# How can Biden cater to the left and centrists at the same time? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [April 10, 2020, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496 "2020-04-10T13:44:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/41 "2020-04-12T02:54:30Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I don’t know if gun control is really an issue. I mean on the right when you mention gun control the right wing base throws a fit, but I think a lot of other people understand gun control just means background checks, limits on certain types of firearms. > > Maybe, maybe, there are some on the left who would balk at a ban on semi auto rifles like the AR-15. But other than that I don’t think they’d really balk at gun control that makes universal background checks or limits magazines, or prohibits sales to people convicted of violent misdemeanors. > > But reasonable gun control won’t limit the sales of shotguns, handguns or bolt action rifles. It may affect semi auto rifles though, which may cause some issues. I am a gun owner and I have no problem with the kind of gun control you’re talking about there. Of course I’m not a gun **nut** either. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/42 "2020-04-12T05:37:42Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > He needs to not talk about gun control. > > In my observation, gun control as it stands today is a “centrist” position as opposed to a “left” position, if we’re taking “left” to mean “the people who really would rather have Bernie Sanders.” Gun control is for suburban soccer moms and middle to upper class East Coast professionals. Over the past few years - and I predicted this would happen when Trump, a blatant authoritarian, became president - many of the farther-left people have changed their position on gun control (sometimes to the point of actually buying guns and publicly announcing their intent to do so.) You don’t need a sociology degree to figure this one out. They’re _scared._ Not scared in an abstract way, scared in a “I might actually need to physically defend myself from a mob of right-wing bigots” way. > > Over the past years I’ve seen Facebook friends buying guns who - if they told me 4 years ago that they were doing so - I would be waiting in anticipation of a punch line for what I would bet every last cent to my name was the setup to some kind of joke. Not anymore. > > This phenomenon is _totally separate_ from the already existing gun owners in America whose voting choice is influenced largely or even entirely by this issue. Now some of these people are _actually_ up for grabs, given how deeply polarizing Trump is. It would not be the case if Mitt Romney was taking on Joe Biden. But the old books have been thrown out. > > Joe - stop talking about guns. It’s pretty clear that gun control is a losing issue in swing states. At least for the time being. > [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I don’t know if gun control is really an issue. I mean on the right when you mention gun control the right wing base throws a fit, but I think a lot of other people understand gun control just means background checks, limits on certain types of firearms. > > Maybe, maybe, there are some on the left who would balk at a ban on semi auto rifles like the AR-15. But other than that I don’t think they’d really balk at gun control that makes universal background checks or limits magazines, or prohibits sales to people convicted of violent misdemeanors. > > But reasonable gun control won’t limit the sales of shotguns, handguns or bolt action rifles. It may affect semi auto rifles though, which may cause some issues. It will cost net votes. > [@Atamasama](#): > > I am a gun owner and I have no problem with the kind of gun control you’re talking about there. > > Of course I’m not a gun **nut** either. [https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/](https://joebiden.com/gunsafety/) There is a long list of things. Some of these I agree with, some of these I don’t. In either event, I don’t think it is a good electoral strategy to beat this particular drum so much. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/43 "2020-04-12T13:21:50Z")
Just running ‘I’m not Trump’ won’t get the job done. People want something to vote FOR, not just against. That’s how Obama (and Trump) won and it’s how Hillary lost. An electoral argument should really come down to hammering 2 or 3 big things. I’d posit: 1. Public Option. Biden’s not going to do away with Obamacare. He’s got too much of himself wrapped up in it - and respect for Obama - to do so. But modifying it so there’s an opt-in to Medicare or some public option? Yeah, he could do that. 2. Hammer taxation issues. Talk incessantly about how corporations and the 1% - really the 0.1% - are receiving benefits while not paying them. Just hammer that he’s the one who will stand up and say the middle and lower classes shouldn’t pay the freight so others don’t have to. Mention what we don’t have because those taxes aren’t being paid. Hammer those. Hammer them. Biden/Warren is a stupid fucking ticket. Aside from the age issue - which is real - we’d lose a Senate seat and we sure as shit can’t afford to lose even one. Plus, it’s the opportunity for Biden to set a bit of a course for the next generation of top tier democratic party leaders. Whomever he chooses will have influence as the baby boomers ride off into the sunset. