Originally published May 27, 2020
https://www.queensjewishlink.com/index.php/opinion/2663-why-is-biden-apologizing-for-a-core-democratic-belief
Last week, the never-ending gaffe machine and presumptive Democratic candidate for president, Joe Biden, went beyond his usual verbal vomit and said something extremely racist. He has since put out an apology, which gives the liberal media the excuse to ignore the remark faster than they normally would. However, should the voter forgive and forget so quickly?
Biden’s remark came at the end of a contentious interview with “The Breakfast Club,” hosted by “Charlamagne tha God” (Lenard Larry McKelvey). Charlamagne put Biden on the defensive early, and the Biden camp cut the interview short. When Charlamagne said that they should have Biden back on the show, because the black audience has more questions for him, Biden replied, “You’ve got more questions? Well, I tell you what, if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.”
The racism of this statement cannot be understated. Despite the Democrats yielding, at times, over 90 percent of the black vote during Presidential elections, the insinuation that your race and your political preferences are somehow tied together is clearly a racist stance.
The Right hit Biden hard over these comments. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson said, “It is disheartening to see that some in this country still believe that African Americans are beholden to one political ideology at birth, due to the color of their skin.” Vice President Mike Pence called it “a racist and offensive comment,” and that “it literally demeans African Americans all across the country, whatever their politics.” Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley wrote, “Regardless of color, gender, or class, to label any individual with what he or she is expected to think, believe, and vote is demeaning and disrespectful. Not to mention arrogant and entitled.”
Biden has his defenders as well. Jemele Hill, a writer for The Atlantic, tweeted, “The issue wasn’t what Joe Biden said, because it was accurate. The issue was that it came from Biden.” Hill posits that if a black person says that skin color and party affiliation are connected, it is acceptable. Representative Val Demings, who is rumored to be a Vice Presidential contender, said that Biden “shouldn’t have said it,” but the real issue is the Trump camp’s use of the statement in their campaign ads and merchandise (the Trump website immediately created #YouAin’tBlack T-shirts). Demings said that Trump has “the gall and the nerve” to use this in his campaign.
Biden hopped on a phone call with black business leaders, claiming that he was being a “wise guy” and he “shouldn’t have been so cavalier.” He later added, “I don’t take [the black vote] for granted at all. No one, no one, should have to vote for any party based on their race, their religion, their background.”
However, this apology rings hollow, given the Democratic Party’s history with identity politics. It is certainly no secret that Democrats believe they are entitled to a vote based on external factors, like race and sex. This was a major theme after the Clinton loss in 2016. At a conference in September of 2017, Michelle Obama said, “Any woman who voted against Hillary Clinton voted against [her] own voice. What does it mean for us as women that we look at those two candidates, as women, and many of us said, that guy, he’s better for me, his voice is more true to me. Well, to me that just says you don’t like your voice. You like the thing you’re told to like.”
Michelle Obama takes for granted that women will vote for a woman, just as Barack Obama took for granted that the black community will vote the way he wants them to. “I will consider it a personal insult – an insult to my legacy,” he said to the Congressional Black Caucus gala prior to the 2016 election, “if this community lets down its guard and fails to activate itself in this election.” If the black community doesn’t unanimously fall in line, it’s an insult to the Obama legacy.
Then there is Squad member Representative Ayanna Pressley, who also let the cat out of the bag in terms of Democratic expectations. At the Netroots Nation conference in July 2019, Pressley said, “If you’re not prepared to come to that table and represent that voice, don’t come, because we don’t need any more brown faces that don’t want to be a brown voice. We don’t need black faces that don’t want to be a black voice. We don’t need Muslims that don’t want to be a Muslim voice. We don’t need queers that don’t want to be a queer voice. If you’re worried about being marginalized and stereotyped, please don’t even show up because we need you to represent that voice.” Pressley immediately equates skin color, religion, and orientation to policy issues.
The message from the Democrats has been clear for years: If you are a certain race, religion, gender, or any number of other groups, you are only truly a member of that group if you vote Democrat. Biden’s “gaffe” wasn’t a gaffe at all; it was Biden speaking out loud the core belief of their party. He apologized to let the media off the hook, not because he truly believes that any group that is “supposed” to vote for him has the right to vote for Trump. He apologized so the Left can say, “Let’s move on.” No community should allow their votes to be taken for granted. The Democrats have too long a history of taking certain votes for granted to forgive a simple mea culpa on Biden’s part.
Moshe Hill is a political analyst who has written for The Daily Wire, the Queens Jewish Link, The Jewish Link of New Jersey and JNS.org. He is regularly featured on ‘The Josh M Show’ podcast. Subscribe to www.aHillwithaview.com for more content from Moshe Hill. Like him on Facebook at facebook.com/ahillwithaview and follow him on Twitter @TheMoHill.
