Budowsky: Biden-Duckworth would be America’s team

If former Vice President Joe Biden selects Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) as his vice presidential nominee, they would lead a ticket of Democrats as America’s team, a patriot party that challenges President Trump in every state, winning extraordinary support from military families and veterans, and increasing the strong chances of Democrats winning control of the Senate and increasing their majority in the House.

My readers know that I have long supported the idea of former first lady Michelle Obama being Biden’s choice for vice president, and alternatively, wrote a column last month to suggest Duckworth as another potentially game changing choice as a running mate.

During one of the most important elections in American history Duckworth is the embodiment of the American Dream, with a powerful appeal that is ideally suited to our times.

As retired Marine Corps general and former Defense Secretary James Mattis recently suggested in his scalding critique of Trump’s leadership, the president is a bitterly divisive figure who has spent his entire presidency dividing American against American, and dividing America against our democratic allies everywhere.

In a recent television ad supporting Duckworth for the vice presidency, Vote Vets, a nationally respected group championing American veterans, noted that Duckworth, whose ancestors fought for the Continental Army during the war for American independence, has spent a lifetime championing national unity, the causes of those who serve our country, and the values that have served our country brilliantly since 1776.

Duckworth comes from a tradition common to military families. While Trump was benefitting from deferments and suffering from bone spurs during the Vietnam War, her late father served in uniform in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. After Duckworth served heroically in Iraq, she became a critic of that war while being a staunch advocate of the men and women who served in it.

Throughout her life Duckworth has embodied the values of duty, honor and service to country on matters of war and peace. As a woman of color who served in the military for more than two decades, she believes in the America that our Founding Fathers bestowed to us as a beacon of freedom and justice, and a melting pot of diverse people united by the common cause of the American idea.

By contrast to Biden and Duckworth, Trump rejects and abhors the cardinal value of America as a melting pot. Trump, who shamefully said that the legacy of Abraham Lincoln was “questionable,” recently insulted the greatness of Lincoln at Mount Rushmore by making incendiary, race-baiting and bitterly divisive comments.

By contrast to Trump, Duckworth understands that America is a special, extraordinary and wonderful place. She stands for a unifying patriotism with a steel-like toughness and courage combined with a warm-hearted commitment to social justice and human rights. As a fervent supporter of the battle against climate change and the cause of civil rights, she co-founded the Senate Environmental Justice Caucus, which works to save the earth and protect the poor and men and women of color.

By contrast to Trump, Biden and Duckworth share a passionate commitment to America as leader of the free world and a beacon for human rights.

Intelligence services warn that Russia is paying bounties to kill American troops. Trump does nothing to protect them. Duckworth expresses outrage. Trump continues his incompetent failed efforts to defeat COVID-19 and a growing number of Secret Service agents fall ill from the virus. Duckworth condemns these derelictions of duty.

When Trump repeatedly makes comments that are widely considered racist, her courage, patriotism and heroism make Duckworth a powerful voice against Trump, who praises foreign dictators, slanders fellow Americans and expresses contempt for civil rights and human rights.

Duckworth will help Biden win the presidency and help Democrats win more seats in the Senate and House. They would campaign together as America’s team, in a patriot party, and make Americans feel better about themselves, their families, their country and their future.

Budowsky was an aide to former Sen. Lloyd Bentsen (D-Texas) and former Rep. Bill Alexander (D-Ark.), who was chief deputy majority whip of the House of Representatives. He holds an LLM in international financial law from the London School of Economics.