Opinion: Democrats might need Biden more than they know [View all]

[Gothmog]

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This is where Biden comes in. Even if he is not the ultimate winner, he has the stature, the money, the name ID and the popularity to seize the party by the scruff of the neck and pull it back from the brink. He can say, “You know Bernie never accomplished a damn thing in the Senate” or "the Green New Deal that Warren supports has about 10 votes in the Senate” or “We figured out how to provide tens of millions of people with health-care coverage; Medicare-for-all proponents haven’t covered a single person.”

Biden has the reputation for being the eccentric uncle in the room, but in this case, he must play the role of the wise patriarch, there to remind Democrats that they win when they stick to the center-left candidates and that they achieve progressive aims when they win elections. If they pick scary socialists or rank novices incapable of governing (such as Trump!), they will never achieve aims such as checking climate change, expanding health-care coverage, reducing income inequality and keeping the United States safe and respected.

Frankly, that’s a message that many, if not most, Democrats already understand. However, they need someone with credibility to say it. Maybe there is someone else in the race or available to run who could do the same, but I’ve not spotted such a person. That’s the rationale for Biden to run.

Finally, those independents and disaffected ex-Republicans whose midterm votes flipped the House to Democratic control have a very big stake in this. If the Republicans, as I suspect, are unable to rid themselves of Trump, the country will need one major party that hasn’t lost its marbles, one capable of winning and governing. If Trump is the GOP nominee, voters regardless of past affiliation who fear for the country’s future need to work strenuously for a competent and electable Democratic nominee. Otherwise, we’re in deep trouble.