Last night Joe Biden gave a great speech that demonstrated his ability to be emphatic, to unite, and to restore decency and respect to the Office of the Presidency.   This was culmination of a convention that appropriately demonized, and ridiculed Trump and his administration.  It appropriately showed the diversity of our country and it’s potential, as well as the great challenges ahead for us.   Correctly the Democrats presented the case for voting, voting in numbers that will make it impossible for Trump to claim that the election was fraudulent and thereby stay in power as the votes are counted and recounted for months or maybe longer, followed by court challenges that will suspend our democracy for an unknown timeframe.

My concern is that the American people already understand and know that Trump is not decent, is not truthful and is not traditional in any way we would recognize as a President of the United States… and pointing it out is like so what?   Those that will vote for him already know that… they say things, like I wish he wouldn’t tweet, but I like his policies and actions and they say they are afraid of what the Democrats will do, they fear the tax and spend, and emphasis on the Green Deal, and other demonized progressive policies.   They don’t adequately appreciate the tearing down of institutions that we really need, because the government bureaucracy doesn’t work anyway in their view… the reality is that it does, and it is working despite the constant and unwarranted onslaught from Trump’s administration.    The USPS is a marvelous and trusted institution.  It will resist, as it should, and Congress will not allow for the gutting of our institution of postal service.   It will be difficult but it will be OK and we the people will work around the problems to ensure our votes are presented and counted.

My worry is that although, Joe Biden will certainly be a President for the entire country, as opposed to Donald Trump who is a President for only his supporters… especially those that give him the adulation that a narcissist needs, and craves.   Joe must win.   But to win, Joe Biden and the Democrat’s must then address the concerns that all Americans have with real policies and plans.   What are the specific plans to address the pandemic? What are we going to do to get American’s back to work?  How and when do kids go back to school?  Is our food supply safe?  How will we assure our access to vaccines and pharmaceuticals?   How do we pay for everything?

I have no doubt that the Republicans next week in their convention will present that everything is coming back to normal, ignoring the depth of combined crisis of pandemic spread and death, job losses, economic ruin.   They will mirror the Democrats and  make it about personality and fear mongering that Joe Biden will let our cities burn in protest and rioting, and will increase taxes putting the economic recovery at risk…  Again, they will not have plans and policies to present.  If they did, it would be good, because it would cause the Democrats to respond and maybe, just maybe we could get back to debating and negotiating what a future could look like, and how we get there.

For me character, and intent matters, and I will vote for Joe Biden.  However the Republicans could play a great role yet, by making their convention about policy and plans and drawing a contrast between the two party platforms.  Sadly that won’t happen, and we will not get the benefit of future debates on the things that do matter for Americans.  To do so we would need two decent candidates that could be equally trusted.  Unfortunately we have only one.