By now, the same old stale debate’s broken out. Politics as a sport. Biden’s a doddering old man! Don’t run, old man! He can’t win! He shouldn’t! What a disgrace. Hello, does anyone remember substance? Forget these jokers. I’m going to put my economist hat on and teach you why Biden’s vision for America matters. Teach, because I think that Americans aren’t hearing the full story, at all, really, the coverage is so abysmal. This isn’t a sport. It’s about the future of a nation. It deserves to be treated with a little respect and dignity, no?
To begin teaching you why Biden’s vision for America matters, I’m going to start with a question. Why is it that Biden commands by now the respect and admiration of world leaders from Trudeau to Macron? A respect Trump had completely squandered for America, respect that had to be earned back? I don’t say that like a pundit — to teach you you should suck up. I say it so that you reflect on it. These are senior statespeople. They are some of the most eminent figures the world has, and their countries have. Why is it that they…look up…to…Joe Biden?
When I say “look up,” I’m not kidding. They do. That’s a fact. Europe’s scrambling, racing, to copy Biden’s agenda. Canada is, too, even though it’s behind. The effects of Biden’s vision — and we’ll discuss just what it is — are seismic. Biden’s vision is that consequential. Australia’s going to race to copy it soon — it has to, it can’t be a dirty, fossil-intensive economy forever after all. China’s already bewildered and more than a little panicked. Biden is changing a) the global economy, b) the world order, and he’s doing that by transforming c) what the future is about.