Despicable, Disgusting, Shameful: you\u2019d think people were describing a child molester, or a serial killer. But in the last forty-eight hours, these words were used to describe Joe Biden, the President of the United States. And it wasn\u2019t Republicans talking about the President. These were \u201cfellow\u201d Democrats describing the President of their own party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Rodney Dangerfield was an American comedian who made an entire career out of getting \u201cno respect\u201d. And Joe Biden has been the \u201cRodney Dangerfield\u201d of the Democratic Party, ever since the hair plug transplants of the 1980\u2019s and aborted runs for President two decades apart. But he also was the overwhelming winner of the Democratic primaries in 2020, and seemed to be the only candidate that could defeat Donald Trump. And he did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Democrats tend to forget that.\u00a0\u00a0We remember the early primaries in New Hampshire, Iowa, and Nevada, when Mayor Pete and Bernie shined forward.\u00a0\u00a0Then came South Carolina \u2013 the powerful Jim Clyburn and Biden juggernaut.\u00a0\u00a0The next week, Biden won eight of ten major primaries \u2013 and the Covid pandemic began \u2013 burying every other news item of consequence, and more than a million Americans..\u00a0\u00a0The rest of Biden\u2019s primary wins seem lost in the lockdown).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Biden is, an always has been, a man in the middle of the Democratic Party.\u00a0\u00a0And in reflection of our current polarization, the \u201cmiddle\u201d is scorned by both sides.\u00a0\u00a0So it\u2019s often the \u201cprogressives\u201d who are using the most virulent terms against him.\u00a0\u00a0From the \u201cdespicable\u201d fist bump with MBS, to the \u201cdisgusting\u201d failure to get more gun control legislation through, Biden can\u2019t win with his own party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, of course, Republicans have their own unique vocabulary about Biden:\u00a0\u00a0stumbling, gaffe prone, and sleepy.\u00a0\u00a0And the ultimate GOP insults:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cUncle Joe\u201d (like an \u201cUncle Tom,\u201d only white?) and, of course, \u201cBrandon\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hyperbole is a part of politics, as \u201cbaked-in\u201d, as red-white and blue bunting, handshakes, and kissing babies (though in the era of Covid, the last two are frowned upon \u2013 Biden still does them). But I do think that when our language becomes so immoderate, we lose the context. Those powerful terms lose their strength \u2013 and become emasculated (hey \u2013 there\u2019s a powerful word).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despicable: the Holocaust was despicable. Hitler was despicable. What Vladimir Putin is doing in Ukraine is despicable. Surely Joe Biden fist bumping Mohammed bin Salman, the young power of Saudi Arabia, is not in the same \u201cclass\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Disgusting:\u00a0\u00a0the slaughter of twenty-one children and teachers in their classroom is disgusting.\u00a0\u00a0And we might argue that the Republican automatic denial that guns are part of that outrage, might be disgusting too.\u00a0\u00a0But is it disgusting that President Biden is unable to fulfill the campaign promise of passing stronger gun control legislation?\u00a0\u00a0I would argue that it\u2019s sad; sad that Americans don\u2019t recognize the danger of allowing weapons of war into our society, almost without restraint.\u00a0\u00a0But it isn\u2019t Joe Biden\u2019s fault \u2013 he\u2019s spent a career trying to restrict access to those exact kinds of guns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Shameful isn\u2019t Biden failing to pass the voting rights act. Shameful isn\u2019t really even Joe Manchin, who is being exactly who Joe Manchin always has been \u2013 a \u201cBlue Dog\u201d, one of the last of the breeds of conservative Democrats. What is shameful \u2013 that a political party in the United States used a knowing lie, the \u201cStop the Steal\u201d nonsense, to justify disenfranchising voters of their opposition party. The American tradition of \u201cone person, one vote\u201d isn\u2019t even used as a \u201ccover\u201d anymore. Republicans are creating a voting process where the rural and the rich have the power. That better fits the definition of shameful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Horrifying describes what the United States Supreme Court is doing to the rights of Americans.\u00a0\u00a0It\u2019s horrifying that women lost control of their own bodies.\u00a0\u00a0And it\u2019s just as horrifying that public schools can now legally be the center of religious indoctrination.\u00a0\u00a0What comes next, from a legal sense, has all the tension of those horror movies that I can\u2019t stand to watch.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t go in the abandoned building, don\u2019t go in the basement, don\u2019t open that door.\u00a0\u00a0Don\u2019t let the Court rule on voting rights \u2013 they\u2019ll make them voting wrongs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019m certainly not saying that all Democrats need to \u201cget in line\u201d with Biden.\u00a0\u00a0That\u2019s never been the nature of the Democratic Party.\u00a0\u00a0Unlike the current Republican Party, purging the Kinzinger\u2019s and the Cheney\u2019s; the Democrats have always suffered internal opposition gladly.\u00a0\u00a0One only has to look at Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, in the same party with Joe Manchin and Henry Cuellar.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Internal opposition is one thing. And\u00a0using hyperbole against the leader of your own party isn\u2019t \u201ctraitorous\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s hyperbolic.\u00a0\u00a0But it is self-defeating.\u00a0\u00a0And we aren\u2019t in a time when we can afford to defeat ourselves.\u00a0\u00a0There\u2019s too much at stake — and that\u2019s no hyperbole.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hyperbole<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Voting Wrongs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Self Defeating<\/h3>\n\n\n\n