In the humble opinion of one regular, but very concerned citizen, who is further alarmed by the recent reporting that the current president is gaining on Mr. Biden in the polls and is wondering where in the hell he’s been keeping himself these days (I mean aside from inside his house), these are some things Biden could be doing to, idk show his face around the place this week:
- Issuing a plain spoken written explanation of the benefits and provisions in the CARES Act for individuals, families and small businesses. Include instructions where possible on how to access benefits, timelines for receiving benefits and explanations of exactly who can expect to receive benefits. If he doesn’t have someone on his staff to do this, he should ask Elizabeth Warren. He should also have at least one normal, non-staff person read it to make sure they understand it.
- Reach out to every former 2020 Presidential candidate and Democratic leader and ask them to perform as his surrogates. There is deep bench and wealth of expertise in each area that will need to be rebuilt at the end of this. The Biden campaign should be marshalling this expertise into actionable plans, or at least into clear, concise, flexible ideas that can be nimbly turned into plans once we know what the aftermath looks like. These ideas should be shared in an easy-to-understand way with the public. And by easy-to-understand, the litmus test is, “Is it very clear how this helps/affects me?”
- Because he can’t seem to get the attention of the major news networks, he should work on appearing on every late night show, every news program, and with every Instagram influencer out there. Everywhere Dr. Fauci was this past week, Biden needs to be next week. And then he (or his surrogates) need to be in other places as well. I can think of 25 people he could be talking to just off the top of my head. His message? Hope. He needs to be everywhere calming, soothing, inspiring confidence and looking strong.
- Making his website and social media platforms clearinghouses for factual information and updates on COVID-19 including links, etc.
- Publicly reaching out to the president and offering his assistance in procuring or marshalling resources or directing disaster relief.
- If he can’t do this, if he can’t become the leader and face of the democratic party, he should seriously think about whether he should even be in the race at all. We need energy and endurance right now. He needs to be out in front showing that he has both.
- If he is being told by his advisers that he shouldn’t do this, then he should reconsider who he has advising him. He is losing ground and it’s mostly because no one sees him doing anything.
- If his staff doesn’t know how to devise an online/non-traditional media strategy, he needs to hire some people who do. Perhaps Beto or Bloomberg could help him with that.
What Biden should not be doing in the next week:
Criticizing the president or the administration in any way. He would actually do best if he doesn’t acknowledge them at all. He cannot make himself look stronger by making the president look weaker. Plus, the president is doing a great job of this all by himself.
Positioning himself as counter to the president. Everything he does should be prefaced with this statement, at least implicitly: “To further assist the country in fighting this pandemic, Joe Biden is…”