{"id":28416,"date":"2020-09-21T12:05:27","date_gmt":"2020-09-21T16:05:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/?p=28416"},"modified":"2020-09-10T22:17:36","modified_gmt":"2020-09-11T02:17:36","slug":"does-cardi-b-have-more-concrete-policy-ideas-than-joe-biden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philip.greenspun.com\/blog\/2020\/09\/21\/does-cardi-b-have-more-concrete-policy-ideas-than-joe-biden\/","title":{"rendered":"Does Cardi B have more concrete policy ideas than Joe Biden?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rapper Cardi B<\/a> interviewed Joe Biden and a full transcript is available from Elle<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cardi B: And also what I want is free Medicare<\/strong>. It\u2019s important to have free [healthcare] because look what is happening right now. Of course, I think we need free college<\/strong>. And I want Black people to stop getting killed and no justice for it. I\u2019m tired of it. I\u2019m sick of it. I just want laws that are fair to Black citizens and that are fair for cops, too. If you kill somebody who doesn\u2019t have a weapon on them, you go to jail. You know what? If I kill somebody, I\u2019ve got to go to jail. You gotta go to jail, too. That\u2019s what I want.<\/p>

Biden: There\u2019s no reason why we can\u2019t have all of that<\/strong>. Presidents have to take responsibility. I understand one of your favorite presidents is Franklin Roosevelt. Roosevelt said the American people can take anything if you tell them the truth. Sometimes the truth is hard. But right now, we\u2019re in a position where we have an opportunity to make so much progress. The American public has had the blinders taken off.<\/p>

Cardi B: I\u2019m always so focused on Medicare and college education, and I never really thought about how important child care is. Nobody is more motivated than a mom. Nobody wants to go hustle out there and get the money for the kid like a mother. [But] how are you supposed to do that when you probably don\u2019t have a babysitter for your kid? Fortunately for me, I have my mom to help take care of my child, but a lot of people, their mom cannot retire and take care of the kids. The mom has to work, too. I feel like this country is so hurt, to the point that this year, a lot of people couldn\u2019t even celebrate July 4th, because not everybody feels like an American. A lot of people feel like [they\u2019re] not even part of America.<\/p>

Joe Biden: Absolutely. One of the things that I admire about you is that you keep talking about what I call equity\u2014decency, fairness, and treating people with respect. John Lewis, one of the great civil rights leaders, used to say the vote is the most powerful nonviolent tool you have. Look, I\u2019m a lot older than you, to state the obvious. When I was in high school, the civil rights movement was just being started, and along came Bull Connor and his dogs. He thought he was going to drive a wooden stake into the heart of the civil rights movement. But when all those folks saw what was happening in the South\u2014[when] they saw Bull Connor with dogs [attacking] elderly Black women going to church and kids being knocked down with fire hoses\u2014all of a sudden, as Dr. King said, we had the second emancipation. We had the Voting Rights Act and we had the Civil Rights Act. It changed things because people said, \u201cOh my God, that\u2019s happening.\u201d [Today], the cell phone has changed America. Because we\u2019re at a point where some brave kid can stand there for a total of 8 minutes and 46 seconds and take a of a Black man [being] brutally murdered. And people around the world were saying, \u201cMy God. This really happens?\u201d And now they\u2019re demanding change.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What strikes me about the interview is that it seems to be Cardi B<\/a>, the 27-year-old rapper, who has the concrete policy ideas. The 77-year-old Joe Biden<\/a>, on the other hand, is mostly silent and\/or vague on what he would actually do as president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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