Biden’s campaign in waiting has ramped up over the past several weeks — calling donors across the country and tapping decades-old friendships to line up support from major Democratic Party figures, organized labor, members of Congress and elected officials from early presidential states, according to people with direct knowledge of Biden’s campaign strategy. POLITICO also spoke to donors who’ve received calls from Biden’s team, potential campaign aides who have been interviewed for jobs and stakeholders in early primary and caucus states who were asked to pitch in their support.
As Biden seeks on-the-ground labor support in early primary and caucus states, he has all but locked in the endorsement of the International Association of Firefighters, the union that helped boost John Kerry to the Democratic nomination in 2004. This year, IAFF President Harold Schaitberger said, the 315,000-member union plans to quickly deploy an organized effort to boost Biden in the early-voting states.
Seriously? Democratic hacks, big-money donors and LABOR UNIONS at a time when labor unions continue to decline? This is supposed to be a path to victory in a general election? Look, there was a time when I thought Biden was the right nominee. That time was 2016. It isn't now. Biden runs, and it's Hillary Redux. The big-money donors want him. The declining labor unions want him. The consultants who reap big money from the DNC, DCCC and DSCC want him. The pundit class wants him, because all the baggage from his past is sitting right there on their desks waiting for them to flog it to death so that Trump can get a second term because he's good for ratings.
But do Americans want him? Can he bring black voters to the polls? Can he bring millennials to the polls? But even before we get to the general election, think of the likely scenario. With so many candidates (20 and Biden would be 21), it's not unreasonable to assume that there could be, say, six or so by the time of the convention. If no candidate wins a majority on the first ballot, then the superdelegates vote on subsequent ballots -- and you can bet that they are going to fall in with Biden. At that point, we once again have a nominee picked by party hacks, and it isn't just the Bernie die-hards who are going to be angry.
If I'm right about this, get ready for another four years of Trump. And that's if he decides to leave after two terms. Because with a Democratic Party that doesn't care about winning, and a GOP in thrall to Trump that places party loyalty and perpetuation of its own power over the rule of law, a permanent Trump family dictatorship is not a far-fetched idea.
It may be Hillary redux in some respects, but her policies were a lot more progressive than anything we're likely to see from Uncle Grabby.
ReplyDelete"I will sell you out but he'll go it more" is not a winning strategy.
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