In the final stretch, Joe Biden's character and Catholicism are greasing the wheels to victory.
The conversation many of us have been having with ourselves in the shower or when walking the dog is now spilling into private conversations with friends and even onto Twitter: What are you hearing from Florida? From Pennsylvania? Do you trust the polls? Do you think Biden has this thing nailed down? Will we know that night? What is different from 2016? No one wants to jinx it, but the anxiety is too great to bear it alone.
The pandemic has demonstrated Trump's incompetence in a way nothing else has. And while his repugnant personal character has been there for all to see, some voters said they did not care about it so long as he delivered conservative judges and a booming economy. Now, his character is in the way of effectively confronting the pandemic, and that makes it harder to look away.
Biden was not my choice to be the standard bearer of the Democratic Party, but more than any other Democratic candidate, he has largely sworn off the culture-war issues that have dogged Democrats in the heartland. It was a remarkable achievement that this year's truncated, virtual Democratic National Convention did not emulate the "abortion-palooza" nonsense of 2012 nor feature pro-choice leaders "shouting out" their abortions. People know where he stands on the issue, and his positions are nearly identical to those of Secretary Clinton. He doesn't need to spend an inordinate amount of time focused on it. Same with gay rights.
The Holy Father, in his recent encyclical, Fratelli Tutti, explained that he had intended to focus on interreligious dialogue, but the pandemic required him to adjust his focus. A threat such as this demonstrated the need to strengthen the bonds of solidarity in society, to even go beyond solidarity to a sense of social fraternity. The American people have understood the need to recalibrate virtually everything in their lives, from the ways their children attend school to the frequency with which we all shop and entertain and even worship. Only the president and his acolytes behave as if nothing need change. He and Vice President Mike Pence continue to talk about freedom when discussing the coronavirus, yet it is the libertarian tic in the American psyche that is a large part of the reason our situation so much worse than other countries.
One acolyte warrants special mention. If Justice Amy Coney Barrett really believes what she has said about how different the judiciary is from the political branches, why did she consent to participate in what amounted to a campaign rally at the White House Monday night after the Senate voted to confirm her? In her remarks, she said, "My fellow Americans, even though we judges don't face elections, we still work for you." Yet, she was standing next to someone who routinely denigrates "Democrat-run cities" and "Democrat-run states." Her defenders speak of her sterling character. Sterling character is made of sterner stuff.
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