Opinion Biden goes on offense. And it makes a difference.
We have seen Biden’s caustic ads lambasting former president Donald Trump, a full-throttle attack on Republican abortion bans and frequent Biden jabs at his opponent. Biden took Trump’s invitation to ask, “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” and ran with it. And Biden’s team has begun mercilessly taunting Trump about his snoozing in court. Biden even reached back to the Trump presidency’s mishandling of covid, tweeting: “Don’t inject bleach. And don’t vote for the guy who told you to inject bleach.”
Biden is pressing every advantage — money, organization and freedom to travel (unlike his opponent, who is stuck in court). “In the initial phase of a long general election fight to November, Biden has traveled to every battleground state in the month since his State of the Union address with visits to Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin,” ABC News reported. While Trump has held just two rallies in Ohio and Georgia, the report continued, Biden is out and about seizing “on the differences in their recent scheduling, flipping a criticism back on Trump — about Trump’s absences — that Trump frequently used against Biden during the 2020 campaign amid the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Biden also capitalized on Republicans’ blunders. He jumped on Republicans’ rejection of a tough, bipartisan border security bill. He slammed apologists for Russia’s Vladimir Putin and needled Trump about his Truth Social stock:
President Biden: If Trump's stock in his Truth Social company drops any lower, he might do better under my tax plan than his pic.twitter.com/WElHDI5YoO
— Biden-Harris HQ (@BidenHQ) April 16, 2024
In a blistering speech in Florida on Tuesday, Biden made clear Trump bears ultimate responsible for the abortion bans popping up in the aftermath of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. “Let’s be real clear: There’s one person responsible for this nightmare, and he’s acknowledged and he brags about it: Donald Trump,” he said. He went on to mock Trump’s insistence that sending the issue to the states was working “brilliantly.” (He caustically asked: “It’s a six-week ban in Florida. It’s really brilliant, isn’t it? Even before women know they’re pregnant — is that brilliant?”) He wasn’t done. Trump “describes the Dobbs decision as a ‘miracle.’ ... Maybe it’s coming from that Bible he’s trying to sell, ” Biden said. “Whoa, I almost wanted to buy one just to see what the hell’s in it.”
The campaign has months to go. Biden’s supporters will need to steel themselves for the inevitable ups and downs in the campaign. But it’s hard to remember why Democrats were so distraught about nominating him. He’s not the one caught dozing off nearly every day, slurring his words, rambling incoherently about Gettysburg, running a sparse campaign schedule or whining about the temperature.
Distinguished persons of the week
The South used to be the bastion of anti-union capitalism. No more. “Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tenn., passed a historic vote to join the United Auto Workers … making the auto factory the first in the South to vote to unionize since the 1940s,” The Post reported. “Nearly three-quarters of 3,613 workers voted yes in a three-day election that drew high turnout, giving the union an impressive first win in its campaign to organize the factories of a dozen automakers in the South.”
This win follows a string of major victories in Detroit for UAW President Shawn Fain and other labor victories in Hollywood and at Starbucks and Amazon facilities. (The Post’s owner, Jeff Bezos, is founder and executive chairman of Amazon.)
If the UAW can win in Tennessee, the South may lose its reputation as a haven for low-paying, nonunion jobs. Other nonunion employers likely will need to raise wages to compete with unionized autoworkers. That might be a boon for those states (which have, as I have written, refused to recognize that low wages and low taxes translate into slower growth, higher poverty, lower educational attainment and reduced longevity). Organized labor wins may also inure to the benefit of Biden — arguably the most pro-union president since FDR.
Having stood on the picket line with striking autoworkers in Michigan, Biden shared a victory lap with them in a written statement after the vote. “In fact, the growing strength of unions over the last year has gone hand-in-hand with record small business and jobs growth alongside the longest stretch of low unemployment in more than 50 years,” he crowed. “I will continue to stand with American workers and stand against Republican’s effort to weaken workers’ voice.”
Credit goes to the UAW workers and organizers. Their victory might not only boost workers at one plant but also open a new chapter in Southern labor activism.
Something different
Many American Jews would tell you that Passover is their favorite holiday. But in 2024, the exhortation “Next year in Jerusalem!” and the story of the plagues on the Egyptians (culminating in the killing of their firstborns) leave a bitter taste in our mouths. Some find it hard to celebrate in the wake of Hamas’s barbaric Oct. 7 slaughter and kidnapping of innocents coupled with the deaths of so many civilians in Gaza and the frightful spike in antisemitism (accompanied by some former allies’ moral vacuity).
The latest outrageous displays of antisemitism at Columbia University and other colleges (e.g., calling for Jews’ deaths, forcing a Seder to relocate) only underscored many Jews’ sense of fear, anger and disorientation. While some feel incomplete and helpless knowing any remaining captives must endure horrendous conditions, there is comfort to be had.
For thousands of years — during pogroms, wars, the Holocaust, the modern plague of covid-19 and more — Jews have gathered to pass down the story of their redemption from Egypt.
Especially now, it’s incumbent on us to retell the story and reaffirm its lessons. The admonition “All who are hungry, come and eat; all who are needy, come and celebrate Passover” should remind us of the obligation to feed Gazans facing the plague of starvation. (“It’s not enough to eat the matzah; we have to internalize the experience of humility,” Emuna Braverman wrote. “We invite others in as an expression of caring, of selflessness and of recognition that it’s all a gift.”) Around America, rabbis have counseled congregants to mark the occasion with hard discussions about human rights and the tension between universal and Jewish-centric obligations.
Freedom is central to the Passover story but only as a means to an end. Only after exodus from Egypt could Jews receive the Ten Commandments; and, only after wandering for 40 years could they enter the Promised Land to assume the responsibility to uphold the law. Rabbi David Wolpe wrote in 2015: “Passover encourages us to understand that our lives are not about sloughing off responsibilities. Service to God, to one another and to what is best in ourselves — those are freedoms. They enable us to maximize the capacities of our own souls.”
Yes, we enjoy the food, the love of family and the solidarity of the larger Jewish community. We recognize that the scourge of antisemitism is nothing new (“in every generation, they rise up to destroy us”). And we reaffirm our commitment to peace, justice, freedom and security for all people.
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