving,” (Source: “An Awkward Kiss Changed How I Saw Joe Biden,” by Lucy Flores, TheCut.com, 3/29/19).
Flores’ story unleashed a flood of similar anecdotes, accompanied by photo montages showing Biden nuzzling noses and giving impromptu shoulder massages to an array of women (and some men). Despite all of the hand wringing, this isn’t complicated — don’t touch people who don’t want to be touched. The truth is, this is just Biden being Biden— an exuberant and often inappropriate, if fundamentally decent man.
Have we forgotten the 2008 campaign, when he called Barack Obama “clean and articulate?” Have we forgotten when the hot mic captured Biden calling the passage of the Affordable Care Act a “big f—king deal?”. Biden was a key sponsor of both the Violence Against Women Act and the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, which rapidly accelerated mass incarceration. His ambition has always exceeded his political skills. He first ran for president in 1988, before being forced to drop out of the race due to a plagiarism scandal. That is why he was such an enthusiastic Vice President to President Obama. Obama treated him like a true partner, rather than a prop or a joke. Thanks to the Obama halo, the gaffe prone pol was transformed into loveable “Uncle Joe” Biden, giving rise to an explosion of bromance memes, as if they were simply another entry in the “Lethal Weapon” franchise.
There will be plenty of time for that halo to fade under the harsh glare of a primary campaign spotlight, but we focus on this sideshow at our peril. This same week, while we were busy alternately defending and vilifying Biden, we lost a truly consequential state Supreme Court race in Wisconsin. Wisconsin is a key state for retaking the presidency, and the 2018 victories in which we recaptured the Governor’s mansion and the Attorney General position were consequential. In response, the lame duck Republican legislature attempted to eviscerate that win by passing a raft of laws that stripped power from the Executive Branch. Those laws are currently being challenged in court, which means that the composition of the state Supreme Court is critically important.
Given that context, the defeat of Judge Lisa Neubauer by ultra-conservative Brian Hagedorn was alarming. This was not a race where Democrats were outspent. Progressive groups spent nearly $3 million on television ads supporting Neubauer. This was not a race where Democrats didn’t turn out. Neubauer received 45,000 more votes than the Democratic candidate who won in last year’s judicial special election. In spite of all of that, Hagedorn appears to have defeated Neubauer by attracting 160,000 more votes than the conservative candidate who lost a year ago did, ( Source: “GOP Base Wakes Up In Wisconsin,” by Reid Wilson, TheHill.com, 4/4/19). This is evidence that the Republican base is energized and activated. The lesson here is that we will have to dial up our righteous anger and grassroots organization to eleven if we want to do more than narrowly lose. The presidential election is 18 months away. In the meantime, remember this warning from Tip O’Neill: “All politics is local.”
As usual Lisa, this is a great piece!
Thank you for the reminder.
Thank you Rene!