{"id":1683,"date":"2019-04-06T06:50:47","date_gmt":"2019-04-06T10:50:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=1683"},"modified":"2019-04-06T06:50:52","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T10:50:52","slug":"let-biden-be-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/04\/06\/let-biden-be-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Biden be Biden"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Let Biden be Biden<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(OK \u2013 so when not looking for Hamilton references, I fall back on The West Wing!!)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I saw a post on Facebook from a former student and current friend the other day.\u00a0\u00a0He was in the locker room at the gym and was shocked when a man started a conversation with him, without any clothes on.\u00a0\u00a0The guy was talking to him, and he was NAKED!!\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At sixty-two, I grew up in a different era.  I was a swimmer, and a wrestler, and a track sprinter; being naked in a locker room was always just part of the deal.  Even in the locker room at Dad\u2019s tennis club, it was completely normal to have a conversation with strangers, some much older, with little or nothing on.  It wasn\u2019t that we \u201dhung out\u201d naked, but there wasn\u2019t a rush to cover up, and it didn\u2019t seem to get in the way of discussing the  \u201cplay of the day\u201d or any other topic of conversation (avoiding saying that came up!!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I coached high school athletes until two years ago, and I am well aware that times have changed.   Even in wrestling, where nudity at weigh-ins was not only expected but required, the rules now require everyone to be in uniform on the scales.  There is no such thing as being naked in a locker room; kids even wear swimming suits in the shower.  When a full change is required, it is quick, and furtive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s not the only \u201cnorm\u201d that\u2019s changed in the world today.\u00a0\u00a0I am a \u201ccontact\u201d kind of guy, a hand on the shoulder, a pat on the back (not on the butt, I never cared for that), the occasional joyful hug, and for people I\u2019m close to, the forehead to forehead \u201ctalk.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0I\u2019ve lived that way for sixty-two years, and never intentionally \u201cinvaded\u201d someone\u2019s privacy.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In fact, I tried to learn to recognize which folks were uncomfortable with contact, and respect their boundaries.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It has nothing to do with sex, and everything to do with finding a way to relate, to be compassionate and empathetic.\u00a0\u00a0It was a hug when my best pole vaulter broke the school record, whether it was Kyle or Sammi.\u00a0\u00a0It was an arm across the shoulders when we failed, and a forehead-to-forehead talk to regain focus when everything was going wrong.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And sometimes even a \u201cGibbs slap\u201d (gently) to the back of the head for bonehead moves (like losing a $350 pole vault pole.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a picture of Vice President Biden forehead to forehead with a woman, deep in conversation.\u00a0The Washington Post’s Pulitzer Prize winner Jonathan Capehart was head to head with Biden too.\u00a0It\u2019s not about sex, it\u2019s about relationships.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s the way of Joe Biden, and the way of his generation that is all too quickly passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, while I\u2019m not in locker rooms often anymore, and change in them even less, I know that no matter what I\u2019m comfortable with, others aren\u2019t comfortable with nudity even in a place to change clothes.  And while I\u2019m not coaching anymore either, I also am aware that what seems to me like a natural extension of personal contact may now be considered violating someone else\u2019s space.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Biden will figure it out.  He\u2019ll do what needs to be done politically; he\u2019s already figured out how to acknowledge the concerns of the women involved and accept responsibility without apologizing for doing something he didn\u2019t (and doesn\u2019t) consider wrong.  We know he\u2019ll \u201cslip up\u201d along the way, it\u2019s too much a part of him.  The millennial media will eat it up, and Democrats will have a crisis moment.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are lots of Democrats running for President (and even a quasi-Democrat named Bernie Sanders, who seems to only be in the Party when it suits his needs.)\u00a0\u00a0There are fantastic women running: Kamala Harris, Amy Klobuchar, Elizabeth Warren and Kristen Gillibrand.\u00a0\u00a0There are dynamic men running: Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, Julian Castro, Jay Inslee, Mike Bennet (I hope, he\u2019s pretty good) and, of course, Beto O\u2019Rourke.\u00a0There will be a lot for the Party to sift through, and a wide-ranging spectrum of ideas to choose from.\u00a0\u00a0Hopefully, the Party gets the most important point: we need to choose a candidate that can defeat Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But if Joe Biden really does become the Democratic candidate for President, we will have a great contrast. Two men of the same generation; one who reaches out to people in order to connect with them, and one who reaches out solely to pleasure himself.  That\u2019s a contrast that Democrats should be able to win with.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Let Biden be Biden (OK \u2013 so when not looking for Hamilton references, I fall back on The West Wing!!) I saw a post on Facebook from a former student and current friend the other day.\u00a0\u00a0He was in the locker room at the gym and was shocked when a man started a conversation with him, … Continue reading “Let Biden be Biden”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1683","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nLet Biden be Biden : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Joe Biden and the changing norms of human contact\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/04\/06\/let-biden-be-biden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Let Biden be Biden : Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Joe Biden and the changing norms of human contact\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2019\/04\/06\/let-biden-be-biden\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our America - Essays on Politics and American Life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/m.facebook.com\/Dahlmanonline-610417212502642\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-04-06T10:50:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-04-06T10:50:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dahlman.online\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/IMG_3564-e1488996194684.jpg?fit=480%2C640&ssl=1\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@martydahlman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Marty Dahlman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/06\\\/let-biden-be-biden\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/06\\\/let-biden-be-biden\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Marty Dahlman\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"headline\":\"Let Biden be Biden\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-04-06T10:50:47+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-04-06T10:50:52+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/06\\\/let-biden-be-biden\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":830,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/5fa8c1b0305cf5f1f3633225843e621c\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/06\\\/let-biden-be-biden\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/06\\\/let-biden-be-biden\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/dahlman.online\\\/index.php\\\/2019\\\/04\\\/06\\\/let-biden-be-biden\\\/\",\"name\":\"Let Biden be Biden : Our America - 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