I hereby throw caution and legalistic turgidity off the roof. Biden for President!
I’ve had it with our potty-mouthed crackpot in the White House. But the issue is not getting rid of Trump. It’s who will beat him in 2020. And how will the Democratic candidate win?
I know that the time between now and 2020 is an eternity in politics and that a commitment to Joe Biden may be imprudent because, because, because. Emotionally, I’m not prepared to wait.
On the merits, Joe Biden will be a better President than the incumbent for one reason above all: he knows that the Presidency is an institution first and a person second, something that eludes the jerk now embodying that institution. Sure, to be right on the issues and policies affecting American life is essential.
But Americans are only safe with a leader who knows that personhood is irrelevant when exercising the powers of the Presidency, just as a Judge is a Court, an institution exercising the judicial power of the United States and not a person.
Much of the opposition to a Biden candidacy arises from his age and personal mannerisms. Bernie Sanders is older than Biden. Only four years separate Biden from Trump and Biden looks–and is–healthier than the excessively glandular prez. And anyone who has been around for a while in politics, unless they have been living in a hermetically-sealed baggy, has said things or knows people or committed gaffes that irritate or annoy. I don’t give a damn. The stakes are too high.
Some people don’t like him because he is insufficiently left. So what? To produce a winner, Biden stumped for Conor Lamb in Pennsylvania and helped to produce his tectonic victory in a district where no Democratic candidate was even nominated in the two elections before this one. Sanders and Elizabeth Warren: not invited.
What Biden must avoid is acceptance of cute “solutions” to jack up his chances. These include vowing to run for one term, selecting a younger, perhaps non-political, aspirant as his Vice President when he announces, claiming to be a “bridge” to disaffected Republican and 2016 Trump voters suffering buyer’s remorse, and sitting out primaries in Iowa and New Hampshire.
The principal problem with each of these tactics is that each invites public opinion polling that will show opposition. “The BS Poll today showed that 36% of Democratic primary voters oppose a one-term pledge; 27% oppose omitting early primary states; and 41% won’t vote for Biden because of his Vice President pick.” This type of polling is a moneymaker for the pollsters and has a life of its own. Opponents and media are induced to cite this junk as a reason to oppose Biden.
Substantively, these cute fixes aren’t much good. If you’re a “one term” President you’re a lame duck at your inaugural. Your running mate may turn out to be a lemon in the primaries, not a problem if selected at the Convention. And why should famed retail campaigner Biden stay away from Iowa and New Hampshire when money is no problem?
I repeat: Biden for President!