Does Biden have to 'become a transcendental president' on race?

Black political leaders interviewed by Politico are split on whether former Vice President Joe Biden has to be "revolutionary" as he campaigns to be and is perhaps elected to replace President Trump. But they all agree he can't be the vague anti-Trump on race and criminal justice reform he has campaigned as so far.

Biden launched his campaign by promising to be an antidote to Trump's actions over the past four years, focusing on how Trump equated "both sides" of a neo-Nazi-attended rally in Charlottesville that left one counter-protester dead. While he's gone further to the left than former President Barack Obama when it comes to supporting the end of qualified immunity for police officers and banning chokeholds, he still is pushing to increase law enforcement funding and has rejected calls to "defund the police."

Jennifer Epps-Addison, the president of the Center for Popular Democracy, told Politico that Biden "doesn't have to be a revolutionary." But he must "bring folks who have been marginalized both by the Democratic and Republican Party to the table" and "ensure that we break down these systems of racial and economic and gender based inequity in our country." Biden's top adviser Symone Sanders seemed to reject calls for Biden to be too revolutionary as well, telling Politico that Biden "wouldn't be running unless Donald Trump were president."

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

But Rep. Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), a longtime lawmaker and civil rights leader of the 1960's, tells Politico that Biden will have to go further and force "frank, truthful, painstaking conversation" about America's systemic racism if elected. "I'm not sure if he has the understanding, but he has to become a transcendental president," Rush said. "The opportunity is here; the question is, can he rise up to it?" Read more at Politico.