• ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    1
    Ā·
    1 year ago

    I really appreciate what you are saying here. Look, I was a huge Bernie supporter. Heā€™s still the only politician I have ever donated to support.

    I am a single issue voter and I think everyone should be this election. That single thing is keeping Trump away from the presidency. We are FUCKED if he gets in again.

    The fact is, only 10 times in history (Trump being one) has the incumbent president lost. I donā€™t like Biden any more than you do, but incumbency and having beaten Trump once is a resume no other candidate can match.

    I think we need to be talking about Biden getting a new VP. Kamela Harris does not add to Bidenā€™s chances of winning. Whether it is simple racism/sexism or whatever, the public hates her. Letā€™s get a VP candidate who could carry the torch for Biden after 4 years (or less if he dies in office). That would go a long way to assuage the publicā€™s concerns over Bidenā€™s age. Dean Phillips would be a great option for that. He would be perfect to pull undecided moderate voters and he would be a great public face for Democrats. (My first choice would be Fetterman, but putting that behemoth standing next to Biden would do little to help the image of Biden being feeble).

    • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      arrow-down
      1
      Ā·
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Hereā€™s the thing.

      Look at why trump and the others all lost. They were unpopular.

      Your single issue is ā€œnot trumpā€. Yet, there are many better canidates than Biden who are also not-trump.

      Incumbency is only really an advantage if your incumbent isnā€™t fucking the pooch. And Biden is definitely fucking the pooch. Climate, Israel/Palestine. The economy (and the disparity between their propaganda and people hurting,). The only thing heā€™s really got running is that heā€™s not trump, and somebody explained why he needs to keep his mouth shut on abortion.

      Virtually any one left of center-right republicans meet that standard.

      If defeating trump is your goal, wouldnā€™t finding the best candidate possible- and do you really think if Biden kept his word, bowed out of the second term, do you really think, thatā€™d be a disadvantage?

      Are you okay with a liar, whose soft on the largest segment because heā€™s constantly ignoring that segmentā€™s needs, after trump has bad 4 years to whip his base and retcon Jan 6, while Biden and the DoJ and everyone else sat for over years with their thumbs up their asses?

      • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        Ā·
        1 year ago

        I think people are being immensely unfair to Biden. He has done a fat better job than I expected. Donā€™t forget how bad off we were when Trump left office. I was certain we were going for another recession like 2008 and Bidenā€™s policies saved us from that. He got vaccines out to the public efficiently so people could live their lives again. He got the supply chain working again so we donā€™t have shortages of essential products anymore. The Build Back Better plan put billions into expanding solar and wind (as well as expanding US production of these technologies) as well as expanding the availability of electric chargers across the nation.

        I mean just look at all this stuff? Most of this has been on the progressive wish list for years.

        https://www.whitehouse.gov/build-back-better/

        I donā€™t blame Biden for running again. There is a total lack of qualified leadership. The newer generation like Fetterman and AOC are promising but too inexperienced. Nobody has stepped up to take the lead.

        Can I imagine a better candidate? Of course. Do I think anyone could have done better? Maybe Bernie, but honestly I donā€™t even think he could have realistically made more progressive change.

        • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          1
          arrow-down
          1
          Ā·
          1 year ago

          He has done a fat better job than I expected. Donā€™t forget how bad off we were when Trump left office. I was certain we were going for another recession like 2008 and Bidenā€™s policies saved us from that

          Whatā€¦ policies? it amazes me how people trot out how good the economy is to support Biden; yet then when people point out itā€™s not actually all that great for most peopleā€¦ ā€œoh whatā€™s he supposed to do?! the Fed, the treasury, theyā€™re all independent! he canā€™t do anythingā€

          in any caseā€¦ they kinda sorta had to redefine what a recession was, unless you forgot that part. Could it have been much worse? absolutely. is Biden better than trump? ABSOLUTELY. but acting like itā€™s a binary choice is exactly how we got here, and following it will solve nothing.

          • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            1
            Ā·
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            What policies?! The policies that put $6 trillion into the economy so it didnā€™t crash. The American Rescue Plan? The American Jobs Plan? The Build Back Better Plan? You know, all the shit that Republicans were screaming at about being socialist handouts that would destroy America?

            • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              Ā·
              1 year ago

              The policies that put $6 trillion into the economy so it didnā€™t crash.

              Just going to address this specifically. what you mean to say is 'didnā€™t crash yet. weā€™re not out of this by a long shot; and thereā€™s still enough economic stressors on Americans that it might just collapse anyhow.

              One of the major sources for inflation has been all that aid floating around. most of the covid relief was paid for with increased debt. (though taxation on certain types did increase,) Iā€™m not saying they shouldnā€™t have, but all that aid is a direct cause of inflation. I want to be clear on that. A lot of the aid- especially the aid that went to actual humans and not corporations- was vital and necessary. But then, there was a lot of it that was just straight up not- for example the PPP loans, of which the 1 million or so worth that remains unforgiven is almost entirely held by single-proprietor small businesses; aka the exact people who were supposed to be helped by it.

              Also, Biden kept Powell on as the chairman of the fed- so Powellā€™s shit flows up hill to land at his desk. (this was about the only influence biden has on what follows, mind you.) Which means that Biden is responsible for the inflation that was caused by Powell dropping the interest rates to zero and keeping them for 2 years Certainly didnā€™t help inflationā€¦ Neither did his literally printing cash to

              Nor did his blaming the wages of workers rising for inflation (which, yes, normally accounts for some of it. but not nearly as much as he seemed to believe.) we all know itā€™s corporate greed thatā€™s largely to blame for the bulk of it.

              The American Rescue Plan? The American Jobs Plan? The Build Back Better Plan?

              Legislative acts rammed through by democrats who had control of both parties. Biden doesnā€™t get to take sole credit here, and since this entire discussion is about who should be the DNCā€™s nomineeā€¦ well, you see how that goes, right? thereā€™s a lot of people who worked on getting this done. Most of them not in the executive branch. Biden may have thrown his hat in to support them. He may even have contributed to them. but most of the ideas didnā€™t originate with him. (thatā€™s just not how politics works. To be fair, it didnā€™t originate with the senators and representatives, eiher. probably got handed to all three at the same time by the lobbyists.)

              You know, all the shit that Republicans were screaming at about being socialist handouts that would destroy America?

              All of Bidenā€™s legislative agenda has stalled since the 118th congress was seated, because the way of doing things- the way heā€™s always done things- no longer works with a party as inherently obstructionist as the republicans. especially the freedom caucus.

              It was ā€œeasyā€ when democrats held both houses of congress and could (or should have been able to) ram through whatever they wanted. So much for all of that much-vaunted experience working across the aisle. welcome to a new eraā€¦ weā€™ve been here for a while, and it sucks.