I've been thinking about the second and final Presidential debate between Biden and Trump last week. Obviously, and as I said on Twitter and Facebook right after the debate, Trump was less abusive than he was in the first debate (faint praise), but Biden held his own, and delivered a vastly more effective closing statement. But as Election Day -- or the end of Election time -- looms, and that last debate fades into history, I'm realizing the highpoint of the debate, certainly its most memorable line, came when Joe Biden looked at Trump and said, "Abraham Lincoln over there..."
This came a little after Trump had claimed with a straight face that he done more for African-Americans than any other President, with the possible exception of Abraham Lincoln. It had much the same power as Lloyd Benson's rejoinder to Dan Quayle's statement in the 1988 VP debate that he and Jack Kennedy had been of a similar age, allowing Bentsen to say to Quayle, I knew Jack Kennedy and you're no Jack Kennedy. Quayle had been warned by his prep team not to say that in the debate -- he had been saying that on the campaign trail -- and Bentsen had been well prepared for such a statement. In the case of Trump, there's no warning such arrogance, and it didn't matter if Biden had been prepared for that statement and was ready with the Lincoln jibe, it was delivered with just the right tone at just the right time.
Trump unsurprisingly went on to dig a bigger hole for himself, responding that he had never said he was Abraham Lincoln. This was literally true but a lie in effect. Everyone had heard him compare himself to Lincoln just a few minutes earlier. The denial also showed that Trump is metaphor-blind.
In all fairness to the Trump-Quayle comparison, Quayle did go on to win the Vice Presidency in that 1988 election. But that was only because George H. W. Bush ran a much better campaign for President than his Democratic opponent Michael Dukakis. Though anything is possible when the votes begin to get counted next week, and underestimating Trump's support is an ever-present danger, I expect Joe Biden to do much better than the ersatz Abraham Lincoln who masquerades as President.
