Hope

[strange_complex]

Well, I am really, really happy for you tonight, America! It's just great to see people dancing in the streets for something which is actually good for once.

I must say I've never found Biden a hugely exciting candidate, and I was very worried for a long time that the Democratic campaign was relying too heavily on merely pitching him as 'not Trump', rather than offering enough that was positive and different. But I didn't follow the campaign at all closely. Maybe he offered more than I could see, or indeed maybe just not being Trump was enough this time? Certainly, Trump has set the bar for being better than him extremely low indeed. Just having a grown-up in charge who doesn't respond to a global pandemic by claiming it's a hoax, blaming it on the Chinese and suggesting people inject themselves with bleach will be a big positive change.

As for Kamala Harris as VP, what an amazing historic first and a wonderful precedent for all women and girls, but especially those of colour.

I just hope that one way or another the transition of power happens smoothly, all Trump's legal challenges come to naught, and his supporters don't rise to the violence he's already been inciting them to.

Meanwhile, those of us elsewhere can hope that Biden might reverse the tide of isolationism which has seen American pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, the WHO, UNESCO and heaven knows what else. And in Britain specifically we can cross fingers that Biden's obvious commitment to the Good Friday agreement will push our own horror-show political leaders towards a softer Brexit, and at the very least enjoy the sweet, sweet knowledge that N*gel F*rage lost £10,000 betting on Trump winning. Muahahahaha!

Comments

[thisbluespirit]

and at the very least enjoy the sweet, sweet knowledge that N*gel F*rage lost £10,000 betting on Trump winning.

LOL, if only it was enough to make him pack up and go away as well!

[strange_complex]

It's got to have taken the wind out of his sails a bit, right? At the very least he's lost a powerful co-conspirator, which has to weaken him a little.

[thisbluespirit]

Oh, yes! I mean, he's still not in parliament, struggling with his latest dreadful political party plans and now he's down £10,000 and we've all lost Donald Trump. It would just be lovely if he decided to go away and shut up for a decade maybe or something. XD

[strange_complex]

Or indeed preferably forever!

[rmc28]

It is SUCH a relief. And my schadenfreude has been strong today, but my goodness Farage losing money is definitely a sweet addition.

[strange_complex]

I sadly suspect the money is a drop in the ocean to him, but it's seeing him humiliated that really makes me smile.

[sovay]

Maybe he offered more than I could see, or indeed maybe just not being Trump was enough this time?

What I have been saying is that even if a Biden presidency is nothing more than damage control, I'd rather have damage control than damage, and he pitched a lot of his campaign toward pledging to fix not just the problems created by Trump but the problems that permitted the man's election and the abuses of his administration, which did register to me as more than just "not Trump," even though it really wasn't a question. I had other candidates I wanted more. But I do trust this one to put together a competent cabinet and start implementing policies that might make this country less sick on all levels.

As for Kamala Harris as VP, what an amazing historic first and a wonderful precedent for all women and girls, but especially those of colour.

I'm seeing her celebrated by friends in India as well as the U.S. It's excellent.

I just hope that one way or another the transition of power happens smoothly, all Trump's legal challenges come to naught, and his supporters don't rise to the violence he's already been inciting them to.

Yeah, the thing where when we throw out a government we have to wait two months for them to clean out their desk is sub-optimal, but I am taking heart from the fact that most of the first flurry of challenges were rebuffed without even reaching the higher courts and that the recount in Georgia, for example, has a margin of error far exceeding any race in the past where counting ballots again actually changed statewide results.

Meanwhile, those of us elsewhere can hope that Biden might reverse the tide of isolationism which has seen American pull out of the Paris Climate Agreement, the WHO, UNESCO and heaven knows what else.

I would like to be plugged back into the world again, yes. And part of healing rather than breaking it.

the sweet, sweet knowledge that N*gel F*rage lost £10,000 betting on Trump winning.

Oh, that's delightful.

[strange_complex]

I'd rather have damage control than damage

Oh god, yes! In this circumstance, no question.

he pitched a lot of his campaign toward pledging to fix not just the problems created by Trump but the problems that permitted the man's election and the abuses of his administration

But this does sound good and encouraging. I hope he's able to do so. I wish him every success.

[sovay]

But this does sound good and encouraging.

Trump ran on the illusion of recreating a past that had never existed. Biden in his speech last night spoke, as expected, of restoration and healing, but also of the future that must be different, and Harris spoke of history as a path to the future, neither of them as an inevitable or an irreversible arc, but as something that people must choose and bend for themselves if they want justice at the end of it. I appreciated it.

I hope he's able to do so. I wish him every success.

I suspect it's one of those works of a lifetime that a single administration cannot address, but I still want to see what they do.

[thanatos_kalos]

A lot of the national and local ad buys pitched Biden as a consensus builder, a uniter rather than divider, etc. Out here in AZ, the fact that he was close friends with (moderate Republican) John McCain who's something of a legend out here helped turn the state blue. I wanted warren, but I'll happily settle for Biden and hope that he can be pushed more to the left as circumstances/damage control allow.

(assuming Fuck Face von Clown Stick's SCOTUS lackeys don't illegally steal the election).

[strange_complex]

Yes, I heard commentary about the consensus-builder pitch here - indeed, people saying that it's promising for America he has now been elected on that mandate. I really liked the look of Warren too in the primaries, but at least now I don't have to keep thinking "they could have won if only they'd picked her!" Because they did win anyway.

[theandrewhickey]

I *have* been following the campaign, intensely.
What Biden did, basically, was look Presidential and allow local campaigns on the ground to do what they needed to. So the Democrats have probably won in Georgia because Stacey Abrams, a left-wing Black woman, did a huge amount of work registering 800,000 new enthusiastic Black voters, while in other areas they've won because of people saying "look, we're basically those old moderate Republicans you used to like before they went crazy. Moderate moderate moderate".
Biden's biggest strength is that he is almost the personification of Generic Democrat -- he's a party loyalist first and foremost, and his policy positions have always been pretty much directly in the centre of the mainstream of the Democratic Party. This has allowed all the wings of the party to know that if they're the ones who make the difference and win it for him, their wing will get support in return.
There are a couple of places where Biden himself probably made the difference, like Pennsylvania, which is where he grew up, and which was the tipping-point state. But basically, along with "Not Trump", he ran as "Placeholder For Your Particular Vision of the Democrats".

[strange_complex]

Gotcha, that makes a lot of sense, and matches up perfectly with what [Bad username or unknown identity: thanatos_kalos"] says above about how he was pitched in Arizona. Very interesting.