Joe Biden will deliver a speech defending his record on issues of race

[DonViejo]

By Colby Itkowitz July 6 at 11:23 AM

Joe Biden will give a speech Saturday afternoon defending his record on issues of race, in which he plans to focus on his tenure as vice president as he tries to overcome criticism for positions he took decades ago. As Biden aims to reclaim his own narrative, he will invoke his relationship with President Obama, the nation’s first black president.

“I was vetted by him and selected by him. I will take his judgment of my record, my character, and my ability to handle the job over anyone else’s,” Biden will say, according to excerpts of his speech.

Biden has focused much of his presidential campaign on his work as vice president, while rarely talking about his time as Delaware’s U.S. senator from 1972 through 2008. Biden’s rivals, however, have sought to focus on Biden’s past stances on issues like busing.

In recent weeks, Biden’s challengers homed in on racial issues as a potential weakness after he described working with well-known segretationists in the Senate and how one of them always called him “son,” and not “boy.” They signaled out his opposition to federally-mandated busing of black students to white schools, culminating with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) telling him during that debate that she was one of the little girls who benefited from busing.

“America in 2019 is a very different place than the America of the 1970s,” Biden will say. “And that’s a good thing. I’ve witnessed an incredible amount of change in this nation and I’ve worked to make that change happen. And yes – I’ve changed also.”

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/joe-biden-will-deliver-a-speech-defending-his-record-on-issues-of-race/2019/07/06/da21d734-9ff9-11e9-9ed4-c9089972ad5a_story.html

[samnsara]

1. I know his position and im satisfied with it

[treestar]

4. +1

Sounds like an opportunity for another gaffe. This has been over-covered already! Why extend it? He can discuss his positive contributions. But the media will find a way to make it negative.

[ucrdem]

2. K'n'R

Busing, good lord. Anyway this should be an important contribution to the discourse.

[wyldwolf]

3. UPDATE: Kamala Harris will have an immediate contradictory rebuttal...

... before quietly agreeing with him next week...

Millennial guests on MSNBC will pretend to have lived through it all.

[ucrdem]

5. LOL, count on it!

I'm sure she's winning lots of new Iowa fans.

[bluewater]

6. Will there be a question period afterwards?

[Bettie]

7. Did no one notice the important question in that entire exchange?

It isn't "are you a racist". He isn't.

It is: If local governments don't or won't do what is needed, should the federal government step in?

To me, that was the single most important piece in the entire exchange. It was largely ignored. I'd like an answer, from all of the candidates.

[LibFarmer]

9. Kamala already backtracked and went to Biden's position nt

[Bettie]

10. So, the answer is

no, the federal government should never step in? Is that what you're saying?

Or are you saying "sit down and shut up"?

[LibFarmer]

11. Busing was a colossal failure

Both Black and White parents hated it.

It created White flight into suburbia and leaving ruins of inner cities behind.

Federal government should have had a long term plan of integration instead of forcing to do it all at once.

[Bettie]

12. But the question is not exclusively ABOUT

busing. It is a general question: does the federal government have the responsibility to take action if states/local governments won't.

So, I'm guessing your answer is that the federal government should never get involved and all should be decided on a local basis.

[LibFarmer]

14. That is not what I said

I said any precipitous plan by Feds will only cause massive discontent.

Just as the government doesn't mandate emission standards to be put in force immediately but gives goals for the future. This allows the auto manufacturers time for retooling and redesigning which makes the goal attainable.

Any fed involvement should set intermediate and longer term goals so that the action is more digestible and doesn't create a wall of resistance.

The lesson of busing is a classic example -- a vast majority of whites and blacks were for integration as a noble goal. They just didn't want their kids bused to schools hours away and this actually worsened the situation. If the feds had set a 10 year goal with smaller goals for the earlier years, gradually increasing to full integration, it might have worked.

In fact, rotating teachers from good schools to bad would have worked even better. The issue was equal quality of education for all and not actual bodies being in the same classroom.

