Political campaigns often seek to cast the candidate as a person of power, intellect and experience. (In the case of Trump, these were less important than presenting him as a person with wealth.) They rarely emphasize humble beginnings, personal sorrows or a modest nature. But after three years of the current president, modesty and sincerity have a lot going for them as character traits.
I’ve discovered these qualities also apply to the campaign gear of the Democratic nominee, Joe Biden. Let me give you an example…
A little bubble mailer turned up in my mailbox yesterday afternoon, just in time for the last night of the Democratic national convention. Quick work! I’d only ordered the contents from JoeBiden.com last week, the night Joe Biden named Kamala Harris as his running mate. Eagerly, I ripped it open and clattered the four round badges out onto the kitchen counter.
Speaking as a type and design geek, I was a little disappointed by what I saw. All four badges used the same font (it mostly looks like ITC Souvenir to me). The lowercase-only words perfectly centered, the lines evenly spaced. The words were white, knocked out of soft colors — a deep mossy green, a sky blue, orange and a desaturated red.
Left to me, I probably would have chosen American Typewriter k/o the campaign’s red and blue. Maybe I’d leave two in stark black-on-white. But I’m not on the design committee.
Modest messages, but sincere
So: four modest buttons. Lacking flashy design ka-pow, you have to focus on the words themselves.
science over fiction
unity over division
truth over lies
hope over fear
The words are not unique to Joe Biden — after all, I’m wearing them on a Warren Democrats tee-shirt. But when Biden calls out these phrases, he sincerely wants all Americans to embrace them as bedrock beliefs.
I agree. We will fare better as a nation when we choose verifiable facts over wishful thinking. When we accept our messy, mixed heritage as a melting pot of neighbors from around the globe. When we again believe that education is the key to a thoughtful, prosperous economy. Oh, and that a willingness to learn from past mistakes is essential for good governance.
A vote cast with hope and compassion and trust will always feel better to the heart than one cast from fear, anger and mistrust.
Frank Bruni, writing about Joe Biden’s acceptance speech in the New York Times, made a similar observation. “Biden gladly and graciously ceded the spotlight, an incredibly smart decision in the context of the current president. He was making clear that he wouldn’t rule as some self-obsessed despot whose personal melodramas sucked the energy out of everyone and everything else. He wouldn’t rule at all. He’d govern. It’s a different, humbler thing.”
That ol’ Jersey boy, Bruce Springsteen, sums the tenor of the Biden/Harris campaign pretty nicely. #TheRising asks us to rise up, together, stronger.