The Beginning – July 2020

All aboard the Biden Express in a Divided Nation

Who would have imagined that the ‘Biden for President’ campaign would be launched from the basement of the candidate’s home? In our brave new world of self-quarantine and social distancing, the rituals of political campaigning are indeed playing out from strange new locations.

Instead of the big live raucous rallies which are a part of American political life, former Vice President Joe Biden has been conducting a series of virtual meetings with donors and supporters and I was privy to the one organized by Shekar Narasimhan, Chairman and founder of the AAPI Victory Fund, which is the first and only Asian American Super PAC (Political Action Committee).

With Biden, AAPI which encompasses a 21 million-strong demographic, hosted several high profile decision makers including Senator Kamala Harris, Congressman Ami Bera and former US ambassador to India, Richard Verma. Instead of huge public rallies, each spoke from the intimacy of their own home and so it was a novel experience to be invited into each power player’s living space.

With the sound of Canada geese honking from the pond in the background, Biden spoke from his home office: “My prayers are with all those who are scared or sick or grieving and struggling just to get by. As we speak today more than 90,000 Americans have now lost their lives in this pandemic.”

He added, “It’s infuriating. More than that, it’s heartbreaking to think how much fear, how much loss, how much agony could have been avoided if the President had not wasted so much time in taking responsibility.”

For Joe Biden, the fight is very personal, all-consuming, a “battle for the soul of the nation.”

 

It is indeed a triumphant moment – he is the winner of the grueling race for the Democratic nominee in the upcoming US elections. If this were a video action game, we would have to give him points for persistence, persistence and persistence as he battled with over 20 contenders, some weak and some strong, until he became the last man standing. This is his third bid for the presidency,

All of his former opponents have coalesced behind him in a massive show of strength, including Senators Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Amy Klobuchar, Mayor Pete Buttigieg,  and Mayor Michael Bloomberg.  The last big battle was with strong contender Bernie Sanders who has a huge following and a Progressive agenda. The two have come together with Sanders endorsing Biden in a friendly virtual meeting.

All these formidable contenders have come together behind Biden to form a powerful network. In the last month Biden has also received ringing endorsements and support from former president Barack Obama, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and Hillary Clinton.

“Joe has the character and the experience to guide us through one of our darkest times and heal us through a long recovery,” Obama said recently in a ringing endorsement. “I know he’ll surround himself with good people ― experts, scientists, military officials who actually know how to run the government and care about doing a good job running the government, and know how to work with our allies, and who will always put the American people’s interests above their own.”

If elected, Biden has pledged to select a female vice president, and among several possibilities, Kamala Harris is a strong contender. She is solidly behind Biden and has emphasized the importance of a Democratic victory at a time when the upcoming selection of a US Supreme Court judge can jeopardize the makeup of the court.

Harris says, “Elections matter, who is president of the United States matters on this very important issue of the United States Supreme Court. Joe understands what’s at stake, and has supported justices who believe in upholding all the rights that we have fought for and care about and rely on.”

The Biden for President campaign has received more than 2,100 endorsements from national, state, and local leaders, including current and former U.S. senators and representatives, governors, 210 state representatives, 77 state senators, community leaders, and national security professionals.

For once, Donald Trump – a hugely divisive force has actually unintentionally acted as unifying glue as all these strong powerful personalities have come together as one to defeat his racist and xenophobic policies as well as a looming healthcare crisis, come November.

But how will this battle play out in November? Will the Democrats headed by Biden triumph over Trump? There is also a new unknown actor in this high drama of the American elections – the hardy, seemingly unbeatable coronavirus. This pandemic sneaked in to the country, unfazed by walls and borders and immigration protocols. It has been the living nightmare of a once prosperous country, killing over 98,000 Americans and infecting 1.5 million more, and with numbers rising.

Trump’s bragging rights have been seriously compromised – his USP was the economy and the healthy stock market numbers – now they lie in shambles as the American economy has been decimated by the COVID-19 crisis – many parts of the country are shuttered, businesses lie in tatters as over 38 million people have lost their jobs.

Even as many cities attempt to re-open, there are long, heart-rending lines outside food banks and the curve has not flattened in many states. Underlying all this is the fact that thousands of Americans have lost their lives and could have been saved by more prompt action and preparation.

Trump has been anxious to reclaim the economy in time for the elections but the coronavirus has not been co-operative or supportive. Almost all of the states have partially re-opened but schools and businesses remain largely shut as governors of various states debate how much to reopen.

The problem is the testing and tracking which have been woefully inadequate and have further hurt the re-opening, and in the long run, the resurgence of the economy. Polls indicate that Trump is trailing behind Biden in the states he had earlier won handily in the last elections.

