Biden seems like a warm and genuine human being. It is his economic policies that turn me away

[ProfessorPlum]

I lived in Delaware for 11 years, so Joe's political career is one I have watched closely and been familiar with. His family is loved there, and Biden's personal story, including his intense personal losses, resonate and make him both a human and humane figure. Personally, he seems like a sweet avuncular man who was on the right side of history about gay rights in the Obama administration, etc.

The bizarre politics of Justice Thomas's entrance to the supreme court, and Biden's role in effectively minimizing the importance of workplace sexual harassment, was a black eye.

But worse than that is the bankruptcy bill that he championed and voted for in the 2000s. It crushed millions of families under the boot of the financial sector and its rapacious charlatans, effectively ending a way out of devastating financial crises that arose with the Great Recession just a few years later. Biden, like his other Delaware colleagues Carper and Coons, couldn't help those banks based in Delaware enough, at the expense of treating their clients like loan shark victims. That one bill alone has immiserated so many people, even in the time of the "tricks and traps" that Warren was documenting and railing against.

His personal foibles aside (such as they may be), the bankruptcy bill is an action that just kills any hope I have of him reining in the banks at any point. Has he ever apologized for it, or tried to make amends (or repeal it)?

Of all the people running on the Democratic side, I just can't support someone who will most likely continue to be a creature of the financial sector.

Your mileage may vary, of course

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread ProfessorPlum.

[Power 2 the People]

2. +1000

Well said.

[qazplm135]

3. if folks want to say no because of policy reasons

that's beyond legitimate. It's the whole he's an asshole male who mistreats women thing that's gotten out of hand though.

[zipplewrath]

4. No ones perfect

I tend to agree somewhat with you. I was disappointed when Obama picked him as a running mate because of his long association with the local banking industry and what that bankruptcy bill did to so many. I also didn't like his answers during the VP debates about gay marriage.

But I'm also cognizant of the fact that virtually any candidate that runs is going to have positions and votes that I'm not going to like.

[ProfessorPlum]

5. Absolutely. I'm willing to take a flawed human as a candidate

that seems to be the only kind available to us

I'll labor the fuck out of getting Biden elected if it is him versus Trump.

[stuffmatters]

6. Excellent post.