Biden’s no JFK, but he can promote a return to normalcy (op-ed)

In 1988 Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush selected 41-year-old Senator Dan Quayle as a running mate.  Critics were concerned about Quayle’s limited experience.  During the vice-presidential debate Quayle addressed the criticism.  Quayle said, “I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president … I have as much experience in congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency.”

Quayle’s opponent, Democratic Senator Lloyd Bentsen, famously responded, “I knew Jack Kennedy.  Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine.  Senator, you’re no Jack Kennedy.”   

The audience roared, but Quayle had the last laugh.  The Dukakis/Bentsen ticket got crushed in the general election.  Unfortunately, knowing Jack Kennedy wasn’t a credit that transferred to the electoral college. 

In 2012 President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden sought their second term.  Their republican opponents were Mitt Romney and 42-year-old Congressman Paul Ryan.  During the vice-presidential debate Ryan tried to explain the value of tax cuts.  Biden interrupted and said tax cuts never worked.  Ryan said Jack Kennedy lowered tax rates and increased growth.  Biden immediately responded, “Oh, now, you’re Jack Kennedy.”

The audience laughed.  Ryan smiled.  Ryan knew he opened the door for Biden to have a Bentsen moment, and the Romney/Ryan ticket was defeated in the general election.

In 2016 the Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton was promoted as the most accomplished candidate to run for president on paper.  But she was also the most uninspiring personality behind a podium.  Clinton lost the general election to a novice who never held public office, making the 2016 presidential outcome an abnormality.

As of right now, former vice-president Joe Biden is the presumed Democratic nominee for president.  Biden is also in the running for replacing Hillary Clinton as the least inspiring candidate.  Recently, a columnist called Biden a candidate without a campaign and concluded:  The 2020 presidential race is shaping up to be one that will be truly historic, but for the wrong reasons.  COVID-19 will loom over everything.  However, history may report that this campaign – for the challenger, at least – was over before it even started.  Joe Biden is the only person that can change that trajectory.

Biden had his Bentsen moment because Ryan wanted to emulate Kennedy’s tax policy, but Kennedy wasn’t revered because of policy positions.  He was revered because he inspired and challenged people with phrases like, “Ask not what your country can do for you – Ask what you can do for your country.”  Kennedy’s words were inspiring but they weren’t original.  Kennedy took it from a 1920 campaign speech made by Republican presidential candidate Warren G. Harding. 

The 1920 presidential race came after World War I and the 1918 flu pandemic.  The title of the Harding speech that Kennedy borrowed from was called “Return to Normalcy”.   The title was also Harding’s campaign slogan.   Harding told the American public: America’s present need is not heroics, but healing, not revolution, but restoration, not agitation, but adjustment, not surgery, but serenity.  Let’s get out of this fevered delirium.  Both our good fortune and our eminence are dependent on the normal forward stride of all the American people.

In 2020 a lot of Americans fear the aftermath of the COVID 19 pandemic and are paranoid about an authoritarian “new normal”.  Biden can’t inspire like Jack Kennedy, but he can borrow from Harding and reassure the public there will be a return to normalcy.

If Biden plans on losing, he can at least go down with a pretend effort to win.

First published in the New Pittsburgh Courier 5/6/2020