From Eli Moog, in response to: The Best of a Bad Situation

Dear fellow readers, 

This election was not a “bad situation,” and to portray it as one simply shows a lack of understanding of America’s electorate and of President-Elect Biden’s policies.

But let’s start with politics. There is a reason that an overwhelming majority of incumbent Presidents win reelection (only 11, including Trump, have lost). After all, they have the Presidential seal, Air Force One, an uncompetitive primary, and the ability to control the 24/7 news cycle. So, when it came time for the primary, Democratic voters understood this. But look, I am not writing this to relive the primary, but to address a line from Sophia Jones’s article, “The Best of a Bad Situation.”. That line is: “Biden’s America won’t be a great America.”

I wholeheartedly disagree with this statement. I say this because America is hurting right now. Thousands of Americans are dying every day from a deadly disease. America’s economy has been knocked to its knees. And America is facing a reckoning with systemic racism. Arguably, these crises were made for one man and one man only: President-Elect Joe Biden. Raised in Wilmington, DE, his career has included a stint as a public defender and two terms as Vice President to America’s first black President. This unique experience has prepared President-Elect Biden to lead our nation on the topic of race and to continue America’s attempt to finally live up to an equal and just nation. Let’s not forget though, that by his side will be a history-making Veep, who is the embodiment of the American dream. When it comes to our economic recovery, President-Elect Biden approaches the issue thinking about working Americans, like his childhood friends in Scranton, not about Wall Street. And that’s important because for the past four years, President Trump has been solely focused on one demographic-–occupants of Mar-a-Lago. When it comes to COVID-19, Joe Biden is going to listen to the scientists and make informed public health decisions. But unlike any other politician in American history, he is defined by loss, giving him unbounded empathy, which he will use to reach out to every family that has lost a loved one. He will restore the president’s position as a moral leader. Under his leadership, I am confident more American’s lives will be saved, a vaccine will effectively be distributed, and we will return to a fairer America once this pandemic ends. 

But most importantly, I think President-Elect Biden has a chance to restore America’s place in the world, and restore America’s confidence in our government. I understand this may be a long shot, and partisan politics will always exist, but it’s time that Washington returns to regular order. If we continue on our current path of destroying our institutions when they don’t fit us, or making bogus rules so you can flip a court, then we won’t succeed. The moment Democrats start playing dirty, we become no better than Sen. McConnell or President Trump. President-Elect Biden understands that. He campaigned on the promise to restore the soul of America. 

Finally, in my opinion, President Obama was a really good president. But Joe Biden will be a generation-defining President, one who will use his mandate to get things done and restore America’s soul. He will be our FDR, Washington, or Lincoln. Under a Biden-Harris administration, America won’t be perfect, but every day we’ll become a little more perfect.