Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and the Failings of White Liberalism

I don’t use my blog for two years, and then the dam breaks! ok, here we go…

As a cultural theorist I sort of hate when people make broad sweeping generalizable statements. If you pay attention to posts I make, I tend to not use phrases like “straight white men” or “toxic masculinity”. Subcultures are not monoliths; you simply cannot expect every member to behave by the same rules or have the same beliefs. We all have different individual thoughts that can’t be summed up by some random hot take on the internet. That said… let me tell you why POC liberals hate white liberals!

Here’s the thing. Joe Biden is going to leave the race or he is going to lose. Hell, it’s entirely possible that he’s seen the light and figured out he has no viable path forward by the time I finish writing this. I certainly have been hoping so for the last several weeks. And if he has, then this blog is probably more important than ever. But the key thing is… HE IS GOING TO LOSE!

Some of you might not believe that. But he is. And this isn’t “just about one debate.” Joe Biden is going to lose because … well, a lot of people mostly didn’t like him four years ago. He was a concession candidate. He was an attempt to “stop the bleeding that was Donald Trump.” Go back to 2020. Hell, Joe’s entire theory of running was “I want to be the bridge to the future and stop the Democrats from veering too far to the extreme left.” In other words “we want to beat Donald Trump, but God forbid we elect Bernie Sanders. He’s a SOCIALIST!!! (**whisper… and also a Jew**)” Granted, the Democrats had other options… a Black woman, a couple Black men, an Asian man, a Latino man, a Polynesian woman, a gay dude, a handful of other women, and half a dozen guys who just happened to be under 50! The 2020 democratic primary run-up was HUGE… and diverse!!! And Biden won with the basic message of “look, here’s the situation… this is the most important election of all time so we’re going to need you all to get the fuck on board and support the old white guy train or we all go down.”

To be fair to Joe, this isn’t the first time this has happened. It’s how the DNC has run their brand of liberalism for quite a long time. It was the argument in favor of Hillary Clinton: “Donald Trump is an existential threat, now is not the time for petty squabbling. There is no perfect candidate. We all need to unite behind the nominee.” It was the argument favor of John Kerry: “George W. Bush is an existential threat, now is not the time for petty squabbling. There is no perfect candidate. We all need to unite behind the nominee.” It was the argument in favor of Al Gore: “George W. Bush is an existential threat, now is not the time for petty squabbling. There is no perfect candidate. We all need to unite behind the nominee.” It was the argument in favor of Mike Dukakis: “George H..W. Bush is an existential threat, now is not the time for petty squabbling. There is no perfect candidate. We all need to unite behind the nominee.” It was the argument in favor of Walter Mondale: “Ronald Reagan is an existential threat, now is not the time for petty squabbling. There is no perfect candidate. We all need to unite behind the nominee.”

In each of those cases, for the good of the party and America, the democrats united behind the most conventional white moderate they could find. And each time lost. I’m not saying they lost BECAUSE of white moderate liberalism. It’s not that simple. I’m saying that in each case, there were at least some notable alternative candidates — i.e. Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson — who shall we say represented a … shall we say “large deviation from the status quo” and who were for whatever reason pushed aside because “now is not the time… this is the most important election of all time so we’re going to need you all to get the fuck on board and support the candidate or we all go down.” Hell, I bet some of you reading this literally think that I said Sharpton and Jackson because I was making a joke! And in each of those cases, the democratic candidate lost. Sometimes, big. And in each of those cases the candidate and their most ardent supporters blamed everyone else — Bernie Bros, Jill Stein, the Green Party, Ralph Nader, lack of enthusiasm — everyone but the candidate themselves.

