The presidential debates that begin Sept. 29 will be among the most important in American history. Here is how former Vice President Joe Biden can win them.
Biden could say: If I am elected president I will lead a great American comeback and a great revival of our unity, optimism, economy and health.
I will govern every day with the common values that unite the faiths of our nation, and the shared patriotism of our people that my opponent has never learned to honor. I will never lie. I will always tell the truth. I will never use race to divide our country. I will always work to heal our wounds and bring our people together. I will never insult those who risk their lives in service. I will always stand with them as though every man and women in uniform is my own son and daughter.
I will never say that a deadly disease will go away like magic. I will never insult and ignore the most brilliant medical minds in America. I will never abandon the poor to go hungry. I will always work to lift the economy for every American. And I know, which my opponent does not, that we only bring the great American comeback and economic revival when we defeat the deadly virus that will never be cured by magic and is not fake news.
I will never incarcerate migrant children in cages and separate them from their moms and dads. I will always protect our borders and our values.
I will never praise foreign dictators. I will always work with democratic allies to make America the leader of the free world once again. I will never stand silent when a foreign enemy could be paying bounties to killers to murder our troops. No president has ever done this. Not one. Not ever.
I will never be a president for a faction. I will always be a president for all of our people. I will never compile enemies lists. I will always treat former presidents with respect. I will never insult them as my opponent does. I will always insist my Cabinet members be honest. I will never want them to be advocates or supplicants to power, prejudice, division, dishonesty or practices unworthy of America.
I was outraged when my opponent was quoted as saying that Americans who gave their lives serving our country were “losers” and “suckers.” And when he spent years obsessively insulting a great patriot and my dear friend, John McCain, and a great patriot and my good friend, Barack Obama, whose presidency I was proud to be part of. And when he insulted retired Marine Corps generals like John Kelly and James Mattis, who I salute.
I will always be respectful of other Americans. I will never wake up in the dark of night and write angry tweets telling our people which Americans they are supposed to hate. No president has ever done this. Not one. Not ever.
I was outraged when he ridiculed American POWs and said he preferred troops who were never captured. And stood next to a Russian dictator who is attacking American democracy, and took his side against American intelligence officers who risk their lives to defend America from his attacks. No president has ever done this. Not one. Not ever.
I was appalled when he tried to turn American troops into a domestic police force, which military leaders, to their great credit, refused to do.
I warned about the deadly COVID-19 virus in January. My opponent said it would disappear like magic. He said it was fake news. Countless Americans are dead because of his failure to lead.
He told people to inject poisons into their bodies that could kill them. He insulted the most brilliant medical scientists in the world. 50,000 dead Americans. 100,000 dead. 150,000 dead. Soon, 200,000 dead. Leading experts fear that on his current course we could suffer 300,000 dead. Or 400,000 dead.
We can do better. We must. If I am elected, we will.
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.