So much depends on the vagaries of the Covid-19 crisis. Will there be a second wave or even a third wave? Will people be able to return to school and to work and to salvaging the economy? Can millions of tests be done every single day?

As president of the United States, the buck stops with Trump to be the one to vanquish these enemies. But as he has famously said, “I do not take responsibility at all.”

Meanwhile Joe Biden is hard at work in the background, preparing his multi-ethnic army of supporters and his legislative arsenal to combat Trump on November 3. It is a role he has been rehearsing for all his life. Now despite the coronavirus crisis and the inability to hold live rallies and meet voters face to face, he has a full agenda and plan ready. https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/

It is by no means going to be an easy victory for Trump remains a formidable opponent. There are also so many variables from the sexual harassment case brought against Biden by a staffer Tara Reade (https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/04/30/who-is-tara-reade-biden-accuser/ ) to  the upswing of coronavirus which may surge to trip up the Biden campaign.

Is there a silver lining to this contactless political campaign, without the opportunity to meet voters in real life? “If Joe Biden plays his cards right, the death of the traditional presidential campaign will turn out to be a blessing in disguise,” writes Lis Smith in The New York Times. “The 77-year-old Mr. Biden, whom the president derisively calls “Sleepy Joe,” can become the hottest bad boy and disrupter in the media game.”

Besides being freed of an expensive campaign involving constant travel, she points out, “Mr. Biden’s greatest asset as a campaigner is his palpable empathy. Politicians can learn a lot of tricks — talking points, debate and interview strategies — but personal warmth is something that cannot be taught. It also happens to be a trait that translates well on TV.”

A new Harvard CAPS/Harris poll shows Biden leading Trump with 53 percent of respondents while 47 percent said they would vote for Trump.

It is to be seen which way the strong Indian American community votes in 2020. While most Indian-Americans tend to vote blue, those who follow PM Modi may be tempted to follow Trump to the voting booth, particularly after his successful visit to India and his many beliefs which are similar to the Modi philosophy.

Meanwhile Biden realizes the importance of getting all the Democrats and Independents to the table for a unified response to Trump. He and. Sanders have created six ‘unity task forces’ dealing with the economy, education, immigration, health care, climate change, and criminal justice reform. These six committees, according to the Biden campaign, will meet in advance of the Democratic National Convention to make recommendations to the DNC Platform Committee and to Biden directly.

Two Indian Americans will be co-chairing the health panel: former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy and U.S. Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington;  Varshini Prakash, executive director and co-founder of the Sunrise Movement — the progressive group behind the Green New Deal is on the climate control task force.

The fabric of America is woven with many different people and races and Biden’s challenge is to bring them all to the polls to vote blue in November. The Indian-American community which tends to vote Democratic is solidly behind Biden. There are several Indian-Americans on the Biden Campaign and also a large pool of donors and supporters.

“Vice President Joe Biden is Donald Trump’s worst nightmare, and you don’t have to take my word for it,” says Ajay Bhutoria of Fremont, California. “Even Trump’s own advisors have admitted Trump is terrified of running against Biden.”

Bhutoria, who is a political activist and fundraiser for the DNC is on the Biden National Finance Committee. He says the choice for the American people could not be clearer: “Donald Trump is a man of chaos and cruelty; Joe Biden is a man of character and compassion. Trump has failed every test of presidential leadership and broken just about every promise he’s made, including during this public health crisis.”

South Asians for Biden is a newly sprung up grassroots volunteer group which has several young Indian-Americans anxious to bring out the vote for Biden and a Democratic victory in November. It has about 15 chapters across the US. Neha Dewan, a lawyer in New York is the National Director for this organization and was previously the National Co-Chair for South Asians for Hillary. She says: “We are a national grassroots organization that is dedicated to engaging, educating and mobilizing the South Asian community to get Joe Biden elected in November.” The teams are headed by regional representatives and include everything from outreach to voter registration, and include everyone from college kids to seniors, from heavy hitters to those just entering politics.

Indian-Americans as part of the Asian American Pacific Islander community form a powerful segment of the voter base. It is the fastest growing racial group in America and has a record number of 20 members of Congress, and has doubled voter registration numbers from two to 4 million people. It is solidly behind Biden.

As Rep. Judy Chu told supporters during the recent event with Biden, “We are the swing vote in key swing states, adding congressional districts, all across the nation. And that is why I like to say we’ve gone from being marginalized to becoming the margin of victory.”

Joe Biden has called the upcoming election “a battle for the soul of the nation”. Six months is an eternity in today’s chaotic politics and COVID-19 world, and the Trump-Biden face-off has only just begun.

(A version of this article was published in The Week in July 2020.}