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/44 "2020-04-12T13:31:19Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > “If you don’t vote for me, you’re stupid” is a major reason why we don’t hear a lot about President Hillary, but you do you. No it isn’t. And that’s not what Clinton said. And that’s not what anyone in this thread said. But you do you. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/45 "2020-04-14T10:05:18Z")
The smartest thing that Biden and his top staff should do is wake up every morning and remember that Twitter isn’t real life. It would be nice if journalists would do the same. But, the campaign can’t let itself get distracted by what’s trending on liberal Twitter, which is far more liberal, much younger and very urban. There’s no need to mollycoddle Warren/Bernie supporters who won’t accept any compromise except full student loan cancellation, for example. They may be loud, but they are already heavily concentrated in blue states anyway and are the most fickle of voters. They’ll be some box that Biden won’t check on their 10,000 question purity test and thus they end up staying home or throwing their vote away on a 3rd part or write in. ---
**Author:** ![RealFDRdem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ac8455/32.png) [@RealFDRdem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealFDRdem)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2020, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/46 "2020-04-15T03:37:29Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > It seems obvious that if a majority of people wanted what Bernie was pushing he’d be the nominee. > > But, [Progressive Groups Demand Changes From Joe Biden After Bernie Sanders’ Withdrawal.](https://www.yahoo.com/huffpost/progressive-groups-open-letter-to-joe-biden-general-election-donald-trump-205317060.html) > > The leftist and centrists viewpoints don’t seem terribly compatible. Republicans are much more unified. I assume that if Biden doesn’t cater to the left, that this will have consequences, but what? And what can he do about it. Actually it isn’t obvious at all. Many Democratic “centrists” (Democratic voters, not politicians) are actually very left-wing but consider themselves “pragmatists” who will vote for the “electable” candidate. The problem is that the “electable” candidate usually loses. This isn’t terribly surprising considering that what establishment Democrats and the media push as “electable” isn’t terribly popular (kissing the corporate shoe, cheering on Republican wars, etc.). There hasn’t been a Democratic president in decades that has actually made the working class a priority. But the sheeple keep nodding their heads about what they’re told constitutes electability even when the “electable” candidates keep losing. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/47 "2020-04-16T18:03:07Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > No it isn’t. And that’s not what Clinton said. And that’s not what anyone in this thread said. But you do you. Yes, it actually is a major reason. But that’s much of the problem from the far left in the US - that sometimes entertaining, sometimes alarming mixture of tone-deafness and arrogant condescension that they expect will win elections. Not only do they not know how they come across, they apparently don’t want to know. To answer the question of the OP, simply dismissing as irrelevant or unworthy anyone who isn’t convinced already is not how Biden can cater to the left and centrists at the same time. He will actually have to make his case, in whatever fumble-mouthed rambling way he can. Because centrists are not automatically going to vote for him because he isn’t Trump. “He’s not Bush” is also one of the main reasons no one looks back on the Presidency of John Kerry either, but nobody on the SDMB wants to think about that either, apparently. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2020, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496/48 "2020-04-17T16:54:37Z")
IF he asked me, which he won’t, I’d suggest a commitment to popular, easily attainable goals. $15/hour isn’t happening, but it is probably time to increase the minimum wage and perhaps build in annual increases based on some appropriate economic standard. A commitment to rebuilding infrastructure could stimulate the economy by providing lots of new jobs. Perhaps some federal incentive for recycling programs–which could also create some jobs. More development of wind and solar power. That sort of thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-can-biden-cater-to-the-left-and-centrists-at-the-same-time/851496.md?page=2)