President Joe Biden
missed a great opportunity on June 27. Two
days after the disastrous debacle also known
as a debate, tens of thousands of people
thronged to Washington DC Mass Poor People’s
and Low Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March
on Washington and to the Polls. He wasn’t
invited to speak at the March, but I bet if
he’d asked Rev. William Barber and Rev. Liz
Theoharis to drop by, they would have been
happy to have him. Why? The Co-Chairs of the
Assembly and Moral March are hoping to
galvanize voters to participate in democracy
and vote on November 5. They say that there
are tens of millions registered voters who
don’t plan to participate in our democracy!
Why? They say nobody talks to them.
I don’t know if
President Biden could have stood the nearly
one hundred-degree heat. I surely didn’t. I
covered the March from my air-conditioned
home, watching the live stream from my laptop,
making occasional phone calls to people on the
ground. But that Low Wage Worker’s Assembly is
exactly the kind of event President Biden
needs to attend. Further, when those assembled
marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to present
their demands, the President or his designee
should have been there to meet them. Even now,
a couple of weeks after the event, the
President can invite Revs. Barber and
Theoharis, and some of the Poor People’s
Campaign representatives, emphasizing how
important this constituency is, focusing on
the least and the left out.
In his both his ABC
interview with George Stephanopoulos and his
stern letter to “Fellow Democrats” on July 8,
President Biden indicated that he doesn’t
believe the polls and casts doubt on the
lemming-like chattering class who have piled
on their “analysis” of the June 27 “debate”.
Who does he believe then? If he believes the
people then he needs to get out more and talk
to them, especially in battleground states
like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, but
also in other states. If he talks to the
people, he may have more information and he
may also be able to quiet some of the chatter
that seems dangerously close to bullying.
Granted, time is
short – just a few weeks until the Democratic
National Convention. And granted, the
President has shown that he has limited
energy. But he can counter all the chatter by
just talking to the people - town halls,
church visits and appearances at any of the
innumerable outdoor events that are synonymous
with summer.
Vice
President Kamala Harris
has been “out there” doing her usual
superlative job at the Essence Festival in New
Orleans and in other places. Congresswoman
Maxine Waters (D-CA) showed out too, noting
that at 85, she is older than the President.
All this focus on age makes me think of Dr.
Dorothy Irene Height who was 98 when she made
her transition. Until nearly the end, she went
to the National Council of Negro Women office
daily, fashionably clad in business suits and
her trademark matching hats. I wonder what she
would say about President Biden and the
chatter about his age. I’m sure she would
point out that age never slowed her down
(although it slowed some of her younger
aides).
President Biden is
the only one who can remove himself from the
top of the ticket, and he does not seem
inclined to do so. But he cannot continue as
he is, fending off countless attacks about his
age. But he can certainly counter the attacks
by talking to the people, not just the media,
not just his wife and son.
President
Biden must also focus on Project 2025, the
Trump plan to limit our rights and to take
over government. The former President says he
does not know anything about the destructive
Project 2025, but many of his closest allies
contributed to the 900-page attack on decency
and government that was organized by the
Heritage Foundation. The 45th President
can say anything he wants, but his
fingerprints are all over the putrid document.
President Biden must focus on his processor’s
plans to run our government, and the immunity
the Supreme Court has given him in a recent
decision.
President Biden,
you have often described yourself as a man of
the people. So talk to the people. Listen to
them. There are millions of low wage workers
who may not vote for you unless you work for
it. Get to work, Brother President, get to
work!
