Kyle Smith contends at National Review Online that Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden blew his one job at last week’s presidential debate.
Biden had a lane all to himself in the debate Thursday night, but he couldn’t stay in it. He blew it, as we all knew he would, because he’s Joe Biden. The last time there was an open field for the Democratic nomination, he achieved all of 1 percent in Iowa. Holding Barack Obama’s coat for eight years is his most impressive achievement. It’s just about the only thing he brags about, unless you count being friends with racist Democratic senators.
A half-smart Biden would continue doing what the voters think he’s been doing, which is being moderate and reasonable. Democratic primary voters are nowhere near as liberal as the columnists and social-media gadflies assume, and even if they were, all of the major candidates have veered left. Biden is the only big-name candidate who was anywhere near the center. Instead of staying there, he wandered away looking confused and panicky. …
… Biden’s drift to the left — supporting health care for illegal aliens, expressing strong distaste for deporting any of them who hadn’t committed major crimes — is illustrative of a Democratic party held hostage by its woke minority. Twice as many Democrats are over 65 than are under 30. More than half of Democrats who voted in 2018 identify themselves as moderate or conservative. “Very liberal” Americans account for only 19 percent of the party’s voters. There is absolutely no need for Biden to be afraid of the Left. He was doing fine without them, they’re absolutely prepared to vote for him over Trump, and what Democrats crave is electability, which they think he’s got more of than anyone else. He doesn’t need to buy off the activists during primary season. But he did it anyway.
