4A
FRIDAY, AUGUST 30, 2019
The Observer
OTHER VIEWS
Joe Biden should get out
while he’s still ahead
We got used to his serial gaffes long ago.
“That’s just Joe,” his friends and supporters say about his lat-
est gaffes today.
I’m not one to make fun of him by calling him “Sleepy Joe” or
any of his other nicknames, but now I’m starting to feel sorry for
Biden.
He’s showing signs of mental confusion. And he’s looking and
acting way too old for his political aspirations.
If I could talk to Biden, I’d tell him the truth everyone knows
but doesn’t have the heart to say out loud:
“Joe, face reality. It’s time to get off the stage. You don’t need
any more of this campaign crap. It’s time to quit while more
people still love you than feel sorry for you. While you still have
a little dignity left. While you still have time to spend with your
family.”
Biden knows the score better than any pundit or fake journal-
ist you’ve seen on TV.
He knows he’s too old and too out of touch to run. But he won’t
admit it. He’s hanging on, pretending he has a political future
when all he has is a past.
It’s only because of his name recognition that Biden is still
leading in the polls, basically doubling up on the numbers of
Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
But Biden is kidding himself if he thinks he can win the pri-
mary and defeat Trump next year.
In today’s new leftward sliding Democrat Party, he’s a living
relic, another over-the-hill D.C. lifer with stale ideas pretending
to be “woke” and carrying too much politically incorrect baggage
from yesteryear.
Biden’s popularity in his own party peaked months ago and
can only go downhill from here.
When the dozen Green New Dealers running for president
start dropping by the wayside, their leftwing supporters are not
going to all jump on the Biden Bandwagon. They’ll sign on with
Warren or Sanders.
What Biden is doing is re-running the Hillary Clinton cam-
paign – only four years later.
It’s not working for him, either.
He still thinks that he’ll take the White House next fall by
repeating the campaign slogan “I may be too old. I may be too
moderate. I may be boring. But only I can beat Trump.”
That might have worked for him in 2016, but we’ll never know
because he deferred to President Obama’s wishes and the Clin-
ton Machine.
Now Biden’s running a hapless, desperate, half-hearted cam-
paign that’s become more like a personal sob-story tour.
In Iowa he’s been doing what he wouldn’t have done four years
ago – using the death of his wife and daughter in a 1972 traffi c
accident as a way to talk about the importance of free health
care for all.
So what should poor Joe do?
If I were advising him, I’d tell him to do exactly what Indianap-
olis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck did just this week – retire.
Luck shocked the pro football world this week by calling a
press conference and saying he had decided to quit the game he
loved – at 29.
Luck explained that after seven years in the NFL, he was too
physically beat up and mentally worn out to go on.
Biden doesn’t have $50 million to live on like Luck does. But
he does have the $15 million he’s reportedly made since he left
the Obama administration.
That booty and a dozen speeches a year ought to be enough
to keep Biden and his loved ones from having to move into a
sidewalk tent in Los Angeles.
So what should Biden do?
Does he want to leave the national political playing fi eld as a
successful VP or as a failed presidential candidate?
Does he drop out of the race on his own or risk embarrassing
himself so much he’s pushed out.
If I were him, I’d call Andrew Luck for guidance.
— Michael Reagan is the son of President Ronald Reagan, a political
consultant, and the author of “Lessons My Father Taught Me: The Strength,
Integrity, and Faith of Ronald Reagan.”
‘Trump must be stopped, and we must help’
My Voice
T
here’s nothing Donald Trump
won’t do to attack immigrants.
Recently fi nalized immigration
regulations threaten not thou-
sands of families, but millions, and
not only at the border, but here
in Union County and all over the
country. I believe Trump must be
stopped, and we must help.
This new front in Trump’s class
war puts visas up for auction, tell-
ing hardworking families in lower-
wage jobs they need not apply. Im-
migrants who came to the United
States with nothing and built
better lives are some of the best
American success stories. Trump’s
plan makes this impossible for all
but the already wealthy.
A decade after the recession,
things are still tough for many of us.
When hard work just isn’t enough,
public safety-net programs — from
baby food through the WIC Supple-
mental Nutrition Assistance Pro-
gram to EpiPens through Medicaid
or blood pressure medicine through
Medicare — help close the gap.
