The editors of the Wall Street Journal provide their assessment of the Super Tuesday primary results:
Hold the revolution. The Bernie Sanders takeover of the Democratic Party took a detour on Super Tuesday as Joe Biden’s political resurrection that began in South Carolina on Saturday continued in the Southeast and expanded into the Middle West and even Bernie Sanders country in the Northeast. Maybe President Trump wished too soon for Mr. Sanders as his opponent.
Literally in four days the Democratic race has turned upside down. Mr. Biden replicated his South Carolina coalition of African-Americans, Baby Boomers and center-left voters for a crushing victory in Virginia with 53.3% of the vote. He won North Carolina more narrowly, but his margin with black Democrats again made the difference. He also won Alabama, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Minnesota, Massachusetts, and by our deadline was competitive in Texas and Maine.
The former Vice President ran away with the vote among late deciders, which means he benefited from the rush of endorsements that followed South Carolina. The party is almost literally lifting the old war horse on its back despite his many gaffes and stumbles. The prospect of an avowed socialist at the top of the ticket has scared millions of Democrats into Mr. Biden’s arms no matter his liabilities.
His strong performance will keep him close to Mr. Sanders in the delegate count, though we won’t know how close until the results in California are clear. But his victories may be most important for restoring credibility to Mr. Biden’s argument that he is the Democrat who is best able to defeat Mr. Trump. His coalition so far is the closest to Barack Obama’s, and the turnout in Virginia was especially impressive at nearly double what it was in 2016. Trump campaign, take note.
I hope the Democratic National Committee takes note. If nothing else is clear, it’s clear that the party needs substantial reform. Bernie Sanders has a point in campaigning against the “corporate wing of the Democratic Party”. His support for leftist Latin American dictators and verbally supporting “democratic socialism” but proposing solutions that are much harder left socialism than that is not a move in the right direction.
But the politics for profit to which Democratic officials have become accustomed is on life support. That needs to change. Fewer aspirations and more simple competence would be nice. That doesn’t make a good sound bite or rallying cry but it is persuasive.
“politics for profit”
Yes indeed. I’ve been thinking lately that for my own personal interests Biden should be my guy.
But the business of Rosemont Seneca Partners and CCP billions won’t go away. And if it does go away, voters don’t care, Joe’s elected, what lesson does Xi take from that? Or Joe for that matter.
Trump’s gone, our technology is for sale, our pol’s are for sale, the good old day’s are back. Obama’s not in the White House , not full time anyway. But he’s got a direct line to his boy.
One thing that stands out to me, is that other than Sander’s home state of Vermont, his best Super Tuesday states (California, Colorado and Utah) vote primarily by mail and could have voted before the events that carried Biden to win in the other states. Those events appear to be a coalescence either around Biden or against Sanders. One wonders where Sanders would be if the early votes weren’t there?
Or maybe there is another set piece in this long campaign to pass and Biden is lucky the votes cast this weekend don’t count.
The fact that so many early votes were already cast before Super Tuesday – in CA there were 4 million alone – I think supports PD’s musing that Sander’s big CA win might not have happened but for those wasted early votes.
It also might be a hypothetical assumption on my part, that the stock market is going up this morning partly because Biden, not Sanders, unexpectedly did better yesterday. Nonetheless, although Biden might be seen as a “moderate,†because of his benign rhetoric, unlike Sanders or Trump, IMO he is nothing more than a “sleeper socialist,†hidden under the tent of a less abrasive style. For, a Biden Administration would still implement a return to government overgrowth, higher taxes everywhere, squeezing the private sector via regulatory controls, China and Europe returning to their old ways of taking advantage of the US, with more free stuff creating an interstate highway to a government-dependent citizenry populating a nanny state country.
I recognize that is a common trope on right-wing sites but he’s no more a socialist than you are. He actually is a pretty garden variety establishment Democrat, less interested in class struggle (like Sanders) than in holding power, granting benefits to favored individuals and groups at the expense of unfavored individuals and groups, and benefiting personally from the process.
