Pretty much this. Though the Dems don’t seem to get that lesson. Biden? Yeah, I’d vote for him in a heartbeat if he runs. I didn’t particularly like him before he was VP, but he’s definitely grown on me during the Obama administration.
But, honestly, the Dems aren’t going to run him, even if he decides to run. They will pick Sanders or Warren or someone like that…someone who sees moderation as weakness and an enemy on par with the Republicans and who thinks that the Progressives time has come, blah blah blah. Someone who will, in short, tear the party apart when it most needs to be unified against the Republicans, especially in light of the idiot we currently have in the white house who is tearing the entire nation apart.
I love Biden and was very disappointed when he didn’t run in 2016, but he might be a little old for a 2020 run. A lot will depend on his health between now and then; a lot can change in two years. If he’s up for it I’d get on board, especially with a young up and coming VP.
+2. The whole “… or bust” mentality has got to go. Don’t make the good the enemy of the perfect.
As a relegated RINO, I’m not going to vote for any Republican who isn’t loudly demanding Trump’s impeachment. So I hope Democrats don’t blow it–they need to pick someone that the center can vote for. In other words, talk like Obama, not Bernie.
I’d vote for that. Just to watch the racists’ frothing.
True only for one side: those who were yearning to hear Mexicans called rapists and blacks told that they couldn’t walk out their door without being shot and women sneered at as nasty bleeders—those people would, and did, forgive any sin. Because their yearning was so great.
The same is not true for the majority of voters–those who are not craving insults and threats against those who dare to be something other than white Christian males.* That* majority is capable of being bothered by the plagiarism and exaggeration-of-accomplishments issues.
If Biden runs, it will be pointed out that he has been rejected time after time in his attempts to become President. And much, much more will be pointed out. People are being all sentimental about Biden because they’ve never seen the GOP go to work on him. If he runs, they will indeed go to work on him, and he won’t seem ‘clean’ anymore.
Why do people keep saying his age is an issue? Trump will be 74. His VP will be 60. As long as Biden runs with a relatively young VP we like, what does it matter? Bernie will be 75. And let’s be honest: Those two are the only ones with a snowball’s chance in hell of winning. Even with all his racism, even with all his scandals, Trump could very well win. He has the base of the GOP. If the Democrats run someone like Harris, it will be seen as pandering; they will lose. Cuomo is more of a regional candidate. DiBlasio you would see losing the unions and Blue Dog Democrats who support the police. The only ones I see as capable of both winning over both wings of the Democratic Party, and the general election, are Biden or Bernie. Warren would be crushed in a general election.
I said before that Charisma is essential for a Democratic win, and certainly Warren lacks traditional Charisma. But she has a very different form of Charisma that also speaks to people. She has a way of connecting her politics with the every day lives of the people she’s out to benefit, and doing so in a way that changes it from an abstract promise of better to an explanation of exactly what’s hurting, exactly why it’s hurting, and how she’s going to make that hurt go away (I use this example a lot). That’s quite a compelling ability.
People are desperate in the USA, even though we may not want to admit it and our level of wealth/prosperity might not warrant the level of desperation we feel. People didn’t elect Trump because they wanted Trump persay, they elected him because Hillary promised more of the same and people desperately wanted something - anything - to get them out of their current straights. As soon as Trump became the candidate of hope - even perverse, nonsensical an downright disgusting hope - nothing else mattered and he became the God Emperor in their eyes.
Whoever the democratic candidate is, they must tap into that desperation and give hope. Obama did and won handily. Trump did and won, albeit only by the electorial college. The next candidate cannot approach this from the angle of politics and must address the desperation people feel. I believe Warren can do that.
I do tend to agree, however, that one can have the best of both worlds. Biden/Warren would be a powerful pairing. But I wouldn’t discount Warren.
It’s not age per se; it’s the health issues that go hand in hand with aging.
The oldest person ever to take the Presidential oath was Reagan, for his second term; he was a couple of weeks shy of his 74th birthday (were Biden to run, and win, in 2020, he’d turn 78 just after the election). It’s believed by many that Reagan was starting to suffer from memory loss, and the early symptoms of the Alzheimer’s Disease which eventually led to his death, during his second term.
And, yes, certainly, there are many 78-year-olds who are robustly healthy. But, it’s absolutely normal for a person to be suffering from chronic health issues (if not also acute health issues) when you reach that age.
