Bankole Thompson

Joe Biden is going to ride into Detroit on Monday as the great white savior for black America with his bid to become the Democratic nominee for president. He will be flanked by his buddy Mayor Mike Duggan, who is as reticent to own up to his mistakes as the former vice president.

Expect Duggan to tout former President Barack Obama’s achievements as if they were Biden’s victories. Biden will lean on his association with Obama, whom he described to the New York Observer in 2007 as “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” before apologizing and claiming his comments were taken out of context.

Rather than allowing Biden to rewrite the past, Detroit voters should make him explain his present positions.

In 2016, a Pew Research poll released months before the presidential election showed that voters valued electability less than the candidates stood on the issues affecting the nation.

“Two-thirds of both Republican (67%) and Democratic (65%) registered voters said it was more important for a candidate to share their positions on issues than it was for a candidate to have the best chance of defeating the other party’s nominee,” the survey read.

Hillary Clinton missed the warning in this survey focusing entirely on the electability question and ignoring issues, like immigration and free trade, that were giving resonance to Trump’s candidacy.

This time around, instead of being fixated on just trying to beat Trump, Democrats should offer an inclusive vision that runs counter to the president’s policies.

The urge to end Trump's presidency shouldn’t eclipse the need to examine how Biden would tackle present day challenges posed by a changing demographic inside his party.

For example, he has not adequately delved into the issue of income inequality which is of prime concern to the thousands of young people who have been taken by the Bernie Sanders campaign.

“People feel like they’re being completely left out, and they are. We just stopped talking to these folks,” Biden said last year at a fundraiser in Washington D.C. That kind of empty statement on income inequality is problematic. It acknowledges the problem, but offers no resolution.

By contrast Bernie Sanders not only issued an aggressive tax plan to address income inequality but stated, “the American people are sick and tired of corporate CEOs who now make 300 times more than their average employees, while they give themselves huge bonuses and cut back on the health care and pension benefits of their employees. It is time to send a message to corporate America: If you do not end your greed and corruption, we will end it for you.”

Detroit voters should look past Biden's electability and his association with Obama and scrutinize his stance on the issues of the day that plague our city and nation.

bankole@bankolethompson.com

Twitter: @BankoleDetNews

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