The thing is, I actually DO believe that “Donald Trump is an existential threat”. A lot of us do. And the problem that the Biden camp and his supporters seem to miss is that they think “Donald Trump is an existential threat” and “Biden is a good candidate” are the same thing. They’re not. Hell, even “Biden is a good president” and “Biden is a good candidate” aren’t the same thing. And if you really believe that Trump is that threat… then this should probably worry you. If you are really willing to do ANYTHING to stop Trump then you maybe have to consider that … you possibly haven’t actually ever been asked to ” I think “do anything” before. Even if that “anything” is to “GET OUT OF THE FUCKING WAY!”?

In other words, the problem is that Joe Biden doesn’t actually think that “Donald Trump is an existential threat”… or at least not one who must be stopped at all costs. And he doesn’t think that because he’s a white liberal who can only imagine a solution to any problem if he (or someone who looks a lot whole like him) is the one to solve it. Every time in the last three weeks Biden has been asked publicly (and apparently privately) if he would ever consider dropping out he has said the same thing “only if I am shown proof that I can’t possibly win”. But that’s not the fucking question. That’s not the bar. That’s not the standard that was applied to anyone else. The standard was “do what’s best for everyone” not “only if YOU think you can’t win.” Joe can’t understand the difference. Most of Joe’s actual supporters don’t see the difference.

Do you know who does see the difference? Black people!

One of Joe’s biggest crowning achievements that he likes to crow about is that HE is responsible for choosing the first black woman to be Vice-President. He also likes to point out that he is responsible for the putting the first black woman on the Supreme Court. He talks about how proud he was to serve ALONG SIDE the first black President. He thinks that because he has had proximity to black greatness, he is a part of it. And in some way, he is a PART of it. But do you know who was more responsible for those things? Do you know who is a greater part of it? Kamala Harris, Ketanji Brown Jackson, and Barack Obama. Those accomplishments are theirs. They are not Joe’s. Joe only contextualizes them through his eyes. I don’t even mean that as an insult. It’s just… the only way he can really see it. And whenever anyone questions this, he tries to save it by putting it in context of having the backing of his one black friend… and that black friend isn’t even one of those three people. It’s always Jim Clyburn.

That happens a lot. For context… I will be 50 years old in two weeks. That means, I have been working full-time hours for about 35 years of my life. In that time do you know how often I have had a random well-meaning white coworker inadvertently and casually take credit for one of my achievements? Moreover, do you know how often I’ve had one of my contributions missed entirely, because someone has accidentally forgotten to put my name on something? Or just not been able to remember exactly whose team contributions to a project were whose? Or that I have been passed over for a promotion or other opportunity in favor of a white person in the name of company unity? The honest truth is, I have no idea. Because it literally happens ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Seriously, in some way or another things like that have happened at every job I’ve ever had. If you’re white and you’ve been a colleague of mine at any point in the last 4 decades and you’re wondering “wait, does that mean I have been a part of this” let me save you some time and trouble. Yes. You may not have been the one doing it. But yes… You’ve been around for it… and it quite possibly has been you. And if it wasn’t chances are you’ve likely inadvertently done it to some other black person. And if you’re not someone who’s worked with me, then yeah… it’s happened with the black people at YOUR job too. And I have the benefit of being male. For every problem that I just enumerated above, the problems are ten times worse for black women. And frankly the same issues exist with every other minority as well. And women. And queer people.

Does that make it your “fault”? No. Not really. BUT it is context that you need to understand that comes into play whenever you tell a bunch of minorities “this is the most important election of all time so we’re going to need you all to get the fuck on board and support the candidate or we all go down.” You might not like it. You might not want it. That’s how you sound. And yet, for the most part everyone does it anyway. Not because you’re right. They do it because they too believe that the election matters and they do not trust you to show the same support in the opposite direction if they don’t.

That is where we are with Joe Biden today!