In addition, the presidency is an incredibly stressful job, and there are all sorts of “before and after” pictures out there of how former presidents have appeared to age rapidly while in the position.
So, it’s not just “he’s 78,” it’s “there’s a significant chance of him suffering from a severe health issue during his four-year term.” And, yes, obviously, you’d want him to pick a good choice for his vice-president, but, generally speaking, most voters are really only focused on who the presidential candidate is.
Given how tight many of our recent presidential elections have been, it doesn’t necessarily take much doubt, in many people’s minds, about the fitness of a candidate to change the outcome.
I love Joe Biden; he’s one of my very favorite politicians.
Twelve months ago I was pushing Biden for President, only to be laughed at. Yet I could see that there was wide sentiment to replace the unusually weak Hillary candidate with this charismatic man, who would appeal to a huge swath of moderate Trump supporters. Switching from Hillary to Biden would have changed a doubtful chance for the Democrats into a sure-thing. Avid Democrats and indeed Americans in general should have been delighted with such a substitution.
Unfortunately, there was no obvious way forward, especially if Hillary declined to drop out for the common good. (One might need to “push her under the bus” literally. :eek: )
Having said that, I don’t consider Biden to be in the same weight-class intellectually as Obama or either Clinton. And he voted No, Yes on the Iraq-41 and Iraq-43 Wars, IIRC, though the correct answers were Yes, No. Even untutored I got that little quiz; How much confidence should we have in someone who got zero out of 2 correct?
Finally, note that most Presidents are elected in their 50’s. Almost as many have been elected in their 40’s as in their 60’s. Reagan was elected to a 2nd term when he was in his 70’s; the only other 70-year old President has been Donald Trump (and, very briefly, Dwight Eisenhower).
Joe Biden will be Seventy-Eight years old when his is inaugurated in 2021. (That’s “Eight” with an E.)
The Presidency is physically and mentally demanding even for someone in their 50’s. Expecting someone to do that job at 78 (and counting) is naive, IMO. I’d have a hard time supporting him unless it was the only way to defeat a Trump, Cruz, or similar clown.
He’s a better candidate than Hillary Clinton, and almost certainly could have beaten Trump, but I don’t see how he’d be any better at reaching disaffected voters. He’s another one of the ‘party insider’ types that people were sick of in the last election (though in 2020 people may be so sick of Trump’s antics that they try to vote the most bland, establishment candidate they can find). I personally wouldn’t vote for him, though, as I won’t vote for President anyone who voted for the Iraq War - the president is the driving force behind foreign policy, and as far as I’m concerned no one who thought that was a good idea should be in charge of foreign policy decisions.
I think the old man could handle four years. All we need is four years of NORMALCY. We don’t need four years of upheaval in either direction. I’m not looking for our next President to be an activist who will push for single-payer healthcare and do all these things. What I’m looking for is a President who will just steer us back to the America I knew, and who will show the world that we can be trusted again; a leader who will unite us again and heal our wounds. An Gerry Ford or Jimmy Carter, basically. A caretaker. Nothing more, nothing less. Someone who won’t make either the right or left throw shitfits by their election. I’m tired of seeing both extremes go insane and whine because the “ultimate evil” has been elected. The Conservatives went nuts when Obama was elected, the Far Left went nuts when Trump was elected. Both of these were, in different ways, magnetic and polarizing figures. I don’t want someone magnetic or polarizing. I don’t want another rockstar. I want someone wise, old, stable, and boring compared to Obama or Trump .
If Biden is judged by his doctors to be in good enough health, God willing, come 2020, I want the man to run. The last 8 years have made me tired, especially these last eight months. I just want a nice caretaker President who won’t do much of anything except make this feel like America again.
I have faith in Biden to be a robust figure even in four years. And that’s all I want out of him. Four peaceful, quiet years of decency and prosperity, while he grooms his VP to take the reigns in 2024.
I held out hope Biden would jump in in 2016. The Democratic Party is far too shrill and beholden to the Mob at this moment to nominate Biden. The Democrats want a true-believing central planner that loves liberal use of the US military. Think Bernie Sanders astride a V-22 Osprey, plus a member of [insert protected coalition group here].
Whenever I want to know what Democrats really believe and want, I know that I ask an anarcho-libertarian who thinks that anyone who works for government is a monster.