It is being said that some of Biden’s unnamed handlers are to the left of Sanders. If you listen to Biden’s oftentimes confusing rhetoric, any consideration of how far left he would really go has merit, especially since Biden’s promises and accusations wonder around the same free stuff, tax the rich, class/gender/race divides that Sanders emphasizes. Finally, Biden is definitely showing disturbing signs of mental decline, maybe even dementia. If elected then, who will really be running the behind-the-scenes show? Much like speculation has become more valid since the last Mueller Congressional hearing, that Mueller was really not running the investigation of Trump,, it’s worth considering the same might be true of a so-called Biden presidency – no matter if you define it as being socialism or not.
He’s been like that for decades. Nobody outside maybe people in Delaware noticed it.
I don’t know what he was like before his operation. If he has brain damage, he’s had it for a while.
“It is being said that some of Biden’s unnamed handlers are to the left of Sanders.”
It is being said that Trump’s unnamed advisers are skinhead fascists.
” If you listen to Biden’s oftentimes confusing rhetoric”
Without Trump supporters explaining Trump’s word salad we wouldnt know what he really means.
” Finally, Biden is definitely showing disturbing signs of mental decline, maybe even dementia. If elected then, who will really be running the behind-the-scenes show? ”
Same with Trump.
In some ideal world we have a person who isn’t showing signs of senility running for office. Alas, doesn’t look like we will have that.
Andy- What’s with Colorado supporting Sanders?
Steve
I assumed that Colorado, Utah, and California’s results were due to a combination of actual socialists, protest votes, Republicans’ “Operation Chaos”, and Hispanic voters. Colorado and Utah both hold open primaries.
“He’s been like that for decades. Nobody outside maybe people in Delaware noticed it.â€
He’s been gaffe prone for decades, but he’s definitely lost an edge. He searches too hard for words and conceptual continuity. Dementia? I have no idea. I’ll leave that for Cenk Uygur.
Biden has long been gaffe-prone, provoking people to gently reference him as “Uncle Joe, giving him socially acceptable cover for his many if not embarrassing flubs. However, this condition has seemed to significantly worsen, going from embarrassing to psychologically troubling.
Comparing Biden’s mental acuity and speech patterns, though, to Trump’s is hardly worth discussing. However, where one appears to be simple-minded, geographically confused, drifting off into incomplete sentences (Biden), the other is quick-witted, never falters on the stump, socially engages without memory or verbal gaps, with a personality style that is unwavering in being sarcastic and ideologically combative (Trump). IOW, Biden is pathetic. Trump is uncouth.
“Andy- What’s with Colorado supporting Sanders?”
Honestly, I don’t know. Sanders just didn’t win urban areas, he won almost all the rural counties in Colorado except for Aspen/Vail (went to Bloomberg of course), a wealthy suburb/exurb south of Denver (barely went to Biden over Sanders), and some counties on the eastern border (Biden won 4 of those, Bloomberg 2). Almost everything else went Sanders, but the margins were often pretty close.
I think early voting probably had a lot to do with it. It seems there is a pretty large bandwagon effect in primaries.
And maybe the fact that pot is legal here. 😉
‘Finally, Biden is definitely showing disturbing signs of mental decline, maybe even dementia.
He’s been like that for decades. Nobody outside maybe people in Delaware noticed it.’
I live on the border of Delaware and get the Wilmington Journal and its daily healthy dose of First State politics. And oh yes, a bunch of his belts are definitely slipping badly, including the drive, fan, and timing. Were he to be elected an airtight case could be immediately made for the 25th amendment to be invoked. That’s what makes his VP choice far far more meaningful than any in the recent past. Possibly the most consequential since FDR dumped Henry Wallace for Truman in 1944.
I totally agree with tars in saying how important Biden’s VP choice would be, considering such a choice would be a soon-to-be presidential choice as well.