Harris vs [Biden & Trump]
A non political analysis
The current US election allows us to view a generational fault line that has emerged in the economy from a ideological and practical lens. Harris is not fighting an election against merely Donald Trump, this is not a Republican vs Democratic election, rather this is a generational question.
I shall evoke an indigenous philosophy that has begun to resonate deeply in the environmental movement. The custodians of the time are responsible for taking care and understanding their parents, parents, parents while building a world for their children’s, children’s, children.
the practical reason for this is extremely interesting. someone over the age of 75, is building a world for their retirement, their legacy. they have lived a life and in their silver/ golden years they are looking upon that life and wondering if a life was worth living and how to bow out.
Someone in the middle, where Harris is- is looking to build their own path. They are itching for the chance to be at the pinnacle of their career. The training is done, the boxes have been checked and its time to leave it on the floor. Harris is 60ish. Presumably if she gets the next election and the one following she retires from the White House at 68.
Then she begins the work on her legacy project.
Here we need to consider that Biden and Trump are from the same generation. A generation that remains shaped by the Vietnam war, civil rights protests and the general undertones of the beginning of the cold war.
Harris is the child of those times. Tired of the same old rhetoric. The Mac is hitting the workforce when she is entering her first jobs. She is the fire that John Lewis set. Except for her, the fight is not in the streets anymore, shes there for action. In the rule of law.
It would be natural for her to have a tough on crime record. A woman, a woman of color, would have to prove her chops in the halls where she most likely did not even have access to the bathroom because when they built the building “she” did not exist in law.
In many ways watching Harris we are all looking at our own work environments- from profs who refuse to retire holding tenure positions and stifling the academia with their tired old ways. Preventing the mobility of new ideas and vibrant innovation to buzz in the halls of knowledge. Work environments still believing in the old formed economics of centralized control and planning because that is what the boss remembers studying in school.
One could evoke the late great Christensen here- the United States is in its own innovators dilemma. We have been to the moon and back. What inspiration does a billionaire space walk inspire?
We see clearly the generational division, however there is a separation again between the variants within the generation that must be considered. The conversation of Harris vs Trump is old and tired. What is of unique interest is the power the Biden has and how he and Harris are playing out the age old conflict.
“dad- im all grown up now, you can let go”
The paternalistic manner of the old age of amazing white men who led like fathers.
Harris vs Biden
It is unique to watch Biden, specifically, struggle with letting go. There are many undertones in his personal life that one can draw upon.
He is a man who has given many sacrifices, the sacrifices of children. So it falls to reason that he would want- especially at this age, in a year that was plagued by the tragedies of his own family being brought center stage to be the protector. Somewhere- to someone he clearly deeply cares for.
This is the challenge we see them struggle with. Harris wanting to get into the ring, and Biden wanting to take out one more bad guy so he can take the shot for her.
While it forms for a unique and very personal relationship that Biden and Harris clearly have, it also lends itself to a form of misunderstanding in what and who Harris is.
This is not the Vietnam war. This battle is in the court room. Not only can Biden not take the swing, he cannot aim the shot.
In addition this reveals a significant misunderstanding in the nature and organization of politics itself. Harris is not the current President. She is not authorized, nor does she have the mandate to make the policy decision. She is doing a job. That job is as the Vice President of the United States at the discretion of the sitting president Joe Biden. Her making a policy call without Biden is not only ill qualified, it is fire-able. She must follow the chain of command. And the sitting commander in chief is Joe Biden.
Joe Biden must now recognize that he is no longer the person who is making the shots for tomorrow. He has led- he has coached- and now how those he valued for council chose to make decisions is neither in his mandate, nor his expertise.
The many constitutional crisis that are faced by the United States, lend for only a lawyer, of a certain time and field to be President to understand how to maneuver the tide of tomorrow.
Joe Biden can be seen easily walking side by side with John Lewis in solidarity in the hopes of a more evolved future. One he dreams of but cannot control. The future is here, it is time he looked at this future and accepted that he no longer has the knowledge to understand how to navigate the technology world of today.
It falls to reason that technology would play a significant part in the election and the economy. The age of fax machines is long over and Mr. Biden himself must feel the ignorance of his knowledge when “these kids” and “those new gadgets” remind him of “the simpler days”.
It is unique to see Harris try to not want to offend, or step on the toes of her present boss and, no doubt, friend and mentor. Yet her style of fighting is neither demure, nor hesitant. She has made the calculation. She, if anyone is, is prepared to make the shot. And she has neither a record, nor has she shown any indication that she is about to pull her punches.
The battle field is different.
Will the tough on crime President be able to make a nuclear call if needed? if Mr Biden would try to stop taking the punch, he would be more humbled to know that his legacy lives on in many more than the ones he lost.
Trump and Biden
and who said all you need is skin to say who you are?
could there be two white men of the same generation more far apart? If Biden does one thing with expert clarity it is show the division between his own generation. He, singularly, evokes the shades of morality that existed in the same “type of men”, who were not the same at all.
Biden stands as the last man- willing to be the last man, so that no one can say his generation belonged to Trump. He stands as the scream of white identity breaking upon the world and making itself known:
“not in my name”
Should one look for which has more conviction, perhaps one does not look to a man who faked a medical condition to avoid service because he could not understand the chain of command sometimes demands that you go into battle. Because you must for king and country without questioning the call to arms. Patriotism is not as old fashioned as one might think.
Vietnam has a complex legacy. As does the United States.
The inflection point is Biden. Harris is the next phase, but how Biden passes the baton will be a testament to his grace.
Harris vs Trump
Harris is the one in the fight. She is GI Jane pulling the United States to safety now. Biden can only give cover fire.
The greatest cover fire Biden can give is not to Harris, but rather the country itself. He is the face, the age and the man who stands as the stark contrast to the voters who are looking to Trump because they are white.
Biden can talk to those people, to the country itself and stand to counter the message of what the United States is today. He can Unite the white vote. By simply saying- dont vote BECAUSE your white.
He is the only man who can erase color in this election. And perhaps finally put to rest the bloody legacy of that the world is built upon. What more grace can his presidency end on that standing tall as he steps aside for a black- indian woman because she was the better man afterall.
The parties are Republican and Democrat. NOT White vs them.
“I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself. A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough without ever having felt sorry for itself.”
― D.H. Lawrence
