Why Joe Biden Should Not Run for President | Mudde case | Opinion



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I In the first three weeks of 2019 alone, a large number of Democratic members of Congress announced their candidacy for the presidency of the United States, including Julián Castro, Tulsi Gabbard and Kirsten Gillibrand. Washington insiders speculate on many more to come, such as Amy Klobuchar and the inevitable Beto O'Rourke, seemingly inevitable.

What all these democratic hopes have in common is hardly any name recognition. A recent NPR / PBS Newshour / Marist poll showed that a majority of democrats and independents with democratic leanings had never heard of them or were "unsure" of knowing s & # 's. Whether they were favorable to them or not. Although we are still in two years of the 2020 elections, it is not a good start.

According to most polls, former Vice President Joe Biden would be the favorite of Democratic candidates: 76% of potential Democratic voters hold a favorable opinion of him, while only 12% are unfavorable or neutral / do not know him

Biden's supporters will use it as evidence that he is the best candidate for the presidency of the Democratic Party, but they are wrong. In many ways, Biden is the Democratic's worst candidate and Trump's best opponent.

First, Biden is old. This is not ageism. Seniors may have many jobs, including in the political field, but the position of President of the United States is particularly challenging and is exhausting even the most able. Just look at the before-and-after images of George W Bush and Barack Obama, both much younger and much more fit when they became president. Biden is 76 years old today and would be an amazing 78 years old when he would start his first term as president. It's been eight years more than Trump in 2016 and even five years older than Ronald Reagan in 1980. Democrats have openly worried about the negative consequences and risks associated with age and related health issues of these two. Republican presidents, and rightly so.

Second, Biden may be a symbol of the former Democratic Party. He entered the US Senate in 1973, chaired by Richard Nixon. He succeeded Strom Thurmond as chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Many of the newly elected Democratic members of the Congress were not even born when Biden entered the Senate and will only know Thurmond in the history books. Like many of their constituents, more and more non-whites and women, they will look to Biden and see a Democratic party led by and for white men. Whatever these men might have done for the advancement of minorities and women, they managed to hang on to power.

Third, Biden represents for many a political program and strategy that failed in 2016. While it is trying to reinvent itself to adapt to the left-leaning within the Democratic Party – pushing for a free university, with a minimum wage of $ 15 / hour, a power for the workers – he will have a hard time convincing many leftist democrats of his sincerity. Even though he already supported some of these positions in 2015, he later served in a much more conservative administration on these points.

Moreover, even his carefully crafted popular image of the middle class champion, namely "The Scranton Boy," is more Trump-based. But the white working class white is far more affected by racial than economic concerns and so it is unlikely that it (s) will return to an increasingly diverse democratic party. Moreover, this strategy is not appropriate for a party that is surfing on a "blue wave" caused mainly by women and minorities mobilized by the Republican party's adherence to Trump's racist politics, as well as by the # MeToo movement and its consequences. And, speaking of #MeToo, many within the movement will not forgive Joe Biden 's role in Anita Hill' s "Inquisition of Sexual Harassment".

Fourth, Biden is President Trump's ideal candidate to face his re-election bid. He is the incarnation of the stereotype of the hated base of the Democratic-Republican Party. Biden is a professional politician who has been living in Washington for 45 years and is intimately linked to their political antichrist, former President Barack Obama. That's Hillary Clinton 2.0, without the added benefit of sexism.

Fifth, a Biden-Trump race would likely further poison the already toxic political climate and erode the quality of political debate, resulting in even greater political discontent among all Americans, with the exception of the most two camps. Before Trump came on the political scene, it was Biden who was ridiculed for his many gaffes. He is also subject to political machismo, like the moment when he threatened to "beat the hell" of Trump to defend American women against sexual harassment. Biden v Trump would turn the 2020 presidential debates into a sad WWE wrestling show for seniors – to the delight of the US media. the best Democrat to challenge Trump in 2020 and lead the United States as president. One of the oldest and most unfavorable candidates to appeal to an increasingly young and newly energized Democratic electorate is also the best candidate that Trump can attack while mobilizing his political base. At a time of negative partisanship, with more and more people voting against one party rather than one, this should be of concern to all Democrats, as well as the independent anti-Trump.

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