Last night as I was watching the post-debate show on CNN and following reactions online, something became apparent: the liberal side of the media is doing their best to prop up Joe Biden. While their disdain for candidates like Mike Bloomberg was on full display, they were equally invested in cheering for Biden. Bloomberg could do no right, and Biden could do no wrong. While I think criticisms of Bloomberg are largely accurate, it’s clear that he’s going to receive no mercy from an establishment that does not appreciate him “jumping the line.” Likewise, much has been made of the apparent attempt by many in power to delegitimize the popularity of Bernie Sanders once again. While other candidates found themselves in the hot seat, most of those opining on Biden last night claimed that he had given an amazing performance at a key time. Another talking head was sure he had positioned himself to win South Carolina in the upcoming primary. One after the other, they spoke about how impressive his performance was.
However, there were some major chinks in Biden’s armor last night from a casual observer’s point of view. All of this praise came on the heels of what seemed to be a very average debate performance that included an incredible gaffe. Authoritatively punching every syllable and pointing at the audience, Biden claimed that “150 million people have been killed since 2007” due to gun violence. For reference, about 327 million people live in the USA in total. This statistic is way off and gave rise to murmured excuses from liberals and a bit of mischief from conservative pundits and satire sites like the Babylon Bee. Whatever side of the aisle one falls on, it’s hard to believe that with such a wildly incorrect claim anyone else on the Democratic Debate stage could receive such positive reviews from the liberal ruling class as Joe Biden enjoyed last night.
However, the uncritical support of Biden isn’t really surprising. He was the Chosen One from the beginning, but repeated mistakes on the road (like the one 2 nights ago in which he said he was running for Senate instead of president), an overly-touchy streak, and a son enmeshed in scandal have begun to take their toll on his presidential bid. Barack Obama- whose popular name Biden constantly invokes- continues to withhold the endorsement of his own former vice president. In many ways Biden seems like a nice guy who might appeal to an average American, and his name is linked with a popular former president, but he doesn’t seem like he has the charisma to pull off a win against Mr. Personality- Donald Trump.
Over the years, I have facetiously referred to candidates like Biden with good resumes but restricted mannerisms, frozen smiles, and bland personalities as “block of wood candidates.” Block of wood candidates hardly ever win. We saw that with John Kerry, Mitt Romney, and most recently Hillary Clinton. So, why do the pundits and Democratic elites continue to push more of the same on a country that seems interested in something more revolutionary or maybe just more interesting? Haven’t they learned their lesson- especially when pulling out a win seems more important to them than at any time in recent memory? My husband Nick has a theory about what motivations are driving the Biden loyalty crew.
When I was sharing my confusion about the Democratic attachment to Biden and the refusal to let him “go gently into that good night” as his lagging momentum seems to render the inevitable conclusion of his candidacy, my husband Nick said to me, “Well, I think it’s like the pastor’s quote- they’ve gone too far and now they want to rein it back in.” I asked him what he meant, and he reminded me of a saying that our pastor often reiterates: “Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay.” Now bear with me, reader, because this is not a conversation about sin, but the quote relates to his point.
I asked him what he meant, and he explained it like this: the Democrats have gone all-in with far left candidates and party members like AOC and her ‘squad.’ They don’t know how to pull back now, but they feel their party is out of their control. They have gone “farther than they wanted to go” (by embracing more radical party superstars), they’ve been there “longer than they wanted to stay” (the trend is growing- not receding), and it has cost them “more than they wanted to pay” (Donald Trump, just to name the most obvious cost). There are no candidates left on the stage who have any semblance of moderation except for Joe Biden. The party has embraced a socialist ethic that the very young may cheer for but that many Americans in both parties view through squinted eyes. The front-runners no longer advocate any abortion restrictions (except for Joe Biden, that is, who recently flipped on his Hyde Amendment stance and is by no stretch of the imagination pro-life, but who voted as a senator to ban partial-birth abortion years ago). In some ways Joe is all they’ve got if they don’t want to go careening off the ledge into far leftism.
It is telling that Barack Obama’s vice president is the most moderate man on the stage. There were some more moderate than he (like Tulsi Gabbard, who dared to utter the now banished words “safe, legal, and rare”) but they have long since been eliminated from the race. Now Biden is the last representative of the Democratic Party that so many in the fold want to hold on to- not yet ready to fully abandon it to feminist dreams and socialist utopias. They have so successfully thrown off the status quo that the power in their party’s leadership is slipping and any moderation of policy is seen as caving to the conservative agenda.
What is yet to be seen is on which side of the fence the Democrats will land. They will either have to jump on the far left bandwagon of the Warrens and the Sanders and the AOCs and Omars of their party, or they will try to come back to the regular left that used to be extreme, as exemplified by Joe Biden. As a conservative, I will be popping some popcorn and watching with interest from afar to see which they choose.
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Jackie Chea is a blogger from San Antonio, Texas who holds a B.A. in Psychology and an M.A. in Community Counseling from the University of Texas at San Antonio. She writes on political and cultural issues from a conservative, religious standpoint. She lives in the Lone Star State with her husband Nick, her 5-year-old son Lincoln, and her rescue dogs. |
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