6 minute read
Informed Dissent
NEWS & VIEWS
America, in two speeches.
Informed Dissent
SHUTTERSTOCK
In 2004, Barack Obama offered us hope. In 2020, a warning.
There are lots of p olicy questions we should focus on over the nex t 10 weeks: the C O V ID p andemic, the economic recovery, the climate crisis, systemic racism in our criminal justice system, the wealth gap , ex p anding access to health care. T here are p olitical matters, too: the devolution of the M A G A Rep ub lican Party into a grifters club , D emocrats’ insistence on relegating the activist left to the kids tab le.
B ut as N ovemb er nears, I’ m convinced all of that is secondary. Foremost is something more foundational: W ill we allow the continued erosion of democratic fundaments, or will we arrest our hastening slide into authoritarianism?
A more eloquent version of this idea was the centerp iece of B arack O b ama’ s sp eech during the D emocratic N ational C onvention last week, an unusually scorching takedown of his successor.
“ D onald T rump hasn’ t grown into the job b ecause he can’ t,” O b ama said. “ A nd the consequences of that failure are severe. O ne hundred seventy thousand A mericans dead. M illions of job s gone while those at the top take in eơe Ǥ i
more than ever. O ur worst imp ulses unleashed, our p roud rep utation around the world b adly diminished, and our democratic institutions threatened like never b efore. ”
H e continued: “ T his p resident and those in power Ȅ those who benefit from keep ing things the way they are — they are counting on your cynicism. T hey know they can’ t win you over with their p olicies. S o they’ re hop ing to make it as hard as p ossib le for you to vote, and to convince you that your vote doesn’ t matter. T hat’ s how they win. T hat’ s how they get to keep making decisions that affect your life, and the lives of the p eop le you love. T hat’ s how the economy will keep getting skewed to the wealthy and well-connected, how our health systems will let more p eop le fall through the cracks. T hat’ s how a democracy withers, until it’ s no democracy at all. ”
H is p oint — unsp oken though not diƥcult to intuit Ȅ was this: s much as J oe B iden is on the b allot, democracy is on the b allot. W hatever you think of B iden is irrelevant. W in this war b efore you fight the next one.
I was also struck b y the emotional dissonance b etween this sp eech and the sunny op timism of the 2004 D N C address that launched O b ama into the national sp otlight: “ N ow even as we sp eak, there are those who are p rep aring to divide us, the sp in masters and negative ad p eddlers who emb race the p olitics of anything goes. W ell, I say to them tonight, there’ s not a lib eral A merica and a conservative A merica; there’ s the U nited S tates of A merica. T here’ s not a B lack A merica and white A merica and L atino A merica and A sian A merica; there’ s the U nited S tates of A merica. … W e are one p eop le, all of us p ledging allegiance to the stars and strip es, all of us defending the U nited S tates of A merica. ”
In 16 years, we went from “ we are one p eop le” to the desp air of “ our worst imp ulses unleashed” and the desp eration of “ that’ s how a democracy withers. ”
The boyish Obama of 200͠ reflected the A merica of H ollywood imaginations; his was a S orkin-esque ap p eal to our better angels to bridge insignificant p artisan divides. T he wiz ened O b ama of 2020 knows b etter. T his wasn’ t a sp eech ab out the A merica we want to b e; it was a sp eech ab out the A merica we might b ecome.
The first was a promise, the second a warning.
W hen the p rimaries b egan, B iden wasn’ t anyone’ s p latonic ideal of a standard-b earer. H is camp aign wasn’ t rooted in amb itious visions or b ig ideas. H is p itch was his humanity — he’ s J oey, a decent, emp athetic guy who’ s p ersevered through unimaginab le loss and would rather b e a good man than a great one.
H e wasn’ t there to change the country, just to save it.
In most elections Ȅ against a different op p onent, without the b ackdrop of a p andemic and an economic crisis — that wouldn’t suƥce.
B ut as I watched the D N C , I realiz ed that T rump is a scrip t-p erfect foil for B iden: quiet comp etence to b omb astic failure; knowing steadiness to p erp etual tumult; the warmth of your favorite grandfather who is going to Ƥx ti e e e e ti e ǡ it, to the uncouthness of your b elligerent drunk uncle who caused the mess b ut b lames everyone else for it.
T hat doesn’ t tell us if he’ ll b e good at the job , of course.
I have reservations. B iden is moored to p olitical instincts and advisers two decades p ast their sell-b y date, which hints at p usillanimity. Perhap s, though, he’ ll rise to the occasion. A s B iden noted during his accep tance sp eech, “ A merica’ s history tells us that it has b een in our darkest moments that we’ ve made our greatest p rogress. T hat we’ ve found the light. A nd in this dark moment, I b elieve we are p oised to make great p rogress again. ”
B ut even if he’ s a mediocrity, ei- et B iden will b e a victory merely b y his ex istence. A merica will have rejected a lawless regime. T he new W hite H ouse will take the p andemic seriously; climate change, too. J ustice G insb urg can retire. A nd the country will rememb er that the federal government wasn’ t always a clown car of incomp etents, white nationalists, ob sequious licksp ittles, and con men.
We will live to fight another day.
A s O b ama p ut it, “ Y ou can give our democracy new meaning. Y ou can take it to a b etter p lace. … T hat work will continue long after this election. B ut any chance of success dep ends entirely on the outcome of this election. T his administration has shown it will tear our democracy down if that’ s what it takes to win. ”
In other words, to fight the next war, you have to win this one. et e iet eiee tit t ixǤ i t t iǤt Ǥ Ǥ
