Biden wants everyone in the tent
He likes you, even if you don’t like him
It’s long been the cliché that voters judge politicians based on their likability. There’s truth to it, but in my experience, the deeper question isn’t how much voters like a politician, but whether they believe a politician likes them.
There isn’t enough charisma in the world to save you once a segment of the public thinks you hold them in contempt. The most damaging gaffes come when a politician insults, purposely or accidentally, a segment of the electorate — Barack Obama’s comment that voters get bitter and cling to guns and religion, Mitt Romney’s dismissal of the 47% who pay no taxes but leech off the public’s largesse, Hillary Clinton calling half of Trump voters “deplorable.” We forgive our leaders for being cold, dishonest, remote and, yes, even unlikable. We can’t forgive them for disliking us.
The core of Joe Biden’s politics is his talent at fulfilling the simplest of political and emotional needs: Joe Biden likes you. That was the message of the Democratic National Convention, and it’s the message that has always been at the core of his politics. Joe Biden likes you if you’re a Democrat or a Republican. He likes you even if you don’t like him, because it’s his job to like you, no matter how you vote.
If this sounds trite, consider the contrast it offers to the reality we live in and the politics President Donald Trump models.
Mr. Biden’s politics is based on the belief that you don’t dehumanize people. You don’t dislike them. You don’t let disagreement define your relationships. Give him an “F-” on climate policy and he’ll put you on a task force to improve his plan. Try to weaponize his son’s business ties to destroy his candidacy and he’ll still pledge to try to work with you as president.
And that leads an unusually wide array of people to like Mr. Biden back. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., likes Joe Biden, and he’s a democratic socialist. John Kasich likes Joe Biden, and he was a Gingrich Republican. Barack Obama liked Joe Biden enough to make him vice president, even after Mr. Biden called him “the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R -S.C., called Mr. Biden “as good a man as God ever created.” Current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called him “a good friend” and “a trusted partner.”
Perhaps the most moving moment of the convention’s closing night came when Brayden Harrington, a 13-year-old child with a stutter, described Mr. Biden’s kindness to him. “A few months ago, I met him in New Hampshire,” Brayden said. “He told me that we were members of the same club. We stutter.” Mr. Biden liked Brayden and shared with him the book of poems he had used to practice his own speech. The comparison with Mr. Trump, who has publiclymocked people for their weight, their disabilities, their height, even for their time as a prisoner of war, was sharp.
In an era when disagreement often feels synonymous with dislike, Mr. Biden is modeling a politics where you can disagree without being disagreeable. If he wins, that approach to politics will be tested, and perhaps shattered. But because of the man he is running against now, there is power in that approach, and a truth to making it the central message of his candidacy.