Here’s the thing. I honestly think Joe is smart enough to know that. He’s working the numbers. He’s trying. He thinks he’s going to find a way out. He’s not. I get that some of my friends think he can win and everyone just needs to get on the same page. That’s not going to happen. There is no way out of here. Hell, reportedly Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi have called him and told him it’s over. And if Joe doesn’t see it, then to all of the people who have lost faith in him, he simply sounds like he’s holding them hostage. He sounds like he’s saying “I alone can fix this.” He sounds like Donald Trump. That’s one part of the problem. But the bigger part is that every time he says “this is too important, so it has to be me” the understatement is “and not that black woman who’s been politely standing over there backing me up while I take credit for her every success for the past four years.” He doesn’t mean it that way. That is how it sounds.

And MAYBE he could get away with that. If he could win. But the thing is… he can’t. And that’s been clear for a while.

So let’s talk about where we are. We are in Hail Mary territory and the QB’s arm is shot. It doesn’t matter how he did all season or last season or whatever. All that matters is he can’t do it today. But the season is on the line and he is tanking and that means you have to put in the backup. Does that mean you’re going to win? No. In all honesty, when you get down to that point, you know that there is a very real chance that you are going to lose. And probably everyone is going to blame the backup and the coach and everyone except for the beloved aging quarterback. That’s just how it goes. And yet, you try anyway.

So if you’re now thinking “but this is not a football game. It’s too important. We can’t just lose” then understand that “doing the hard thing even when you’re pretty sure you’re still going to lose” is basically what has been asked of black voters for every single election of my lifetime. Outside of Clyburn, the CBC isn’t backing Biden because they think he’s better for black people than Harris. They’re backing him because his 50year career has shown them that they can’t trust him to actually understand that there are solutions to problems that don’t involve him.

And if you’re wondering why Trump has made surges with black male voters, it’s not because they respect his stupid fucking mug shot or they think he’s gangsta or because he got shot. And he sure as fuck hasn’t passed any policies that have helped them on mass. It’s because he’s right about one thing… he said “what do you have to lose?” and at some point that resonates.

But, it hasn’t resonated yet with black female voters. YET. In fact, if you check you’ll find out that despite being the least represented, least respected, least listened to, least paid, least employed, least insured, least acknowledged voting demographic in the party, they are consistently the most loyal. And where we are right now… we are in Hail Mary territory. And Kamala Harris is the backup quarterback.

Look, can Kamala win? I’m gonna be honest here. I don’t know. Hell, probably not! What I do know is a lot Joe has done in the last 4 years, and EVERYTHING he’s done in the last 3 weeks has hurt her. And yet, I also think that she has a better shot at saving it than he does. And I think that the second that he drops out you are going to see the fastest mobilization of a nationwide surge of black women moving door to door organized by the fine sisters of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. that has ever happened in the history of modern politics. The streets are going to flow with pink and green! You are about to see 360,000 of the world’s most dedicated black women in America knocking on every single door in this country. Can they win? I don’t know! But I’m not betting against them!

See, we don’t get guarantees. We never have. But there was also no guarantee with Hillary or Kerry or Gore or Dukakis or Mondale… and not one democrat had any problem with asking every black voter “there’s no time for that, trust us, we got this… don’t even worry about it!”

So if you’re still reading this, you might have some questions… not the least of which is “why did he ‘Inc.’ at the end of the sorority’s name?” There’s no time for that! Don’t even worry about it! For some of you, there’s probably a bit of “well, yeah… but I’m not racist. I wouldn’t have done the things Mav said.” There’s no time for that! Don’t even worry about it! And if you’re thinking “well, but there are other democrats why does it have to be Harris?” There’s no time for that! Don’t even worry about it!

What I’m gonna need you to do is stop worrying. Stop arguing. Accept that maybe just this once the “compromise” will have to be “picking someone who doesn’t look like you.” You’re maybe about to have to vote for someone you don’t have full faith in. You’re maybe about to have to turn away from someone you DO support and who you like a whole lot. So let me offer this advice: Look, here’s the situation… this is the most important election of all time so we’re going to need you all to get the fuck on board and support the Kamala Harris train or we all go down.

And if you can do that… then maybe… if we’re lucky… the black women of this country will save our asses one last time. God knows we don’t deserve it.