• hark@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    That's a nice sugarcoating of the Obama/Biden situation, but the reality was that Biden the old white man was chosen in an attempt to calm down racists over a young black man president.

    • vivadanang@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      that'd be one cynical way of interpreting it. Another less condescending take, and I think more based in reality, was that Obama was a senator for a brief time before elevation to the white house. He needed someone experienced in both getting legislation passed and handling all the interpersonal relationships a president must forge - and they got the ideal guy, Joe "I've lived on cap hill for 20 fucking years" Biden. Joe understood the people and the legislative machinery in a way that a jr senator simply had little experience with. Together they made a pretty groovy combo.

    • ReluctantMuskrat@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Obama won twice so despite some racists not liking it, the nation as a whole chose him as the best candidate. It can happen again but I doubt that candidate is Harris.

      • hark@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        That's the thing, the country wanted change and change is what Obama promised. Race plays a part but in ways many don't account for and it doesn't play as much a role in other ways that many think it does. The same is true for gender. Some like to claim Hillary lost because of her gender, but they don't account for her messaging that the status quo is fine. The person who was promising change in that presidential race was her opponent, Trump, who ended up winning. This is not a mere coincidence.

    • vivadanang@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      that'd be one cynical way of interpreting it. Another less condescending take, and I think more based in reality, was that Obama was a senator for a brief time before elevation to the white house. He needed someone experienced in both getting legislation passed and handling all the interpersonal relationships a president must forge - and they got the ideal guy, Joe "I've lived on cap hill for 20 fucking years" Biden. Joe understood the people and the legislative machinery in a way that a jr senator simply had little experience with. Together they made a pretty groovy combo.