"Maybe the most important thing my mom and dad taught me was that everyone should be treated with dignity. Today too many middle class and working class people cannot look their kid in the eye and say 'Honey, it's going to be OK', and mean it. That's why I'm running--to rebuild the backbone of this country--the middle class."
Joe Biden, Campaign ad in Iowa
Democrats are making a choice between:
the unify America candidates,
and
take back lost power from the greedy elites candidates.
Current polls in Iowa suggest the unify-America candidates have about 56% of the vote currently. The candidates with a message of victory in a fight against corporate greed and power have a combined 39% of the vote. This is changing daily.
Both are viable messages.
Both are viable messages.
Iowa voters are split 48-48 on approval and disapproval of Trump, but Trump currently narrowly wins the state against any of the four leading candidates, beating Buttigieg by one percent, Biden by four, and Sanders and Warren by five. Click: Public Policy Polling
The two Democratic messages appeal to different constituencies, reflecting the divide between the two Americas within the traditional Democratic base.
Democrats in the Clinton, Gore, Obama, Hillary Clinton tradition gained strength among Democrats succeeding in the current economy, a group that skews educated, urban, and prosperous, voters sometimes mocked as "Whole Foods" Democrats. This blog has identified the shorthand Democratic remedy for a person struggling in a low paid job: leave the working class by going to grad school.
The subtext is that life in the working class is unfixable. Get out.
Then there are the former base of the Democratic Party, lower income working people who expect to be in approximately the jobs they currently hold. They don't want to feel doomed if they keep their jobs. They aren't able or interested in more retraining. They want their current jobs to pay better, and for health care, housing, and education to be more affordable. This group skews young, the often-cited Americans who are a $500 car repair or health emergency away from disaster. The archetypal voter in this group prefers Bernie to Biden.
Joe Biden does not think he abandoned those working people. He believes he has fought the good fight on their behalf, against a tidal wave of Republican and big money opposition. His view is that he is the good guy, who did what he could on their behalf.
After all, Reagan. Gingrich. The elections of 1994 and 2010. Be realistic.
Progressive critics say not only did he not do enough, he sold out, citing his defense of the home-state Delaware corporate registration industry, the fact that he raises money from big dollar donors, and his support for banks and their favored bankruptcy rules, a fight highlighted in the testimony of Elizabeth Warren before Biden's committee in 2005.
The theory of the Biden case for election is that he can be counted on to push in the right direction, at least compared to Trump and Republicans. He would advocate more progressive taxation, more support for trade unions, more access to health care, more access to education, more control of guns. Americans want problems addressed but not wholesale change. Easy does it.
And surely all Democrats understand he is better than Trump.
This embeds the notion that Hillary lost the white working class male votes in critical states because she lacked the common touch, a connection with working people. It wasn't economic issues; it was Identity politics that tipped the balance to Trump--the "deplorable" thing, the overly woke feminist accusation thing, the resentment over being called racist, as expressed yesterday in this blog in quotes by Michael Trigoboff, and in the comments section.
Biden is genuine and persuasive in his empathetic affection for white ethnic urban families. This isn't political sham. He cares about generous, loving fathers taking care of their children--and to a fault. It helps explain and contextualize the Hunter Biden mess.
What was Joe thinking, letting Hunter take that job in Ukraine? He was thinking like a loving father.
There is no hint of "you're deplorable" in the Biden message. He loves those working people. His Iowa kickoff ad is titled "Scranton Values.
Watch it.
The two Democratic messages appeal to different constituencies, reflecting the divide between the two Americas within the traditional Democratic base.
Democrats in the Clinton, Gore, Obama, Hillary Clinton tradition gained strength among Democrats succeeding in the current economy, a group that skews educated, urban, and prosperous, voters sometimes mocked as "Whole Foods" Democrats. This blog has identified the shorthand Democratic remedy for a person struggling in a low paid job: leave the working class by going to grad school.
The subtext is that life in the working class is unfixable. Get out.
Then there are the former base of the Democratic Party, lower income working people who expect to be in approximately the jobs they currently hold. They don't want to feel doomed if they keep their jobs. They aren't able or interested in more retraining. They want their current jobs to pay better, and for health care, housing, and education to be more affordable. This group skews young, the often-cited Americans who are a $500 car repair or health emergency away from disaster. The archetypal voter in this group prefers Bernie to Biden.
 |
| Click: 2005, Professor Warren vs. Senator Biden |
After all, Reagan. Gingrich. The elections of 1994 and 2010. Be realistic.
Progressive critics say not only did he not do enough, he sold out, citing his defense of the home-state Delaware corporate registration industry, the fact that he raises money from big dollar donors, and his support for banks and their favored bankruptcy rules, a fight highlighted in the testimony of Elizabeth Warren before Biden's committee in 2005.
The theory of the Biden case for election is that he can be counted on to push in the right direction, at least compared to Trump and Republicans. He would advocate more progressive taxation, more support for trade unions, more access to health care, more access to education, more control of guns. Americans want problems addressed but not wholesale change. Easy does it.
And surely all Democrats understand he is better than Trump.
This embeds the notion that Hillary lost the white working class male votes in critical states because she lacked the common touch, a connection with working people. It wasn't economic issues; it was Identity politics that tipped the balance to Trump--the "deplorable" thing, the overly woke feminist accusation thing, the resentment over being called racist, as expressed yesterday in this blog in quotes by Michael Trigoboff, and in the comments section.
 |
| Click: Biden 30 seconds |
What was Joe thinking, letting Hunter take that job in Ukraine? He was thinking like a loving father.
There is no hint of "you're deplorable" in the Biden message. He loves those working people. His Iowa kickoff ad is titled "Scranton Values.
Watch it.
2 comments:
The other night Judy Woodruff asked Bernie Sanders if he would support Biden or any other Democratic candidate if they became the nominee. (Of course, he said, "yes.") How come Biden or the others never get asked if they will support Bernie Sanders if he becomes the nominee? Why is it assumed that the big tent of "unity" is owned by the so-called "moderates" or "centrists?" (Remember, Clinton moved the goalposts established by FDR.)
Andy Seles
In a world of "lessor of two evils" politicians like VP Biden have generally positioned themselves in election after election as being digestible for both "moderates'" and Progressives. We certainly are in that kind of world today. However, some of us are hoping for better.
My take on the VP is that he was in comfortable retirement and has stepped up, somewhat opportunistically, when Democrats are facing a must win election. (aren't they all!) Considering that 2008 was a similar one, this may be the new normal. I would prefer that he, and Sen. Sanders also, step back and endorse Sen. Warren, who is much better in terms of ultimately appealing to the broadest base of Democrats, with the kind of enthusiasm that the situation requires.
Any other path is perilous. The same familiarity that the VP is capitalizing on in the primary, can expose all manner of skeletons that will torpedo him in the general. Sure, I'll vote for him but The Big Question involves gauging the energy in the electorate and whether folks even less enamored than me will turn out.
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