Trump’s “public charge” regula-
tion proposed last fall and now
fi nalized weaponizes public
programs, turning them against
immigrants seeking admission to
the U.S. or applying for a “green
card.” Every doctor’s visit or family
meal would put immigration status
at risk. And since there is no way
to account for which carrots an im-
migrant parent ate and which ones
a U.S.-born child ate, the regulation
effectively denies basics like food
and housing to whole families.
Conservative estimates peg the
regulation’s impact affecting 26
million persons nationwide. That
includes the one-fourth of all chil-
dren in the U.S. — the vast majority
U.S. Rep. Greg Walden (2nd District): D.C. offi ce:
2185 Rayburn House Offi ce Building, Washington, D.C.
20515-0001, 202-225-6730; fax 202-225-5774. Website:
walden.house.gov/. Email: walden.house.gov/e-mail-greg.
La Grande offi ce: 1211 Washington Ave., La Grande, OR
97850; 541-624-2400, email jorden.noyes@mail.house.gov.
Oregon Gov. Kate Brown: 900 Court St. N.E., Salem,
OR 97301; 503-378-4582.
Oregon Secretary of State Bev Clarno: 136 State
Capitol. Salem, OR 97310-0722; 503-986-1523.
Oregon State Treasurer Tobias Reed: 350 Winter St.
N.E., Suite 100, Salem, OR 97301-3896; 503-378-4329.
Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum: Justice
Building, Salem, OR 97301-4096; 503-378-4400.
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A division of
on the issues that matter for real
people. So we must join together to
tear down Trump’s paperwork wall.
Demand that Oregon’s congres-
sional representatives — including
our congressman Greg Walden —
take action to protect our state’s
children and families.
Stopping Trump isn’t enough. Our
leaders must also advance policies
that create opportunities for all to
succeed. A congressionally chartered
plan to cut child poverty in half and
legislation establishing Medicare for
all would make immigrant families
— citizen, documented and undocu-
mented family members — eligible
for the public programs that can help
them build productive lives and also
contribute fully to our economy and
our communities.
Exclusion, poverty, illness and
hunger don’t lead to greatness. We
must rise up together to build a
country we can be proud of.
State Sen. William S. Hansell (29th District/
Pendleton): Salem offi ce: 900 Court St. NE., S-423,
Salem, OR 97301; 503-986-1729. Website: www.
oregonlegislature.gov/hansell. Email: sen.billhansell@
oregonlegislature.gov.
State Rep. Greg Barreto (58th District/Cove): Salem
offi ce: 900 Court St. NE., H-384, Salem, OR 97301; 503-
986-1458. Website: www.oregonlegislature.gov/barreto.
Email: rep.gregbarreto@oregonlegislature.gov.
State Rep. Greg Smith (57th District): Salem offi ce:
900 Court St. NE., H-482, Salem, OR, 97301; 503-986-
1457. Heppner offi ce: P.O. Box 219, Heppner, OR 97836;
541-676-5154; Website: www.oregonlegislature.gov/
smithg. Email: rep.gregsmith@oregonlegislature.gov.
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born here — who live in immigrant
families. It’s hard to overstate the
consequences for Oregon, where the
rule would affect thousands. As our
neighbors lose basics like food, medi-
cal care and access to housing, every
problem Oregon faces will worsen.
Because it targets immigrants of
color, this policy will widen racial
disparities on everything from
infant mortality to housing stabil-
ity. The Migration Policy Institute
estimated it could affect more than
10 million Latinos and 3.8 mil-
lion Asian American and Pacifi c
Islander immigrants. In the wake
of President Trump’s “s---hole”
comment, news media reported an
increase in deportations targeting
African immigrants.
This is Trump at his worst —
threatening working families to rig
the game for the rich and drive rac-
ists to the polls. The “public charge”
policy was crafted by Stephen
Miller, architect of Trump’s family
separation policy. Like that brutal
policy, it’s a dangerous plan that’s
ripe for abuse. Public charge has
been manipulated before, against
Jews and Irish and Italian Catho-
lics. There’s no reason to think
Trump won’t abuse it again.
Advocates for immigrant families
and state attorneys general are
already preparing litigation. But
again and again, Trump and Miller
have shown they won’t let the law
stand in the way of their atroci-
ties. And this isn’t the last wave
in Trump’s attacks. He’s already
proposed additional regulations
targeting immigrant families’
health, incomes, food and homes.
Congress can end the abuse and
protect immigrant families, but
Congress is not always focused
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