Posted on 03/05/2020 1:04:04 PM PST by Kaslin
With his stunning Super Tuesday wins, Joe Biden is now the odds-on favorite to become the Democratic nominee. Bernie Sanders, the last man in Biden’s way, now finds himself as he did in 2016: one-on-one against a former member of the last Democratic administration. Several candidates dropped out this week, and one joined the race. His name is Barack Obama.
Now that the campaign has settled into a two-man contest, the central issue, which was not inevitable, has emerged. Do Democrats want a return to the less radical era of private health-care options and free trade? Or do they want a new Democratic Party in Bernie’s image that nationalizes whatever it can get its hands on and engages in protectionism and Green New Deals?
In some ways this mirrors the dueling Democratic narratives that emerged from the 2018 midterms in which they took back the House of Representatives. The popular narrative shouted from the covers of political and cultural magazines and on social media was that minority women like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Queens had spoken truth to Donald Trump’s power and beaten him.
The narrative inside politics was that moderate Democrats like Max Rose in Staten Island had flipped swing districts and that, although unsung, were the real heroes of 2018. This dichotomy, between the radical green left and the less radical purple right of the party, will be front and center in the primary battle.
Had one of the fresh faces, an Amy Klobuchar or Pete Buttigieg, emerged as the stopper of Sanders’s socialism, this election would not be so focused on whether Obama and his brand of liberalism still lies at the core of the Democrat Party. But now it is about little else. So much of Biden’s message is connected to his time with his good friend Barack that it could scarcely be otherwise.
Every now and then in American politics, we see a hostile takeover of a major party. One could argue that Bill Clinton, a Southern “conservative” Democrat, executed such a takeover in 1992, being nominated by the party that had put up Massachusetts liberal Michael Dukakis just four years earlier. Obviously the most recent example is Trump’s bear hug on the GOP, which has transformed it in myriad ways.
Sanders is attempting such a takeover. He has been since he announced his candidacy against Hillary Clinton in 2015. While Sanders is running ads now, as Mike Bloomberg did, showing him being praised by Obama, his political philosophy runs counter to Obama’s “slow march forward” approach. It was Obama, after all, who tried to convince AOC and the Squad last year that change comes dropping slow.
The conventional wisdom right now (and that could change before you finish your coffee) is that Biden is the clear frontrunner. If that is true and he secures the nomination, then it will be up to him to woo Sanders voters who didn’t exactly take a shine to Hillary Clinton. This may take the form of “Hey, I’m better than Trump,” or it may take the form of winking at them as Obama did in 2008 on gay marriage, and saying I’m just saying what I have to say to get elected.
If Biden comes out of the convention as the nominee to challenge Trump, it will still be a referendum on Obama. There the stark contrast and question will be between America under Obama and America under Trump. Our last two presidents — both of whom attracted more deep love and disapproving ire than any of their recent predecessors — will have their administrations pitted against each other.
Obama is back, whether he wants to be or not. He doesn’t have to endorse anybody; it is now clear that Biden is the candidate who represents his legacy. Sanders is the candidate who would erase many of Obama’s achievements and create his own history as the first socialist American president.
It is far from clear where this will all land, but we are in a different place than we were last week. Obama is on the ballot. And that might change everything.
Fixed it
Sorry but that happened in 2016 and Trump has already demolished most of obungholes legacy!
“Biden is the candidate who represents his legacy.”
—
That would have to be an extremely depression realization to anyone who wanted to preserve and promote their legacy. Like finding out Charles Manson will be carving your Thanksgiving turkey this year.
The reason for Trump WAS Obama however most people have memory span of a knat I hope they ALL remember just how bad things were for 8 years!!!
Well I do hope it spreads to everyone.
Because comparing the obama “recovery’ to Trump’s recovery is such a HUGE WIN for Trump.
Actually, every category is.
Trump should go out of his way to say dems want this to be a referendum on how his administration is doing compared to what obama and gropin joe accomplished.
Thank you. I thought that this was already decided in 2016.
Pithy nonsensical title.
Crap analysis nothing stunning about Biden’s Super Tuesday wins.
Nothing does more to reaffirm how pathetic the Obama administration was than this idea that a corrupt, decrepit old loser like Joe Biden will be running to carry on Obama’s legacy.
The last election was a referendum on Barack Hussein O. His mare lost.
ML/NJ
I agree. this sounds like wishful thinking by conservatives.
Drivel
The election is all about the future. The election is not about what was.
Stopped right there. What is so stunning about a candidate winning
primaries when three of his main competitors have dropped out?
Stunning is a word that should be reserved for addressing articles
like this one.
As for this being an election about Obama, for heaven's sake leave
the soiled baby diapers in the trash.
Joe Biden is running on his platform. Beyond that, the man is
seriously ill. He is not fit to be president of a local one member
book club.
I am still puzzled how Obama is less radical than Bernie. But yes, Biden will ride on the popularity of Obama, and you can’t deny Obama sadly was very popular.
I have to admit i thought obama was going to shoot his mouth off a lot more than he has.
I guess he is to busy behind the scenes or he is to stoned to get off the couch?
“Sorry but that happened in 2016 and Trump has already demolished most of obungholes legacy!”
I agree. Obama will not be a factor in the presidential election. It will be Trump vs whomever (likely Biden, as I predicted a long time ago). Trump should win reelection easily.
He be when Slow Joe taps Michael to be his running mate.
He lost.
No. That was 2016
I doubt Bloomberg has any interest in being VP. Besides Biden would pick a woman, probably someone like Klobuchar.
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