In this dire moment of mistrust and uncertainty, it’s time to have a little fun. Below I’ve cast the current contenders for the Democratic Party’s nomination for president as the Bible characters I think they best resemble. As a caveat, I plan to support whoever is the nominee. Notice none of them are cast as villains. I think any of them will be an improvement.
If you think I’ve made a mistake, feel free to recast this list or come up with one of your own. Perhaps candidates as musical theater characters?
Alright, here we go:
Bernie as Moses
As Egypt had enslaved the Israelites, so Reagan enslaved the country in his economic narrative of conservatism. It took a crazed prophet, a Moses like Bernie in 2016 to cross the Red Sea of standing up for workers over their masters. He laid out for the first time in a generation what it means to be progressive like laws on stone tablets. He’s lead people into the desert toward the promised land. To Bernie I am very grateful, but…
What I fear with Bernie is that like Moses he’ll strike the rock instead of talking to it and won’t reach the promised land. By his own admission he doesn’t “tolerate bullshit terribly well,” and when reaching out to those in the middle in this country who have been fed bullshit but still need to be taken seriously (not just for this election but long term), that could be a problem. Even if Bernie’s striking the rock gets some water to come out, it’d stop him from reaching the promised land.
Buttigieg as Gideon
I see Buttigieg as Gideon, the brilliant little guy. He can inspire crowds to follow him into battle, then send most of them home, and win the battle with only a handful of them anyway. Plus he can do it in 6 different languages.
What I fear with Buttigieg is that, like Gideon, he isn’t as divorced from the old way of doing things as he first appears. Gideon tore down the symbolic statues of power at the beginning of his reign only to have them replaced by statues of himself, and after he was gone the old powers came right back. Buttigieg doesn’t seem that bad to me, but his background, donor base, and political flexibility, I think, might hinder him in rebuilding the trust of the nation.
Biden as Old King David
Biden remembers being the young David facing Goliaths, becoming a popular king, and beating up on Commies- I mean Philistines. But now David is old, his country has changed, and he has a blindness to major problems.
David (not Biden) wasn’t exactly a great dad, but he had a blind spot for his kids. This became a problem when one of his kids (on top of other things) raised a rebellion and started a civil war against him.
Biden by all accounts is a lovely father. But he does seem to have a political blind spot based out of personal relationships. He seems unwilling to accept the magnitude of the betrayal perpetrated by the Republican party against this country. I realize these are colleagues of his, but if he can’t properly diagnose the scale of the problem, it will haunt us all in the end.
Bloomberg as the Rich Man
To go New Testament for a sec, I see Bloomberg as the Rich Man that approached Jesus asking what he needed to do to become a disciple. Jesus told him to sell everything he had, give the money to the poor, then follow him. The Rich Man walked away sad because he had a lot.
I fear Bloomberg, when push comes to shove as president, won’t be able (through personal interest or class blindness) to make the necessary choices that would cost him (and his class) but restore trust in the country. Even in an election, as a super wealthy New York elite, he’s just another rich guy making promises.
Klobuchar as umm… that king… umm… yeah… that one…
Apologies to my Senator Klobuchar from my beautiful (though chilly) home state of Minnesota, but… I see her like that good king in the book of Kings… or was it Chronicles?.. If my memory serves me right, there were a whole bunch of bad kings, then there was a good king that tried, but it wasn’t enough. Everyone kinda just shrugged and went on with the evil stuff.
I think Amy would do good things, but, like Biden, I don’t think she has or at least I haven’t seen her show an awareness of the scope of the problem we are currently facing. I fear, even if democrats win in November, politics as usual will not weaken the monster but grow it. If we win, we have 4 years to re-establish trust in this country because… well… believe it or not GOP candidates could get worse. Yikes… Let’s move on.
Warren as Joseph in his Technicolored Dream Sweater
Ok, now for my favorite. Aside from their mutual affection for brightly colored outerwear, I see Warren as the Joseph we need now. Joseph saw and properly diagnosed the problems at hand, came up with and administered programs to deal with them, won the respect of those around him, and eventually won back the hearts of the brothers who had betrayed him.
To me, I see Warren fitting this role. She honestly looks at and faces the problems. She’s an intellectually honest problem solver who can explain why she changed from being brought up republican to becoming a progressive powerhouse. She has the skills to create solutions and make them work. She wins the respect of those she works with. And, I believe, she can combine her words, her actions, and our help to win back the trust of much of our citizenry and ultimately return us our shot at creating a more perfect Union.
Do I have fears about Warren? Of course I do. Could I be wrong about her? Could she lose to Trump? Could the economy crash in her first term? Could something else happen that… Of course! Yes! But that’s true of all of them! No one knows what’s going to happen. So let’s act, not in fear but in courage, to select who we think has the best shot of, not just beating Trump, but of leading us into building something we can be proud of.
Dream Big! Fight Hard!