EJ Dionne: Biden could be the unlikely instrument of a new generational alignment

[highplainsdem]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/joe-biden-is-the-instrument-of-the-new-generation-not-kidding/2020/06/28/6c366990-b729-11ea-a8da-693df3d7674a_story.html

-snipping paragraphs about how 2008 predictions that the new alignment of the Obama coalition would change things long-term seemed contradicted by the GOP regaining control-

But there is another way to look at those 2008 predictions: They were not wrong, they were just premature. As a result, a 77-year-old Democratic presidential nominee may be the unlikely instrument of a new generational alignment.

-snip-

Three things are true: (1.) The post-boomer generations are more diverse than the rest of the electorate. (2.) Younger whites are more liberal than their elders on matters of racial justice — as a Washington Post-Schar School poll showed this month — and on social issues. (3.) The share of millennials who vote will be higher than in Obama’s elections simply because they are older than they were in 2008 or 2012.

The 14-point lead Biden enjoyed over Trump in the New York Times-Siena College poll released last week reflects all these factors. Biden is splitting voters over 50 roughly evenly with Trump and then overwhelming the president among registered voters under 35 (59 to 25 percent) and those 35 to 49 (53 to 30 percent).

Nor did Biden’s margins depend solely on the diversity of the younger cohorts. Among whites under 45, Biden led Trump 52 to 30 percent.

Thus could a president who rose to power by exploiting the fears and anxieties of the aging part of the country find himself brought down by the rising generations who have had enough of the past. The United States of Trump’s imagination may simply no longer exist.

[BComplex]

1. I believe this is true:

"Thus could a president who rose to power by exploiting the fears and anxieties of the aging part of the country find himself brought down by the rising generations who have had enough of the past. The United States of Trump’s imagination may simply no longer exist."

I really believe that the time for racism is coming to an end. Racism's proven over and over again to be based on total ignorance, and it's just too negative on the face of it.

[Demsrule86]

2. That is what I have been thinking...Biden may be our Roosevelt getting popular progressive

policy enacted and attracting a new generation (or a couple) to the Democratic Party for years.

[PatSeg]

5. Yes, I think Biden will surprise a lot of people

by not just being "better than Trump", but being an exceptional president in his own right.

[Mopar151]

9. A little segue

through Harry Truman's closet would be a great "Look". A new "The Buck Stops HERE" sign, for the Oval Office, would be a nice touch!

[PatSeg]

11. Oh yes, a very nice touch

[Indykatie]

3. Biden Can Have the Distinction of Governing With 2 People of Color in the WH

depending on his VP pick.

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. Biden will have a once in a century opportunity to facilitate substantive change

Change that will benefit the lives of all Americans, in healthcare, social justice, income inequality, the environment, and more.

The momentum will be strong but fleeting. After the COVID and economic crisis, most Americans will support these changes. Biden will have one, maybe two years at most to ram through all these changes before the political pendulum begins to swing back to business as usual.

Let’s hope he doesn’t squander the opportunity.

[thucythucy]

6. I hope you're right, but

I worry we'll simply get a repeat of what happened under Presidents Clinton and Obama.

Both were elected with high hopes, but instead had to spend time and political capital undoing the messes left by previous (Republican) administrations. Despite inheriting devastated economies and soaring deficits, both managed in their eight years to turn things around. Even so, conservative dickwads harassed and impeded them every step of the way, and so-called progressives attacked from the left--the result being that neither were given the support they needed to go substantially beyond simply repairing the damage done by Bushes I and II.

President Biden will inherit a mismanaged global pandemic, the worst economy since the Great Depression, allies leery of trusting the US (and in the case of the Kurds massacred for standing with us), a bureaucracy gutted of competence and filled with RWNJs, a federal judiciary packed with hacks and Federalist reactionaries, and a deficit so huge as to dwarf all previous deficits and make expanding or even repairing the social safety net well nigh impossible. And that doesn't even take into account the growing dangers of climate change, the environmental damage that needs to be addressed, and whatever international crisis he might have to manage (for instance, an Iranian bomb).

It's going to take at least one full term even to begin to correct all this. Even with both houses of Congress it'll be like trying to light a candle outdoors during a hurricane.

If anyone can do it, Biden can. But he's going to need to count on our patience, our determination, and our unbending support.

He'll get all this from me. I just hope the American public will understand and not make the usual mistake of demanding the impossible and then jumping ship even after it's accomplished.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. It won't happen without continued pressure and support from the electorate

And Biden won’t have the luxury of a full 4 year term to accomplish these changes.

Come January, we will have the wind at our backs to enable a strong push for substantive change, but it won’t last long - 12, maybe 18 months max, before the pressures of the upcoming 2022 midterms begins to erode at the spines of the house and senate members whose votes will be crucial.

All those Never-Trumpers will revert to traditional conservative opposition, so Biden will have to move fast, and will need a strong, skilled team to hit the ground running on Day One. I’m glad that he is forming a transition team now, and not waiting until November.

[Progressive Jones]

12. This is why we need all three branches out of GOP control

for a few election cycles. Midterms are equally important.

[JI7]

7. we need Congress also so it's imporant to always vote

[Sugarcoated]

10. Won't let me read it

[Tommy_Carcetti]

13. Biden could be the American version of Pope John XXIII

John was the pope who was written off as an elderly “caretaker” but ultimately brought along the critical Vatican II reforms to the Catholic Church.