What a decent, nice guy Joe Biden truly is!

Politics today operates on the assumption there is no such thing as a nice person, only self-serving toads at best. This sentiment has been so ingrained in our thinking about public service, especially elective office, that to even suggest that someone is operating out of a moral purpose is considered the height of stupidity or naivete nowadays. Was it always thus?

As far back as you can look, there have always been accusations of nefarious self-interest against almost everyone in public life, and evidence of such are always used to justify present-day assumptions. Indeed, it is enlightening to learn how corrupt some of America’s public servants have been over the course of our history, up to the present day, of course.

If someone is operating from a moral sensibility today, they are not immune from charges to the contrary, and on this list belong such names as Jimmy Carter, Anthony Fauci and even Republicans like the late President Eisenhower. It does take into account the role of pragmatism in decision making, of course, as almost nothing of consequence happens in our democracy today without having to take into account differing views and objectives, and the art of compromise.

I have always been struck by the label that Sen. Henry Clay earned during his pre-Civil War career, including as an unsuccessful Whig Party presidential candidate. He was famously known as the “Great Compromiser” for the way he was able to hold the Union together for decades until he died and it could not go further, precipitating the horrible Civil War that cost 700,000 American lives.
He had a clear moral compass operating behind his efforts to hold the Union together against divisive forces that sought to tear it apart. Anyone familiar with the Federalist Papers of Alexander Hamilton and James Madison, and their seminal role in ratification of the U.S. Constitution knows that the unity of the former colonies in the face of a primary common enemy — which remained the British at least through the Civil War — on behalf of sovereignty was paramount.

Clay’s morality was rooted in just that, and had he not been so effective at it for decades, a civil war at any earlier point would have succeeded in fracturing and ending the American experiment in democracy. It almost happened anyway, but for the decisive role of President Abraham Lincoln and his willingness to do two things of absolutely monumental importance: to preserve the union and to end slavery.

Now, Joe Biden is America’s most consequential leader in half a century, at least. With another term, he will be able to do things that will put him right up with FDR as a great American hero. His action to offer a pathway to citizenship for immigrant spouses this week is only the latest case of this. His actions to restore American leadership in manufacturing, revive dignity to its working classes, and shore up the Western Alliance against Russian aggression have been remarkable.

His basic decency is palpable, and can only be challenged by his opponents by a relentless fixation on his age. In the meantime, they completely duck questions about the craven immorality and evidence of a rapidly advancing dementia of Trump.

In fact, finally earlier this month a leading opinion-maker asserted that not only is age not really a problem for Biden, but should be seen as a sign of strength. In its D-Day coverage earlier this month, The Washington Post editorialized thusly:

“Moments like the D-Day commemoration remind us that Mr. Biden’s seniority confers valuable perspective. He was not a World War II veteran but grew up surrounded by them, in an America made possible by their sacrifices — and in that sense, he personifies the country’s lasting connection to the spirit of that age. Certainly, the worldview expressed in his words at Pointe du Hoc on Friday does not carry an expiration date.”

“Seniority confers valuable perspective!” Now, there is a worthy campaign slogan for you.

I suspect it is not so much Biden himself, but his younger campaign know-it-alls who claim his age is a problem, not an asset.