Biden wins title as the forgiving candidate

 With his selection of Kamala Harris as his vice presidential running mate, former vice president Joe Biden lays claim to the title of the candidate of forgiveness.

Biden has a forgiving soul. How else can you explain his selection of Senator Harris from a field of successful, talented candidates his campaign had been vetting for months? How else could Biden cheerfully team with the woman who had laid an ambush for him in the first Democratic Party debate last year?

In that initial debate of the primary season, Harris immediately stood out from the field of 10 hopefuls on the debate stage as she quickly grabbed the moment and accused of Biden opposing school integration through busing of students to achieve desegregation. Biden had not seen it coming. After all, his position on school busing in the 1970s, when it was a hot-button issue in many states, was not appreciably different from Harris' own position, which was that local school officials, not the staff of the Department of Education's Civil Rights Division, should determine where and how students should attend school.

If Harris' vocal condemnation of Biden wasn't enough, her campaign staff provided to TV networks and cable news a photo of cute little Kamala preparing to get on a bus to go to school. That shot was aired before the candidates' debate was over. 

Biden has previously said he didn't hold a grudge about that ambush, but his graciousness in handing his vocal assailant a spot on the presidential ticket goes beyond most people's forgiveness quotient.

Biden has captured the forgiveness prize, but it was never a contest anyway. President Trump, Biden's opponent on Nov. 3, is not known for forgiveness. He is known as a master of retaliation, retribution, revenge, reprisal, holding a grudge, exploding in anger at the smallest slight, counterattack. Trump has said he never asked God for forgiveness because he had never done anything that needed forgiving.

If forgiveness vs. revenge becomes an issue in this year's presidential election, voters will decide whether they want a man of humble forgiveness or a man of never-waning vengeance and outrage. It will be scary to see how many voters will choose the latter.