So it finally happened. The one grownup in the prospective field jumped in. Catholic, old white male Dem Joe Biden is running for the top job, again. He even comes out of the gate with, completely meaningless, good poll numbers against the president. He also intelligently waited for his metoo/creeper problem to die down.
Not surprising because he doesn’t come across as a loon, as do most of his Dem competitors. Kind of argly bargly affable uncle who lives in Florida? Yes. Crazy man? No. That’s why Joe himself, Joe personally, the doddering geezer with whom I used to attend a small church, will pose no serious threat to Trump. Somewhere along the way he’ll screw the pooch in some very amusing way and that will be that.
However, what he represents, the sum total of senator and Veep Biden’s political record and appeal, does definitely have a shot. That is, of course, if any old white male can make it to the Dem nod. Which in these days of Dem racist politics is a problematic question for Biden.
Specifically, he can appeal to white working class Dem voters in PA, OH, WI, and MI who were the president’s margin of victory in the 2016 general election. I didn’t say he would win them over automatically. I’m saying Biden will be a lot more interesting to them than was lawyer Ivy League Grandma Mao.
I can hear some of you now. No way! Trump Rules! Uh-huh. How did those Red Tsunami memes work out for you in last year’s midterms, eh? We do the opposition’s work when we underestimate them out of confirmation bias.
Biden’s team, a good number of sensible pros, knows his propensity for unforced errors and his white male status. That’s why his announcement video was chock-full of PC garbage. Notice the sly Human Rights Campaign reference in the campaign logo. If he focuses on that and not on working class voters in the above-mentioned states, he will be less of a threat. Even if he goes PC to grab the nomination and runs to the middle in the general, Trump will trounce him in the fall debates using his primary run idiocy against him to great effect. If he has to go hard left on his veep choice, that could help Trump too. If Biden himself trots out the personal tragedy of his first wife’s death, you know he is on the ropes.
But if he uses just enough PC to bring a portion of the hard left over with promises of power once he’s elected and plays up his Lunch Bucket Joe appeal, he could be formidable.
To reason otherwise is to give the Dems an advantage they surely desire. The GOP is notorious for snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory. Maybe this time, some Republican voters can get over themselves and think smarter.
