The unique perspective and provocative opinions of Joe O’Neill
Biden Time
The
time for a quick, set-the-record-straight,
damage-control response–PR 101–has long passed for the Joe Biden
campaign. But the need to address weaponized misinformation manifestly
remains–for the good of the country, for the good of the campaign. Whether it
comes from the DNC, Jill Biden or Barack Obama, Biden needs someone to cut to
the politically pragmatic chase and tell him–over a beer or via memo–what he
has to do to get out of the diversionary cross hairs that Trump has affixed.
Specifically, make a media-targeted, Eastern time zone presentation–not unlike Obama’s “A More Perfect Union” speech in Philadelphia in 2008. Recall,
that was the one that dealt with the incendiary, racially-charged sermons of
his former minister and mentor, Rev. (“Not God bless America. God damn
America.”) Jeremiah Wright. Obama distanced and disavowed, pivoted to an
inclusive, positive theme and ultimately headed to an historic win.
OK,
Biden is not Obama. Nobody is. But Obama’s former vice president needs to give
Biden family context and clean up the dirt manufactured and dispersed by Trump.
And he needs Hunter Biden to publicly explain his involvement and frankly
apologize for trading on his surname. In the context of the sleazy Trump
“dynasty,” acknowledging that reality would hardly be harmful. Then
Hunter Biden needs to underscore what a uniquely special guy his dad is and why
this fraught moment in our history needs the institutional experience and
international perspective of a Joe Biden. And, BTW, Hunter is Biden’s son, not
his “kid.” He’s 49 years old–or two decades older than his father
when he was elected to Congress.
And
then Joe Biden needs to pivot while he has the nation’s undivided attention–like
no “debate” forum can provide–with an agenda, both global and
domestic, that progressive Democrats, independents and country-first, non-Trump
GOPsters can rally around. He needs to emphatically–and methodically–put
Trump and his America-demeaning record on the impeachable defense and by so
doing galvanize public opinion. He needs, maybe literally, to say (without
beginning with “Look, folks”) directly to the American electorate:
“Who out there doesn’t think we are better than this?”
In
short, Biden would then be talking about America, its place and role in the
world, and the ongoing threat that is the unprincipled, impulsive Trump
Administration–not “quid pro Joe” diversions.
Maybe
it’s karma or irony or just politics, but when Joe Biden first ran for–and was
elected to–the Senate he was 29. By
the time he was sworn-in officially in 1972, he had turned the required age of
30. He ran against the Delaware incumbent Cale Boggs, who more than doubled his
age at 63. The media had referenced
Boggs as prone to being “tongue-tied.”
Biden ads underscored Boggs’ links to bygone days (“In 1950 Cale Boggs
hoped to make Americans safe from Stalin.”) with an emphasis on the
younger candidate’s mantra of “new
thinking” and “new
solutions.” What goes around … .