It looks like Biden made another gaff with his “You ain’t black” comment: “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black“.
Biden supporters will have to blush or wince when he says stuff like that. But for the record, 93% of black voters supported the Obama-Biden ticket.
Maybe he’s taking too much for granted but it’s understandable why he believes most African-Americans should support him and not Trump.
Of course every black person has the right to vote for whomever they prefer; I don’t think that was ever the issue. It’s a question of moral and political values, of “which side are you on?”
When Clarence Thomas was appointed to the Supreme Court, one could celebrate the fact that the second black man had been so elevated yet Thomas turned out to be a staunch conservative– to the right of Scalia, as one pundit put it.
Since Thomas believed so strongly in the capacity of the individual, he did not support class action lawsuits on behalf of minorities and other groups who have always counted on the Court to protect and extend their constitutional rights.
By comparison, the first African-American Supreme Court Justice was Thurgood Marshall, a legend in the civil rights movement, a man who dedicated his whole life to the fight for equality.
The difference between the two men is huge. Racially, Thomas is “black” of course but in terms of values he has less in common with Thurgood Marshall than he does with conservative white justices. In that sense, “he ain’t black” (even though he is.) It’s a cultural attribution.
Keep in mind that the Bidens and the Obamas have been good friends for many years. I think Biden can be forgiven for thinking of the “Obama/Biden” years as one phenomenon and for assuming the coalition that elected them should still be fighting mad and just as pro-active.
It may be his age, it may be his unique sense of humor, or it may be his mental faculties aren’t as sharp as they once were.
Be that as it may, we Democratic-Independent voters must be careful to not attach too great a significance to the occasional head-scratchers of Biden (or anyone else for that matter); even “political correctness” must have its limits.
When we weigh Biden’s relatively small gaffs against the shocking falsehoods, destructive rightwing policies and the exponential narcissism of the current resident in the White House, surely we can see our way clear to appreciating the difference and what is at stake in 2020! .si1�\:�d�
