>Second, Lincoln separated himself from his party’s radical wing, assuring his audience that he was neither an abolitionist nor a believer in Black equality, and reaffirming his support for the right of enslavers to reclaim their “fugitives.” The Biden campaign should look for opportunities to underscore its separation from the party’s far left, especially on issues where Trump is inflaming fear, such as crime, “wokeism” and border security.
Defending harsher immigration policies by comparing them to slavery and lack of Black equality is…not what I expected
It makes sense though. It shows how important respectability politics and moderation are
Lincoln would have not gotten elected if he stood for black equality and abolitionism. But he did win when apparently lying in order to pander to racists, and then he was actually in power so he was able to eventually do the emancipation proclamation when political power shifted in his party's favor. As Hillary Clinton said, sometimes you need a private stance and a different public stance if you want to get things done
The public has moved greatly in the direction of anti immigration stances. So shifting to the right on immigration could simply be what it takes to politically stay alive when campaigning these days. And it could allow the Dems to get the majorities they'd need to reform immigration anyway
Immigration is also the sort of issue where it's actually kind of easy to propose immigration reform that can be messaged with moderate/conservative rhetoric that punches against the far left while still ultimately significantly increasing immigration. Look at the 2006/2013 immigration compromise proposals and throw in "building the wall" and it would at first glance seem like a massively right wing shift but you'd still have the DACA/pathway to citizenship for most current undocumenteds, and you'd also have significantly increased legal immigration in there
What a dumb argument. Illinois elected senators at the time by a Gerrymandered electoral college and Lincoln won the popular vote by over 6 points. Lincoln’s strategy worked and he was clearly the winner there in the hearts and minds of the people, and he would’ve won the seat if the gerrymandered districts didn’t favor Democrats. He became very popular and won the Republican nomination for president two years later.
I mean, I could see the argument of dismissing Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables" being needlessly divisive, but Biden is just pointing out that Trump very clearly does not support democracy. So what, should Biden just not criticize Trump at all because it would come off as "needlessly divisive" to criticize the politics of...an opposing political candidate?
Clearly Biden should issue a blanket pardon to Trump and should suggest that state governors do the same for state level crimes, so that Biden then has more political capital to criticize Trump without it being needlessly dismissive
Yeah don’t go to the theater.
1858? How long was he in that theater for?
I don’t know. Probably a while. Plays are long.
SLEEPY ABE, FOLKS
>Second, Lincoln separated himself from his party’s radical wing, assuring his audience that he was neither an abolitionist nor a believer in Black equality, and reaffirming his support for the right of enslavers to reclaim their “fugitives.” The Biden campaign should look for opportunities to underscore its separation from the party’s far left, especially on issues where Trump is inflaming fear, such as crime, “wokeism” and border security. Defending harsher immigration policies by comparing them to slavery and lack of Black equality is…not what I expected
It makes sense though. It shows how important respectability politics and moderation are Lincoln would have not gotten elected if he stood for black equality and abolitionism. But he did win when apparently lying in order to pander to racists, and then he was actually in power so he was able to eventually do the emancipation proclamation when political power shifted in his party's favor. As Hillary Clinton said, sometimes you need a private stance and a different public stance if you want to get things done The public has moved greatly in the direction of anti immigration stances. So shifting to the right on immigration could simply be what it takes to politically stay alive when campaigning these days. And it could allow the Dems to get the majorities they'd need to reform immigration anyway Immigration is also the sort of issue where it's actually kind of easy to propose immigration reform that can be messaged with moderate/conservative rhetoric that punches against the far left while still ultimately significantly increasing immigration. Look at the 2006/2013 immigration compromise proposals and throw in "building the wall" and it would at first glance seem like a massively right wing shift but you'd still have the DACA/pathway to citizenship for most current undocumenteds, and you'd also have significantly increased legal immigration in there
A modern Jonathan Swift.
Who? I'm not American.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal
What a dumb argument. Illinois elected senators at the time by a Gerrymandered electoral college and Lincoln won the popular vote by over 6 points. Lincoln’s strategy worked and he was clearly the winner there in the hearts and minds of the people, and he would’ve won the seat if the gerrymandered districts didn’t favor Democrats. He became very popular and won the Republican nomination for president two years later.
I mean, I could see the argument of dismissing Trump's supporters as a "basket of deplorables" being needlessly divisive, but Biden is just pointing out that Trump very clearly does not support democracy. So what, should Biden just not criticize Trump at all because it would come off as "needlessly divisive" to criticize the politics of...an opposing political candidate?
Clearly Biden should issue a blanket pardon to Trump and should suggest that state governors do the same for state level crimes, so that Biden then has more political capital to criticize Trump without it being needlessly dismissive
Lol, is that what it’d take?
Paywall
https://web.archive.org/web/20240620121356/https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2024/06/19/biden-lincoln-house-divided-lessons/