Commentary

COMMENTARY: Biden’s Answer to Ageist Voters – ‘Dark Brandon’

In recent polls, both old and young haven’t been polite about the No. 1 reason they think Biden shouldn’t run again. It’s his age. And no one is whispering it. It’s loud and clear.

Published

12 months ago

May 12, 2023

Oakland Post

Emil Guillermo is an independent journalist/commentator.

As I’ve mentioned in a previous column, when most people think of Joe Biden for president again, they think Geritol.

If that’s you, you probably remember the old TV ads on the “Ted Mack Amateur Hour.” If so, that’s a tribute to your mental acuity at your advanced age. Have a little compassion for your fellow oldsters, please.

In recent polls, both old and young haven’t been polite about the No. 1 reason they think Biden shouldn’t run again.

It’s his age. And no one is whispering it. It’s loud and clear.

Last week, Biden had some opportunities to reverse the trend. The state dinner honoring South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol was made memorable when Yoon broke into a version of “American Pie.”

Yes, “Bye-bye, Miss American Pie,” recorded by Don McLean in 1971.

Yoon didn’t drive the Hyundai to the levee till the levee was dry. But it would have been a perfect cue for Biden to come in strong with a K-Pop boy band medley.

Or maybe just go America all the way with a Jay-Z inspired “I’ve got 99 problems and age ain’t one.”

Doing karaoke is a cool trick to come across hipper and younger than you might be.

Unfortunately, Biden did not rise to the occasion.

But by the weekend, Biden came up with maybe something better—that could help defeat all the ageism he’s facing.

The occasion was the White House Correspondents’ Dinner (WHCD), a huge affair with journalists and celebrity sources, and C-SPAN cameras watching everyone.

But this year, it featured what could be Biden’s secret weapon against ageists.

Biden broke out the live action version of “Dark Brandon.” It’s just Biden looking “cool,” as he talked political smack while wearing his dark aviator glasses.

“Dark Brandon?” It’s not Joe Biden in dark makeup.

Just dark aviators.

It’s a total usurping of a political meme developed in 2021 by the MAGA folks. When Biden appeared at a NASCAR race and a crowd taunted him by name, a respectful broadcaster interviewing Biden at the time said the crowd wasn’t using an epithetic phrase to curse Biden.

Oh no, said the broadcaster, it was the crowd shouting, “Let’s go, Brandon.”

The host totally changed the phrase, censored the “f” word and inserted “go.” And then “Biden” became “Brandon.” And that’s how the code for a MAGA meme developed.

It’s been a standard stock MAGA laugh until Biden folks started using a counter-meme that showed Biden behind his aviators, speaking directly to MAGA-types.

“You’re lost, Jack,” Dark Brandon says. “Let’s get you back on the rails.”

The Biden-Harris meme didn’t trend until last weekend at the WHCD when the dark glasses went live.

It struck me as the perfect counter to people who see Biden as Mr. Magoo.

Biden as this ‘Dark Brandon’ semi-action-figure guy can use the character to simply say the truth about anything.

Jan. 6. Trump as rapist. GOP as anti-woman, anti-abortion, anti LGBTQ. You name it.

A clownish character deflects any criticism and enables Biden to be honest and candid without being too political. It’s a joke, right? And guaranteed to drive MAGA-types crazy.

It’s also made to win over skeptical young voters who see Biden as too old. Too old? Not that cool guy in the “aviators” who is singing their tune.

It’s the kind of positive pandering to the youth culture that could work in 2024.

The times we’re in necessitate Cool Joe. It’s the “Dark Brandon Age.”

We already know how critical this next election will be in terms of preserving the victories that have been the hallmark of our democracy for more than half-a-century: Voting rights, civil rights, abortion rights are all being threatened.

It means the 2024 campaign could decide the direction of America for the next four to five decades.

If that happens, this next election could be, as they say, one for the ages.

It shouldn’t be one for the ageists.

It won’t be if “Dark Brandon” can help it.

NOTE: I will talk about this column and other matters on “Emil Amok’s Takeout,” my micro-talk show. Live @2p Pacific. Livestream on Facebook; my YouTube channel; and Twitter. Catch the recordings on www.amok.com.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Season 4, Episode 7 – Mental Health Month

Don't Miss

Vallejo Juneteenth Event Moves to Waterfront Green

Oakland Post

Click to comment

Commentary

Opinion: Lessons for Current Student Protesters From a San Francisco State Strike Veteran

How the nation’s first College of Ethnic studies came about, bringing together Latino, African American and Asian American disciplines may offer some clues as to how to ease the current turmoil on American college campuses over the Israel-Hamas war. After the deadline passed to end the Columbia University encampment by 2 p.m. Monday, student protesters blockaded and occupied Hamilton Hall in a symbolic move early Tuesday morning. Protesters did the same in 1968.

Published

7 days ago

May 3, 2024

Oakland Post

iStock Photo

By Emil Guillermo

After the deadline passed to end the Columbia University encampment by 2 p.m. Monday, student protesters blockaded and occupied Hamilton Hall in a symbolic move early Tuesday morning.

Protesters did the same in 1968.

That made me think of San Francisco State University, 1968.

The news was filled with call backs to practically every student protest in the past six decades as arrests mounted into hundreds on nearly two dozen campuses around the country.

In 1970, the protests at Kent State were over the Vietnam War. Ohio National Guardsmen came in, opened fire, and killed four students.

Less than two weeks later that year, civil rights activists outside a dormitory at Jackson State were confronted by armed police. Two African American students were killed, twelve injured.

But again, I didn’t hear anyone mention San Francisco State University, 1968.

That protest addressed all the issues of the day and more. The student strike at SFSU was against the Vietnam war.

That final goal was eventually achieved, but there was violence, sparked mostly by “outside agitators,” who were confronted by police.

“People used the term ‘off the pigs’ but it was more rally rhetoric than a call to action (to actually kill police),” said Daniel Phil Gonzales, who was one of the strikers in 1968.

Gonzales, known as the go-to resource among Filipino American scholars for decades, went on to teach at what was the positive outcome of the strike, San Francisco State University’s College of Ethnic Studies. It’s believed to be the first of its kind in the nation. Gonzales recently retired after more than 50 years as professor.

As for today’s protests, Gonzales is dismayed that the students have constantly dealt with charges of antisemitism.

“It stymies conversation and encourages further polarization and the possibility of violent confrontation,” he said. “You’re going to be labeled pro-Hamas or pro-terrorist.”

That’s happening now. But we forget we are dealing not with Hamas proxies. We are dealing with students.

Gonzales said that was a key lesson at SF State’s strike. The main coalition driving the strike was aided by self-policing from inside of the movement. “That’s very difficult to maintain. Once you start this kind of activity, you don’t know who’s going to join,” he said.

Gonzales believes that in the current situation, there is a patch of humanity, common ground, where one can be both pro-Palestine and pro-Israel. He said it’s made difficult if you stand against the belligerent policies of Benjamin Netanyahu. In that case, you’re likely to be labeled antisemitic.

Despite that, Gonzales is in solidarity with the protesters and the people of Gaza, generally. Not Hamas. And he sees how most of the young people protesting are in shock at what he called the “duration of the absolute inhumane kind of persecution and prosecution of the Palestinians carried out by the Israeli government.”

As a survivor of campus protest decades ago, Gonzales offered some advice to the student protesters of 2024.

“You have to have a definable goal, but right now the path to that goal is unclear,” he said.

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. A veteran newsman in TV and print, he is a former host of NPR’s “All Things Considered.”