We get caught up in, “The millionaires have to do more so that we can improve everybody else’s quality of life.” Well, that’s true, but we’re not talking to that regular mom that is struggling to make sure that her kid can go to a good school, live in a safe neighborhood.
A number of your C.B.C. colleagues have said they are torn between supporting Vice President Biden, or supporting Senators Kamala Harris or Cory Booker. How did you think through that decision?
They are both friends of mine and I respect them both and I think that they are really effective senators, and I think they’re both people of high moral standards. So my endorsement of Joe Biden is by no means a reflection of who they are and how effective or good they are.
I’ve been recruiting the vice president to run almost immediately since [Hillary] Clinton lost.
One, because I thought his body of work was that of a person I’d want to see as president. Two, because I thought he was the best person to take on President Trump and beat him. And then three, from Day 1, restore our credibility around the world, and start to unify a very divided — a very, very divided — country.
Do you expect the vice president to offer more specifics on issues like climate?
Absolutely. It’s amazing to me to watch everyone now say that they are, quote-unquote “progressive” and “this is the litmus test for progressives,” but everything they’re talking about the vice president, they are issues he’s already been on.
It was ’86 he introduced a climate change bill. He led our efforts in the Paris accord. So he has a body of work on that issue before it became popular.
Any sense of when that climate plan is coming?
I think it’s in the next couple of weeks.
Vice President Biden has been criticized for saying the 1994 crime bill, which he supported, did not generate mass incarceration, though experts have said it did contribute. Does he need to clarify?