Joe Biden voted for the Iraq War, plagiarized speeches, has deep and sometimes shady ties to banks, wrote the now-loathed 1994 crime bill, and supported the Patriot Act, but in the Democratic primary, the main crime for which he will have to answer is being a white male.
If Biden jumps in, he already has two demerits against him.
The former vice president is moving closer to announcing whether he’ll launch a campaign, according to a New York Times report. “Mr. Biden would instantly be the early front-runner if he ran, but he would have to bridge divides in a primary that would test whether Democrats are willing to embrace a moderate white man in his 70s if they view him as the best bet to oust Mr. Trump,” the article said, perfectly capturing the anxiety of the modern Democratic Party.
What is Biden’s answer for being a white man in a party that puts a premium on minorities and women? The last two candidates Democrats nominated were former President Barack Obama (black!) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (woman!).
The Hill reported just two weeks ago that Democrats are wracked with “worry” because a poll of Iowa voters showed that “the three people leading polls in the very early stages of their presidential race are all white men.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., who last month earnestly tweeted that “our future is female” and “intersectional,” all but said the party should reject a white man as its nominee.
“I love the fact that Barack Obama was our president for eight years,” she said on CNN in December. “I hope more people of color not only aspire [but] win the presidency, because that’s what makes America so extraordinary, that we are all of that, we are everything, and I think a more inclusive America is a stronger America.”
Mind you, when she said “more inclusive,” she meant: Back of the line, white men.
The problem is the same for other Democratic front-runners Bernie Sanders, senator of Vermont, and Beto O’Rourke, a former Texas representative.
O’Rourke has the advantage of the entire national media loving him, but so do Sens. Kamala Harris of California (black woman!) and Cory Booker of New Jersey (black man and maybe even a little gay!).
Biden may have some of the working-class appeal that President Trump has, but unfortunately for him, he’s white and in the wrong party.
