Yes, Joe Biden has a nice lead and appears to be doing well against Trump, for now. And yes, I’ve heard about his so-called “crisis.” (embracing the Hyde Amendment, which probably made sense at the time…and the plagiarism on his website with respect to his embracing part of a “Green New Deal”)
I expect his opponents to go after him for that but…IF he becomes the nominee, I doubt if any of it will hurt him against Trump.
Now of course, the “woke left” is howling about him being the front runner.
I am not slamming Ms. Reid; she is really commenting on the state of the race and about which people are prone to supporting Biden.
Here is more:
I am not saying that Mr. Bunch is wrong, but I am not sold on his hypothesis either.
I like Klobuchar (gave her money) based on her “get things done” record and her attitude. This “identity politics, all the time” from the others turns me off for many reasons, one of which I will get to at the end of this post.
I think that it is POSSIBLE that many of us “non-twitter-liberal” Democrats are tired of the woke left and blame them, in part, for our loss in 2016. I’ll explain MY reasoning at the end of this post. But assuming that there is a niche for such a candidate and that Joe Biden is leading mainly on the strength of voters in this niche, the following two articles are interesing:
1. Some of the “below the margin of error” candidates are deliberately attacking the woke left in order to appeal to voters in this niche:
Let’s say you are a presidential candidate with an impressive record and a belief that you are the electable choice who can bring people together across party lines. And let’s say, further, that your name is not Joe Biden.
How do you make yourself noticed in a field of 23 Democratic contenders?
If you are John Hickenlooper, former governor of Colorado and mayor of Denver, the answer is to stand before several thousand of the Democratic party’s most liberal activists and say things that are guaranteed to get you booed.
Things such as “socialism is not the answer.” And that most people don’t want to give up their private health insurance for a government-run system. And that “we shouldn’t try to tackle climate change by guaranteeing every American a government job,” which was an unmistakable dig at the Green New Deal.
“You know,” Hickenlooper said over waves of jeering at last weekend’s California Democratic Party Convention here, “if we’re not careful, we’re going to end up reelecting the worst president in American history.”
Note: Joe Biden didn’t even bother to show up. (LOL)
2. There IS a generational divide among Democrats:
It’s no secret that older Democrats are more moderate than younger ones. Relatedly, older Democrats put more emphasis on electability. Last month’s Monmouth University New Hampshire poll asked Democrats whether they’d prefer a “Democrat [they] agree with on most issues but would have a hard time beating Donald Trump or a Democrat [they] do not agree with on most issues but would be a stronger candidate against Trump.” Among Democrats 65 or older, only 13 percent wanted the candidate they agreed with if the candidate would have a hard time beating Trump. But among Democrats younger than 50, 42 percent were willing to take a chance on the less electable candidate.
Share of New Hampshire Democrats who would prioritize issue agreement with a candidate vs. a candidate’s ability to beat Trump, according to a May 2-7 poll
The cause and effect is difficult to sort out. Maybe younger voters deemphasize electability because they’re more liberal and think the concept is being used to prop up more moderate, establishment friendly candidates like Biden.
But it’s at least possible that some of the causality runs the other way: Younger voters are more liberal because their lived experience gives them less reason to think there’s an electoral penalty for liberalism.
Consider the experience of 27-year-old voters. As they were coming of age, they’d have seen George W. Bush’s popularity fall to pieces and a guy named Barack Hussein Obama upend the Hillary Clinton juggernaut and win in a landslide against John McCain. Then they’d have seen the supposedly cautious and “electable” Clinton lose to Trump.
This is a reasonable analysis. But I’ll say this: remember that Obama campaigned on healing the divisions in our country!
THAT, plus his charisma and skill as a campaigner..plus the economic disaster under George W. Bush, is what got him elected. He did not campaign as a socialist or as an especially “woke” candidate. He was actually less liberal than Hillary Clinton.
So people might claim that the last two Democrats to win the presidency were “bold” choices, in terms of policies, they were quite moderate and they ran on at least a type of unity.
Note: he sought out cooperation with Republicans:
And consider those fresh out of college, where, well, “wokeness” is seen as a big virtue. Imagine a professor or administrator acting like Trump. They’d get fired, tenured or not. But in reality, almost half the electorate was either ok with it, or at least didn’t see it as disqualifying.
One problem with identity politics In my opinion, there are many problems with identity politics. Here is one of the biggest ones (again, in my opinion): the “other side” can also play that game!
Now “the woke” will howl about this. They will cry out “straight white men do not NEED a parade”. And true, there is no social penalty for being white (not in larger society anyway, and even in the university committee, not being white often means getting stuck with more “inclusion committee” work). No, there is no social penalty for being straight.. (note: the “kiss cam” at games always uses male/female couples..and yes, I’ve been on it with a female friend).
So, yes, intellectually speaking, “the woke” are correct.
But “the woke” seem to think that they can fight this by getting indignant and wagging the finger….”I’m not interested in making straight white men comfortable” they will say.
But…what happens at the voting booth? Sanctimonious finger wagging will not get votes and it will change neither hearts nor minds.
But hey, when your side loses…AGAIN, you get to feel really smug and get to throw some cool temper tantrums.
Life of an old goat 