President Joe Biden, running for reelection

President Joe Biden announced his reelection campaign for 2024 in a video yesterday, that was remarkable for its theme of freedom. As we have written about repeatedly, “freedom” is a word and an idea that Republicans have tried to claim for themselves. Since it is such a bedrock American concept, we have been saying since 2013 that it would be a great idea if Democrats took “freedom” back from the Republicans. We were very heartened last year when President Biden and a number of Democrats did exactly that, running or supporting Democratic 2022 midterm election campaigns by stating that “freedom is on the ballot,” and mentioning “freedom from gun violence,” “freedom of health care choices” (including, of course, abortion) and “freedom to vote” as three specific examples.

Likewise, President Biden’s new ad (which includes Vice President Kamala Harris) starts off with “freedom” as the very first word, and continues, largely in Biden’s own voice, to talk about “personal freedom” being “fundamental to who we are as Americans.” The ad goes on to explain that “MAGA Republicans” are threatening our freedoms, by attempting to cut our Social Security, “dictating what health care decisions women can make (again, an obvious reference to abortion), banning books, and telling people who they can love, all while making it more difficult for you to be able to vote.” The ad asks voters to support President Biden so that he can “finish the job” of protecting these fundamental freedoms.

The ad is very effective, not only in flipping the script on the Republicans over “freedom,” but also grabbing the theme of patriotism, and attacking Republican hypocrisy over their claims of being for “smaller government” as they try to invade Americans’ doctor offices, bedrooms and bathrooms, in Florida and elsewhere.

All in all, President Biden’s campaign announcement ad is a welcome opening salvo in what promises to be a major battle of ideologies between the pro-freedom Democrats and the pro-fascism Republicans for 2024.

Photo by Maryland GovPics, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/Jpa2HA

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden, who has called for national unity

Now that Joe Biden is the President-elect of the United States, Republican supporters of Donald Trump, along with their candidate, are suffering the various stages of grief. It’s tempting for Democrats, after years of disgraceful treatment from many Republican voters, simply to tell Republicans, “I really don’t care, do u?” However, there are several reasons why some Democrats will want to take a less belligerent approach toward Republicans. For example:

–Some Democrats have Republican friends and/or family members, and want to repair and maintain their relationships.
–Some Democrats, perhaps taking the lead from Joe Biden, believe it’s in the best interest of the country to at least try to reach out to Republicans and create some national unity going forward, given the ongoing COVID pandemic and other big challenges we face.
–Some Democrats uphold the party value of empathy, and just cannot be jerks toward the Republicans, even though they would surely suffer Republican incivility if the tables were turned.

For these Democrats, therefore, the question becomes, what to say to Republicans that strikes the right balance between “shove it” and sacrificing their own principles? Here are some ideas: