Joe Biden accepted the Democratic Presidential nomination last night, and while he wasn't the first (or second, or third) choice of many of us, maybe he's the right person for this moment? That's what I'm telling myself, anyway. For the last nearly four years, all I have heard here and elsewhere from progressives is screw the centrists, and the moderate Republicans, and the Independents, and let's peg left and get out more voters.

That's clearly not the right strategy this year, not when Trump is doing everything in his power to suppress the vote, not in the midst of a pandemic, not while the President is trying to sabotage the USPS. We need all the votes we can get, and that's what the final night of the DNC sought to do: Appeal to the center, and even the center right. I mean, Jesus: What does it say when Bloomberg gets more time than AOC? Michael Bloomberg?! (It probably says that Biden is going to get to use Bloomberg's data operation).

Biden wants to be a unity candidate. I don't know if such a thing can even exist in 2020, but I will say this: I cannot fathom another four years with a President whose only concern is his own base. When wildfires came to California, Donald Trump threatened to withhold funding, because they don't vote for him in California. When hurricanes decimated Puerto Rico, Trump didn't give a sh*t. Not his voters. When New York City became the pandemic's first hot spot, Trump did the least amount possible, which is part of why it spread to the rest of the country, because the red states thought it was a blue state problem until it was too late. Remember when Cuomo and Newsome were forced to kiss Trump's ass, so that they could get life-saving ventilators? And how he basically told Michigan to f**k off because Gretchen Whitmer wouldn't kiss the ring?

They may be in the minority, but there's a lot of good people in red states, and at least Biden won't abandon them because the rest of the state won't vote for him. That's gotta count for something.

Biden's not my guy, and I don't think he's the guy who "wipes out the stain of racism from our national character." But I like the people he's bringing along with him. The Democratic Party has a good bench. One day that bench will duke it out for control of the party. Today is not that day. Today is the day we get Trump out of the White House, and then we spend the next four years arguing about Biden's successor while he painstakingly pieces the federal government back together stitch by stitch. I'm OK with that. What I'm not OK with is for half the country being punished every time something bad happens because they didn't vote for Trump.

All due respect, Vice President Biden, but this election is entirely about "winning votes."

"This campaign isn't just about winning votes." Joe Biden says at the #DemConvention. "It's about winning the heart, and yes, the soul of America." pic.twitter.com/onDODWR68R

— MSNBC (@MSNBC) August 21, 2020

Request your mail-in ballots today. Make sure you are registered to vote. Vote early. Make a plan.