[StarfishSaver]

23. Do you think the federal government should order county government's to issue marriage licenses

to gay couples if the local government refuses to do it voluntarily? Or should they just give them "goals" and hope they do the right thing - and if they don't, oh, well ...

The federal government and courts gave local governments plenty of desegregation "goals." The problem was the local governments ignored and reaisted them until they were ordered to do otherwise.

And yes lots of white folks said they were for integration, until they actually had to integrate. Then it was too much trouble.

And if you think the issue was simply "equal quality of education for all and not actual bodies being in the same classroom," you should read the Brown decidion to understand why you're wrong.

[LibFarmer]

24. Of course

Issuing marriage licenses to LGBT couples doesn't cause a massive upheaval in the system.

It should be done and the feds should get involved because it is isolated to one or few county clerks.

Anyway, Biden never said anything to the contrary about LGBT marriage equality.

Nice try.

[StarfishSaver]

25. So, the enforcement of constitutional rights depends on whether or not it's disruptive?

That's not how it works.

School desegregation caused a "massive upheaval in the system" because school segregation WAS the system, so the only way to undo the systemic inequality imposed on black children was through a massive disruption. Desegregation doesn't become a bad thing just because it inconveniences people who aren't being harmed by the wrongdoing the desegregation is designed to remedy.

[dsc]

27. Bad schools largely aren't bad due to bad teachers

There are some great, some good, some mediocre, and some bad teachers in nearly every school.

[delisen]

28. I think being in the same classrooms is a very important goal, now more than ever.

The "separate but equal" claim did not deliver on the equal part.

Integration experience in childhood is not just a "noble" cause, it can bring people together as one country, and prevent the the rise of authoritarianism and neo naziism we are now experiencing.

Integration is working now and many places and increasingly people whose forbears ran scared from their cities are returning and seeking integrated environments for their own children. Also many suburbs are now integrated as they have developed much more diverse populations.

The global nature of commerce today has caused enlightened corporations to seek to hire workers who can work effectively in diverse workplaces and who are culturally competent.

Actually busing and combining of school districts has worked in many places, and is still working where people have shown both leadership and commitment to all the children a community. Often this leadership bubbles up from the communities to lead the way and politicians then follow.

One of the biggest threats today to integrated schools are those seeking to turn education into profit centers for themselves or creating new"markets" where they take a big slice of tax money and create charter schools that are not accountable to the people and can select students rather than educate all.

While I agree with some of what you wrote, I think the period of turning away from integration has created a few generations of children less prepared for living in our modern world and less prepared to function in a democratic society than were the generation which experienced serious attempts to integrate.

[hedda_foil]

13. White flight began in the fifties and increased in the sixties -- due to govm't sponsored redlining.

The period under discussion was the seventies. Most white flight had already taken place by then.

[LibFarmer]

8. K&R nt

[Politicub]

15. It's about time. He needed to do this earlier.

If he wants the narrative to change, he needs to stock the content pond.

We’ll see how his mini campaign (CNN, this speech, and whatever else he does this weekend) helps him.

[Skya Rhen]

18. He needs no help - but it will shine the light on his unfair attackers and it will negatively

impact them - they are already feeling the backlash...

[ucrdem]

20. I think so.

It's a good move and shows that he's serious about these issues. Which he is.

[tonedevil]

17. What could possibly go wrong. /nt

[Blue_true]

19. That is a good idea. nt

[peggysue2]

21. Think this is a good idea

Biden needs to write his own storyline rather than having others do it for him. His narrative, his memory, his personal context. Then let the voters decide.

[Cha]

22. Good!

[Mike Nelson]

26. I think this is a...

… good idea. I think Obama "vetted" Biden a little differently, though... I think he picked someone that could make some white "folks" a bit more comfortable voting for the ticket. I'm not sure that will be a topic... I do like the "incredible amount of change in this nation" Biden mentions and look forward to this speech... and Biden does get credit for being there and advocating some of the recent advances. The past may be mixed, but he's been ahead of the curve, recently. These are the parts of his career that should matter most.

[flamingdem]

29. As did Obama

around the issue of Rev Wright if memory serves