Almost from the moment Joe Biden distinguished himself from the field of Democratic presidential aspirants by resisting the temptation to cater to the fringe pathologies that afflict progressives cloistered enough to believe their views are popular, his critics insisted that it wasn’t enough. Biden, they said, needed to deliver a “Sister Souljah moment.”
The prescription refers to Bill Clinton’s 1992 decision to single out the rapper and activist Lisa “Sister Souljah” Williamson and criticize her for suggesting America could balance the cosmic scales by dedicating a week to killing white people. Plucking this low-hanging fruit conveyed to voters that Clinton was a “tough-on-crime” Democrat — an impression communicated in similar fashion by Clinton’s decision to take time off the trail to supervise the execution of convicted cop-killer Ricky Ray Rector. Through a strategy of addition by subtraction, Clinton increased his appeal to more voters than he repulsed with his rejection of the boutique progressivism popular among the radical chic.
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