radius777
radius777's JournalIt's an implied promise he used to insulate himself
from the fact that he's not Obama, but wants/needs the Obama coalition to win.
It doesn't have to be Abrams but imo should be a WoC, possibly Kamala Harris or Val Demings or someone else.
A white woman may've worked if there was one who had a strong appeal to PoC, ie like a female version of Bill Clinton - but no such white female candidate exists. Klobuchar, Warren etc barely registered with PoC.
He never said it directly, but strongly implied
from the beginning and throughout that he would choose a WoC, that Abrams was his top choice, and his campaign even considered announcing it from the beginning:
By Karen Tumulty
Columnist
March 21 at 5:47 PM
Don’t do it, Stacey Abrams. It’s a terrible idea.
Now that it appears all but inevitable that Joe Biden will enter the 2020 presidential race, he is reported to be considering announcing at the outset that he has already selected the former Georgia House minority leader to be his running mate.
Axios’s Mike Allen, who broke the story Thursday, quoted a source close to Biden as saying the dramatic pick of an African American woman who is a rising star in the Democratic Party would show that the former vice president "isn’t just another old white guy."
...
If she joins Biden’s ticket, of course, there is always the possibility that she could make history in an even bigger way. But the gimmick is so transparent that it also carries the real risk of devaluing her own political brand.
What’s more, Abrams would spend the next year or more acting as Biden’s human shield, constantly called upon to answer for his past positions on issues that put him at odds with African American and female voters.
Basically, Biden knew being Obama's VP was not enough to rebuild the Obama coalition. He knew he had to answer for past positions on civil rights and women's issues (Anita Hill, etc). Part of his campaign strategy for this was strongly implying throughout that a WoC would be the pick. If he goes back on this, it would not go well with all of the PoC/women voters who came out for him and expect him to be true to the diversity that the modern Dem party stands for.
Abrams is a standard center-left Dem
not a left-progressive, despite the polls, where 'too liberal' could simply mean 'too black' or 'too female' in a southern state with a history of racism/sexism.
Also, many voters don't truly understand what ideological labels mean, so I would take such polls with a grain of salt. I've known people who were conservative and called themselves liberal and vice versa.
The Dem party is the part of diversity and has to take chance sometimes to break the image of what leadership looks like; Abrams candidacy was historic and accomplished this task even though she lost - also highlighting the issue of voter suppression and corruption in the state.
Gillum was possibly too ideologically progressive for FL; but he did get almost as many votes as white moderate Nelson. The problems in FL have far more to do with the incompetence of the state Dem party.
Biden said he would pick a WoC
when he started his campaign, and alot of his PoC support is based on that idea, of being loyal not just to Obama but the Obama Coalition - which we need to be energized to win.
Klobuchar has little appeal imo, she didn't even do well in the Midwest (Iowa), would be like another Tim Kaine picked for supposed regional support, but really adds little.
+1. Biden said he would choose a WoC as VP
when he entered the race, so alot of his AA support is contingent on that.
Biden's appeal to PoC is he is viewed as the other half of the Obama/Biden ticket.
In order to keep that appeal he must choose a 'replacement Obama', ie a younger PoC, preferably a woman.
The job of president is viewed as a job for a white man,
that's the problem.
Close your eyes for one second and imagine an empty chair in the Oval Office.
Invariably most voters (including PoC and women voters) would see a tall Christian white man as the worthy candidate to sit in that seat.. the type of person that 'should be' the face of America.
That's the problem. It's hard for voters (again, including nonwhite voters) to see outside of that mold... it's a crisis of imagination.. which is how structural sexism/racism/etc works.
The Dem party is better than the GOP - but nobody is immune from structural forces.
The fact that we've had Obama, Hillary, Nancy - is a testament to the civil rights movement, and the Dem party embracing the values therein over the past 40 years - and often paying a price for it, as LBJ predicted.
Biden has some 'senior moments'
but voters 'know Joe' and view him as a good person, despite his flaws.
Trump is a deranged sociopath who must be removed from office.
The choice is clear, and I fully expect Biden to crush Trump, as moderates and others flock to the polls to restore normalcy.
The job of president is viewed as a job for a white man,
that's the fundamental problem. We can debate all day about who was and wasn't a good candidate, but the hard fact is that all but one of our presidents have been white guys.
And It's not that Dem voters are necessarily racist/sexist but they know others will be in the General Election so are defaulting to the 'safe white guy' as the fear of Trump getting reelected is too distressing.
In the left lane they could've picked Warren but picked the old white guy Bernie.
In the moderate lane they could've picked PoC (Castro,Booker,Kamala) or a LGBT (Pete) or a woman (Amy, Kamala, Gillibrand) - but once again chose the old white guy Biden.
Neither Bernie nor Biden ran good campaigns, and in spite of this are the last ones standing.
the hard-left has violent ideation which is evident on social media
where they can't pretend to be 'democratic' socialists or whatever they like to spin.
their pathological jealousy of the rich, which is overblown considering most of them are middle class first worlders (courtesy of capitalism, which gives them computers, videogames, twitter, etc where they can play 'revolutionary'), imo has more todo with entitlement and narcissism than any 'real' need.
it also shows how clueless they are about race/gender/etc - which has for hundreds of years been the true oppression. being wealthy never saved blacks or jews or women or gays from being relegated to second class citizens, violence, genocide, etc.
Jason Johnson nails it.
People like Joe Rogan, Cenk/TYT, Krystal Ball, Glen Greenwald - even when not outwardly racist are all about centering the white working class, while pushing PoC/women etc to the background and demonizing our success. Obama, Hillary, Kamala are all 'bad' - yet alot of these same 'populists' don't think a white man like Trump(the ultimate greedy conman) is really that bad.
All politics are identity politics.
Remember when the Stein/Sanders movement started on the left there were very few PoC, but the media pushes it as 'hip' (to appeal to the coveted 18-45 white demographic) and this has influenced some misguided PoC to join in and not see the larger narrative.
Jason Johnson as a black man with lived experiences understands the con game going on, with the party being stolen right out from under the feets of blacks/browns/women etc - to the benefit of 'FDR whites'.
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