* Paul Walter is a Liberal Democrat activist and member of the Liberal Democrat Voice team. He blogs at Liberal Burblings.
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9 Comments
An extraordinary and beautiful speech, an extraordinary election. Congratulations to the people for casting a historic number of votes. Best wishes from Scotland in the UK, whatever the final outcome.
In the midst of a killer epidemic and mass unemployment, Mr Biden could have offered his nation a universal health care plan, a moratorium on evictions, a guaranteed basic income, a reduction in military spending and a reduction in military engagements.
Might that have been a better speech?
Might it have gained him more votes?
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/11/04/roaming-charges-the-fuck-up/
Well, he might have done but it would have been as ridiculous and incredible as the average assertion made by Donald Trump.
The Democrats have not yet won the Senate, and it looks as if the odds are against it.
Even with a solidly Democrat President and House of Representatives, a Republican Senate can put a massive roadblock on a President’s ambitions, and even Joe Biden will have a very hard time working across the floor with Republicans, just as Obama did.
Unfortunately, words like ‘extraordinary’ and ‘beautiful’ don’t cut it for about half the US electorate. Now ‘ tremendous’, ‘fake news’ and ‘fraudulent’, that’s a different matter!
As for getting things done with a Republican Senate blocking everything, the first test for a putative Biden presidency might be trying to rejoin the Paris Climate Declaration.
Hopefully Joe Biden will eventually become the next President of the USA so please don’t start finding problems already, anything will be better than the present incumbent, won’t it??
@Barry Lofty
Yes, but…..
John Marriott: Yes there are many buts, just for the moment though I am feeling a little more hopeful!!!
An impressive speech indeed.
Biden’s message of American unity is the same as that of Obama’s, starting with his Democratic National Convention speech of 2004. However Obama’s message was rejected by a significant proportion of Americans. The honest reason is that it was pure racism, because Obama was black.
Biden stands a better chance with this same message, because he is an old white man who has been nationally prominent for so many years.
@Barry Lofty
Vince Cable’s piece, referred to in another article, makes chilling reading. The presidency could prove to be a poisoned chalice for either candidate. If Trump does lose, he could be the Banquo’s ghost to Biden’s Macbeth. Only a Biden and Democrat landslide might have persuaded him to let go of the bone, unless he is worried about the tax man finally catching up with him and his family.