Andrew Malcolm of the McClatchy Newspapers ponders former Vice President Joe Biden’s recent surge.
[A]ll indications are the increased turnout is not due to the shouted anger of Sanders, who’s rerunning almost his exact same 2016 campaign against Hillary Clinton.
And larger turnout is sure not because of Joe Biden, who’s no Demosthenes. In fact, the fuzzed syntax and confused thinking put Biden’s speaking skills right up there with Rocky Balboa. At one point over the weekend, he stumbled twice in one sentence, then said, “We can only reelect Donald Trump.”
Primary turnout has increased because Democrats are virtually united in wanting to oust the boorish Trump in the worst way. And nominating socialist Sanders would be the worst way, like handing Trump reelection on a platter. Nominating the phlegmatic, often-befuddled Biden is less worse, but not by much.
Biden’s likable enough and has credibility with African American and LGBTQ voters, which is vital for a Democrat. …
… Exit polls this time reveal Democrats want change all right, but not Sanders’ revolution. They want to change Trump out for one of their own. And Biden seems to be in the right place right now, even if he thinks he’s in Ohio instead of Iowa.
Here’s Joe Biden’s 2020 challenge, though: It was easier for a wealthy, blunt-talking, New York non-politician vowing to drain the D.C. Swamp to be seen as a change agent.
It’s a considerably harder case for Biden to make when he’s been ensconced in Washington for five decades as a senator, vice president and former vice president reaping sudden wealth from books and speeches with no notable achievements on his resume beyond survival, plagiarizing and opposing Osama bin Laden’s assassination.
